Police officers 'bitten, punched' by man in Yamba

New South Wales police officers have been attacked twice by a man they attempted to serve with papers on the state's north coast.

Two officers were first assaulted while serving papers on a 30-year-old man at a home in Ballanda Crescent, Yamba, about 4.15pm (AEDT) yesterday.

Police said the man punched a senior constable twice in the head and pushed him into a wall.

The officer retaliated with capsicum spray but failed to subdue the man, who fled and was arrested a short time later at a house in Charles Street, Iluka.

The man was taken to Grafton Police Station where it's alleged he again became aggressive.

He's accused of attempting to bite a sergeant's face before striking him on the head, then biting a constable's arm.

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Protester serves papers to Guelph police

A Hanlon Creek Business Park opponent, who is one of two environmental activists suing the Guelph Police Services Board, paid a visit to the Guelph Police headquarters on Fountain Street Monday, accompanied by about 10 supporters.

The peaceful action was part of a week-long protest series billed as “5 Days of Action for the Hanlon Creek.” Opponents of the business park will stage an information picket at the park site on Wednesday.

Kelly Pflug-Back, 20, intended to serve legal papers to the police on Monday but was temporarily stymied in her efforts. She was told by a police official at the front counter that no papers would be accepted.

Later in the day, police Chief Rob Davis said a misunderstanding occurred at the time of the delivery and that the papers would be accepted. Police officials thought papers had already been served. A notice of intent to sue had been previously delivered. Pflug-Back was serving the legal documents pertaining to the actual claim.

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Unwed parents difficult to track

A car is in the driveway, but that might not mean much.

Penny Huston knocks on the door and hopes that the person who answers matches the name on the court document in her hand.

Nope.

"She says he doesn't live here anymore," Huston said. "It goes this way a lot."

At least a hundred times a week, the process server for Subpoena Service Plus parks outside a house or taps a car window or maybe even pretends to deliver flowers -- whatever it takes to serve the court papers seeking support for a child.

The job gets tougher as relationships between parents grow ever more tenuous: Sixty percent of the cases the Franklin County Child Support Enforcement Agency handles involve mothers and fathers who didn't marry in the first place.

"There may be no bond at all," agency Director Susan Brown said. "It's challenging."

The march away from matrimony -- about 40 percent of babies in the U.S. are born to single women -- also has made things hard for the legal system.

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Peekaboo Plaintiff Hard on Process Servers

A defendant in a local covenant lawsuit is playing hard to get.

David Dias, property owner at 3350 Tea Rose Drive, is in court over an unapproved retaining wall and commercial-vehicle parking.

Or rather, he isn’t.

Dias was a no-show at an Oct. 16 court hearing.

“We’ve had trouble serving him,” said Wayne Lowery, district general manager. “He’s not answering his door.”

Dias’ case-management hearing Oct. 16 was continued until Dec. 17.

“The court continued it 60 days to give us time to serve him, and for him to respond to the service,” Lowery said.

In January 2007, the district first notified Dias of the covenant violations.

“You are hereby required to stop work immediately,” the CSD letter said of the retaining wall project. “You are also required to submit a Property Improvement Application to the Design Review Committee.”