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Basketball star to speak at awards

Lauren Jackson

BASKETBALL star Lauren Jack-son will be the guest speaker atthis year’s NT Sports Awards.

She is a three-time Women’sNational Basketball AssociationMost Valuable Player award win-ner and eight-time WNBA All-Star. At the 2012 London OlympicGames, Jackson was Australia’sflag-bearer and became the high-

est point-scorer inOlympic women’sbasketball history,captaining the Aust-ralian Opals to abronze medal.

She will be joinedon stage at the awards ceremonyby Territory sports guru CharlieKing and Australian comedy im-

pressionist Danny McMaster.Nominations for the SportsAwards close on January 31.

The awards night will be at theHoliday Inn Esplanade in DarwinMarch 22.

Tickets will be available fromMarch 1 through the NT MajorEvents Company at www.ntmajorevents.com.au

Top NT journo diesBy NIGEL ADLAM

Legendary former NT News and Sunday Territorian journo John Loizou with an edition of his Southeast Asian Times newspaper in 2000

THE man considered by many tohave been the Territory’s best-ever journalist has died.

John Loizou, who had been illfor several years, was 70.

He worked for the NT News andSunday Territorian before mov-ing to Hanoi in Vietnam.

But his first love was radio.Loizou made the news himself

when he was headbutted in a Dar-win pub by then CLP CabinetMinister Mick Palmer.

The reporter played football forCarlton reserves before movingto the Territory to work for theABC. Loizou had a reputation for‘‘going the biff’’ while playing forWanderers and St Marys.

He won the NT Journalist of theYear award in the early 1990s fora story about two women who ranaway from a Chinese sweat shopat Darwin’s NT government-owned Trade Development Zone.

Everybody was looking for thewomen — government goons, thepolice and the Chinese factoryowners. Loizou found them —and discovered they were allowedonly $1 a day from their pay.

Typically, he didn’t turn up tothe awards ceremony — he wasdown the pub — and the trophyhad to be collected on his behalfby the then photographic editorClive Hyde.

Loizou had many other greatscoops.

CLP Cabinet Minister at thetime, Fred Finch, said in Parlia-ment that street gangs wereterrorising Casuarina, includingan all-girl gang called the BlackMafia. Loizou disappeared fromthe Sunday Territorian office andreturned two hours later with apretty but tough-looking girl and

announced: ‘‘This is the leader ofthe Black Mafia.’’

He wrote in an old-fashionedstyle and often shook his head indisbelief at the way that tabloidnewspapers ‘‘crunched’’ the Eng-lish language.

But he had a great hunger totell a good story — and hold therich and famous to account.

Loizou was a Marxist but wasimpeccably balanced in his writ-ing. He thought that Labor’s firstchief minister, Clare Martin,made the Territory ‘‘a better,kinder place’’.

Loizou, who died in Perth onWednesday night, leaves his wifeCree, and two sons by his firstmarriage, Brendan and Damian.

Arrests follow two-day crime spreeFOUR young men have been ar-rested over a two-day crime spreein a remote NT town.

The men — two aged 16, 17 and18 — allegedly caused $1550 dam-age when they broke into the gen-eral store at Alyangula, on GrooteEyelandt. They allegedly stoleabout $485 worth of food andclothes from the shop about4.30am on Sunday, police said.

The four allegedly broke into ahome in Alyangula and stole acomputer hard drive before un-lawfully entering a resort and lo-cal recreation club early on Tues-day morning.

Senior Sergeant Tony Deutromsaid that the renegade youthsstole $1175 worth of alcohol fromthe club.

‘‘It is believed the men con-

sumed a quantity of the alcoholand supplied the rest to the com-munity,’’ he said. ‘‘We won’tstand for this type of behaviour.’’

A 37-year-old man who alleg-edly helped the culprits distributethe stolen booze was also takeninto custody. Two boys — aged 16and 17 — faced Alyangula YouthCourt yesterday with the other al-leged offenders on bail.

Stranded boat returns to DarwinEXHAUSTED sailor Kris Larsenmade it home to Darwin yester-day after 42 days stranded at sea.

He was blown 760km west ofDarwin by persistent easterlywinds after setting sail from Balito relocate the ketch White Bird toDarwin on December 7.

With broken engines, damagedsails and no ability to point intothe wind, he asked for help.

Ketch owner John Roodenrys

set out to rescue him on Wednes-day last week in yacht Clare deLune along with its owner PaulButler and another crewman.

They put the White Bird undertow and finally limped back intoDarwin yesterday afternoonwhere they were moored at Sto-kes Hill Wharf for Quarantineand Customs inspection. MrRoodenrys said the men wereexhausted from their journey.

At one stage the White Bird loo-ked to be heading directly into thepath of a tropical low which had a50 per cent chance of turning intoa cyclone.

But their luck changed for thebetter and they passed to thesouth of it.

Mr Roodenrys said a Saturdaynight squall had taken out boththe White Bird’s old sails and thenew ones the rescuers brought.