Articles by Utopia Support

Patients airlifted

Wednesday 3 March 2010 | Published in Local

Health minister Apii Piho confirmed five Penrhyn people needing medical attention were on their way to Rarotonga last night. After diverting the Manihiki Air Rarotonga flight yesterday to continue on to Penrhyn, the decision was made to make the return flight the same day instead of staying overnight there as planned. The flight was also […]

Support loans to MPs defended

Wednesday 3 March 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, I would like to respond to the article that was published in Cook Islands News on February 4 concerning Sir Terepai Maoate and his Member of Parliament son, Terepai Maoate Jnr. My name is Emi Marsters and I am the manageress of the Paradise Cove, the Aitutaki company owned by the Maoate family. […]

Bring helmets law in, stop mucking around

Wednesday 3 March 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, The helmet issue has now reared its ugly head again, due to several accidents on motor bikes that have caused death or serious injury. The Tereora school teacher that lead the petition that helped sway the MPs on the Law and Order Committee, along with those MPs who changed their minds and recommended […]

Well cared for

Wednesday 3 March 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, We would like to offer praise to Teava and Lisa Iro for their calm and efficient handling of us, their tenants, in the tsunami crisis on Saturday morning. Not until they were sure that we were safe at the AOG church in Titikaveka, did they continue with their rounds of other beach dwellings. […]

Helmets aren't a magical solution

Wednesday 3 March 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, Again the imposition of a compulsory helmet law for everyone is being touted as a magical solution to the carnage on our roads. As Nga Puna rightly points out, this is not an appropriate solution and there are many other factors that need to be addressed. Of course it is very sensible to […]

We need a 'real' recovery plan

Wednesday 3 March 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, Saturday’s tsunami scare highlighted that we have a problem – we have a dire need for a formal disaster recovery plan to prepare our people and our visitors for tsunami. Proposed solution: 1. Disaster Recovery Plan at village level. 2. A requirement for all accommodators to have a plan in place for their […]

Destruction of our roads must stop

Wednesday 3 March 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, This letter is regarding the upgrading of our water system by the Ministry of Infrastructure and planning. The recent work in Harley street and Tupapa has prompted me to write this letter. What I would like to know is, when the contracts for doing the water mains and pipes around the island are […]

Kata - March 3, 2010

Wednesday 3 March 2010 | Published in Kata

Minister due back on diverted flight

Tuesday 2 March 2010 | Published in Local

Finance minister Wilkie Rasmussen is due back in Rarotonga tomorrow after government paid to divert an Air Rarotonga flight yesterday to go to Penrhyn with the intention of bringing back patients for medical care. The plane will overnight on the island so that about nine people can undergo medical assessments. Health minister Apii Piho says […]

Ivaiti ends with a line by Einstein

Tuesday 2 March 2010 | Published in Local

Former financial secretary Sholan Ivaiti ended his three-year term in the country’s top job with words from the late scientist Albert Einstein. In an email to a group of government officials, Ivaiti wrote, “I wish to leave with the following two quotes from Einstein: ‘Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow’ and ‘The […]

Generosity praised

Tuesday 2 March 2010 | Published in Local

How people were alerted to the tsunami warning and where they fled for safety has been the talk of the island since the early morning tsunami warnings on Saturday. Hospital hill, valleys and back roads were choked with people evacuating from the coast. In Arorangi, Mariia and William Heather opened their home to people who […]

'Die differently'

Tuesday 2 March 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, It is over three years since the Transport Amendment Bill was passed making the wearing of helmets by all motor cyclists compulsory. As a result of a petition led by Nga Puna, that helmet law was scrapped by parliament in June 2008. Puna argued that helmets should not be compulsory because although they […]

Tsunami 'warning'

Tuesday 2 March 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, Since written records began 190 years ago, there is no record of tsunami damage on Rarotonga. Why is that? Old timers do remember the sea suddenly draining from Avaavaroa passage and Avarua harbour (before it silted in), but had no idea why. That was before we were ‘blessed’ with a tsunami warning system […]

Tsunami alert – visitors should be well informed

Tuesday 2 March 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, While driving to higher ground on Saturday morning we were flagged down in Muri by a couple of tourists on a motorbike. They were driving towards Titikaveka, their destination – the hospital, though they were not sure where it was. They asked us a little anxiously, where we were going and if they […]

Where is common sense?

Tuesday 2 March 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, Common sense can sometimes be the hardest sense to find. I am replying to the story ‘New call for compulsory helmets’ (March 1). It amazes me that a school teacher who is helping develop the minds of young people is against compulsory wearing of helmets which may assist in saving some of those […]

League games shift back

Tuesday 2 March 2010 | Published in League

The weekend’s cancelled rugby league matches will be played at the end of round two in mid March. Tsunami alerts forced the cancellation of the games between the Avatiu Eels and Tupapa Panthers at the swamp and the Arorangi Bears and Ngatangiia-Matavera Sea Eagles at Raemaru. Rugby league competition coordinator Taua Benioni says the cancelled […]

New team in netball

Tuesday 2 March 2010 | Published in Netball

Newly elected Cook Islands Netball Association president Patsy Hockin is looking forward to a positive year of netball with her team of experienced netballers ready to take on any challenges this year. A new team of executives was elected during the association’s annual meeting on February 26 with Hockin taking over from former president Margharet […]

New call for compulsory helmets

Monday 1 March 2010 | Published in Local

A spate of serious driving accidents is set to crack open the helmets issue again. In the last couple of weeks, a man died in a motorbike accident, a young boy was airlifted to New Zealand for severe head injuries after he fell off his motorbike and a young woman was injured when a driver […]

Better prepared

Monday 1 March 2010 | Published in Local

Disaster management officials in the Pacific say they were better prepared for Saturday’s tsunami alert after last year’s devastating tsunami off Samoa, which claimed more than 180 lives. This was the universal comment by disaster officials in Samoa, Fiji, Tonga and the Cook Islands. People on the flat island of Tuvalu sought refuge in the […]

Thousands flee tsunami

Monday 1 March 2010 | Published in Local

Police commissioner Maara Tetava is praising the people of the Cook Islands for their quick response to tsunami warnings on Saturday morning. “It was an awesome response by the people here on Rarotonga and the outer islands,” said Tetava. “It was a quick response by everyone who headed to higher ground.” Tetava said that one […]