Articles by Utopia Support

'Sheraton' worse than 'Toagate'

Monday 26 April 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, It’s nonsense that Toagate is the “worst financial blunder that has ever been made by a Cook Island politician since self-government” as claimed by letter-writer “E Tu e Ara e taku Iti tangata”. I don’t condone the actions that lead to the Toagate debacle, but we should never forget what got us into […]

Kata - April 26, 2010

Monday 26 April 2010 | Published in Kata

2 faces of Tangaroa

Monday 26 April 2010 | Published in Smoke Signals

The logo for the new Rules of Attraction reality dating show (above) is neat: it can be seen as two Tangaroa faces looking at each other – in keeping with the theme – but stare at it a while and it could be a single Tangaroa face looking straight at you. Cook Islands Tourism has […]

Father Freddy ordained

Saturday 24 April 2010 | Published in Church Talk

After a moving ordination on Thursday night, Father Freddy Kaina was to conduct his first public mass this morning at St Joseph’s Catholic Cathedral at 11am. Father Kaina was inducted into the priesthood in front of his proud parents Kaina Kaina and Marii Kaina, family members from overseas and a huge congregation of Catholic parishioners […]

Sun on the horizon

Saturday 24 April 2010 | Published in Local

The Cook Islands can expect some sunshine after the weekend. The country has been experiencing above average rainfall over the past few days due to the South Pacific Convergence Zone passing over the islands. The convergence zone is a reverse-oriented monsoon trough which is a band of low-level convergence made up of clouds and rain. […]

Tourist trap

Saturday 24 April 2010 | Published in Local

Four young men appeared in court yesterday after executing a plan to steal a tourist’s handbag off her shoulder. On Wednesday night, they stopped to talk to a group of women on the side of the road, and in the process grabbed a handbag from one of them. Esaki Fimone pleaded guilty to having stolen […]

Toagate a soap opera at the expense of taxpayers

Saturday 24 April 2010 | Published in Local

The gloomy fiasco of Toagate is becoming a soap opera at the expense of every tax payer in the country, says Cook Islands Workers’ Association (CIWA) president Anthony Turua. “The whole judiciary and constitutional system of our country is becoming a cricket match of 20/20 to the extent that every civilian of our country is […]

Online colouring book fun and educational

Saturday 24 April 2010 | Published in Features

Finding it hard to entertain the kids these school holidays? Matavera grandfather of seven, Neil Dearlove, has just discovered an online colouring site that his grandkids absolutely love. Not only is the online colouring book lots of fun, it also helps children develop important skills such as colour concepts, hand-eye coordination and of course how […]

New petrol station proposed at Nikao

Saturday 24 April 2010 | Published in Features

Nikao might be getting a new petrol station. Builders have been busy developing the property across the road from Nikao Maori School and Avatea School in recent weeks. Removal of hedges on two sides of the site, opposite Tangee’s Store, has revealed an impressive new building. Former Toa Petroleum general manager Bruce Manuela has a […]

Primefoods up and running

Saturday 24 April 2010 | Published in Features

Primefoods, the new grocery business in the old Meatco building, threw open its doors last Friday and is open for business. The butchery is up and running, and managing director Dan Forsyth and his employees are taking pointers from a visiting NZ-based butcher who Forsyth says has won awards for making sausages. Primefoods stocks a […]

Anzac programme and breakfast

Saturday 24 April 2010 | Published in Features

As Anzac Day falls on a Sunday, the Returned Services Association club in Nikao will not be selling alcohol to those wanting something to warm the soul after the dawn parade. RSA president Henry Wichman confirmed that the club was not granted a special liquor licence to operate on Sunday. However, Wichman says that this […]

Aitutaki boy Eric Henry slips off quietly to war

Saturday 24 April 2010 | Published in Features

Eric Henry left his home on the beautiful atoll Aitutaki in the Cook Islands about 1935-36, not knowing that he would not be back again for a decade. He and his brother Ru were heading off to Aotearoa to go to secondary school at Te Aute College in Hawke’s Bay. It was a tortuous journey […]

Ruatonga man marches to remember his father

Saturday 24 April 2010 | Published in Features

Among the men and women that will fall-in and march in Sunday’s Anzac Day parade will be Ruatonga resident Geoff Bergin wearing his father’s war medals. Bergin is encouraging families who have the war medals of their ancestors to honour them by wearing the medals and joining the 5.30am dawn parade and 10am civil service […]

Letter writer upset

Saturday 24 April 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, I am writing this letter to let your readers know that I have written a letter to your newspaper in order to respond to Wilkie Rasmussen’s last wrongful and false accusations against me, but Cook Islands News refused to print my letter. John Woods, managing editor of the Cook Islands News, said my […]

Clinic backs its work

Saturday 24 April 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, In a recent CI News article the Director of Public Health makes a statement about the findings of Better Health Research Centre calling them “wild statements”. We ask, does the director have access to up-to-date information to justify saying this? Can he prove that illnesses we report do not exist here and that […]

Kata - April 24, 2010

Saturday 24 April 2010 | Published in Kata

Big league battles on

Saturday 24 April 2010 | Published in League

Two massive rugby league battles are scheduled today to keep league fans entertained. The Arorangi Bears will head out to Ngatangiia to meet the Ngatangiia-Matavera Sea Eagles in what should be a big-hitting contest. The Sea Eagles will need to win this match to maintain a solid top two position heading into next week’s play […]

Freddy joins priesthood

Friday 23 April 2010 | Published in Church Talk

Thirty-eight-year-old Manihiki man Freddy Kaina will from today on be known as Father Kaina. Kaina was ordained into the Cook Islands Catholic Diocese last night at St Joseph’s Catholic Cathedral in Avarua in front of a large crowd of proud family members and parishioners. Kaina was born in Manihiki in 1972 before he moved with […]

He is risen

Friday 23 April 2010 | Published in Church Talk

Wherever I travel, I try to pay a visit to the town cemetery. It is a time of contemplation, of reflection on the meaning of life and the inevitability of death. In the small cemetery in the town of Santa Clara, Utah, I remember the preponderance of Swiss names which adorn the weathered tombstones. Many […]

Apostolic Church online

Friday 23 April 2010 | Published in Church Talk

As part of an effort to unite its branches near and far, the Apostolic Church is on the Net. “Jesus the Light of the World Apostolic Cathedral II” has launched a blog in order to consolidate its church congregations here in the Cook Islands and overseas. Church member Rebekah Daniel was responsible for launching the […]