Retiring Judge Joanna Maze, is looking forward to losing her anonymity in the South Canterbury community she loves but has remained at arm’s length from for the past 11 years. Maze, Timaru's resident District Court judge since September 2011, finished her final court sitting on Friday with "a courtesy farewell between bench and bar" and told The Timaru Herald she made the decision to retire "when I knew that I was beginning to run out of energy ... and a sense that I wanted to have some time left still to do things for myself". "It's a job where you have to maintain a degree of separateness in your life, and that does suit my personality, and this has been a wonderful community to be part of, but I'm ready to be more part of it and that isn't entirely consistent with being a judge in a small community,’’ she said. "South Canterbury really is a delightful community. The people have good values, it is a caring community, it is an ideal size. It's more like a big village really. … [Read more...] about South Canterbury community calling retiring District Court Judge Joanna Maze