Opinion

Honour: vital to how we see the world

Saturday 11 February 2017 | Written by Thomas Tarurongo Wynne | Published in Opinion

As we gathered around the memorial garden, rain pouring down, the tears flowed as family and friends gathered to honour the man, the life that was Ian George.

Opinion


'Special place, special people' not quite so apt

Friday 10 February 2017 | Published in Smoke Signals

“Since when did we turn into Samoa...charging people five dollars to go to the waterfall is disgraceful,” a smoke signaller says.

Smoke Signals


OPM job still hasn't been advertised

Friday 10 February 2017 | Published in Letters to the Editor

It has been almost eight weeks since Liz Wright-Koteka tendered her resignation as the Chief of Staff for the Prime Minister’s Office.

Letters to the Editor

How about this then, minister?

Friday 10 February 2017 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Environment minister… Oh no, that’s right, he is also the Agriculture minister and he is too busy testing the latest weed killer to care about the environment.

Letters to the Editor

Land should go back to people

Friday 10 February 2017 | Published in Letters to the Editor

I just can’t get past the headlines of a local man harassing two young females for not paying a road toll of five dollars, which is even more wrong in the first place.

Letters to the Editor


Catch criminals not schoolkids!

Thursday 9 February 2017 | Published in Letters to the Editor

It is baffling to watch the police spend so much time on the road in broad daylight preying on innocent school students trying to charge them $100 for not wearing a helmet.

Letters to the Editor


Get on the beat to drop PCs' pounds

Thursday 9 February 2017 | Published in Letters to the Editor

I am a strong supporter of our police force but, lately, I am wondering if they think it is a 9am to 5 pm job only, as I never see them out patrolling and policing much at night.

Letters to the Editor


Nice car Madam Secretary

Thursday 9 February 2017 | Published in Smoke Signals

Maybe the Secretary of Health driving around in a fancy car paid for by taxpayers is not the best way to show that the ministry’s budget is not enough.

Smoke Signals

Two years on and what has changed?

Wednesday 8 February 2017 | Published in Letters to the Editor

IT IS always a good idea to do a spring clean once a year and you always find some lost items, or ones of interest you had forgotten about.

Letters to the Editor


Raise the drinking age from 18 to 21

Wednesday 8 February 2017 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Now we have a stabbing to add to our multiple shootings … what next?

Letters to the Editor


A need for change

Wednesday 8 February 2017 | Published in Letters to the Editor

I write with disappointment at CIRU for their decision on Stan Wright’s outspoken mind and his visions (through his Strategic Plan – it’s available for all to read).

Letters to the Editor


PM jets off again?

Wednesday 8 February 2017 | Published in Letters to the Editor

The Office of the Prime Minister’s spin doctors appear to be in the dark about the whereabouts - or reasons - for the prime minister traveling to Singapore.

Letters to the Editor

Sober choice? Maybe not

Wednesday 8 February 2017 | Published in Smoke Signals

A drunken man, barely able to stand, was swaying around Raro Fried Chicken mid-afternoon on Sunday.

Smoke Signals

Nurse practitioners can do it!

Tuesday 7 February 2017 | Published in Letters to the Editor

I share many of the concerns of the Mangaian community expressed in a recent letter to the Cook Islands News

Letters to the Editor


No handouts for shipping service

Tuesday 7 February 2017 | Published in Smoke Signals

“IT WAS SAD to see the one professional and dedicated server of shipping to the Pa Enua had their brand new boat stranded on the reef, by accident,

Smoke Signals

Locals fouling up 'paradise' too

Monday 6 February 2017 | Published in Letters to the Editor

I have spent many months on these beautiful islands over the past three years and repeatedly read articles in the paper about how the tourists are being unfairly blamed for the pollution of Muri Beach’s lagoon.

Letters to the Editor


Some advice for people of Pa Enua

Monday 6 February 2017 | Published in Letters to the Editor

To the people of the Pa Enua with no doctors on your island and with no-one listening to your calls for basic hospital supplies and services, here is my advice:

Letters to the Editor

Forgiveness works in mysterious ways

Monday 6 February 2017 | Published in Letters to the Editor

If the PM can demonstrate so much forgiveness for convicted drug dealers Arlander and Marsters by making them welcome in his office and work with them on a community project, perhaps he can show the same degree of forgiveness for Mark Franklin

Letters to the Editor

Cruel people turn blind eye to dogs

Monday 6 February 2017 | Published in Smoke Signals

“How many starving thin skin and bone pictures of animals do we have to report and see before anything gets done about it?” a smoke signaller asks. “The land the animals that featured in CI News recently were found on belongs to someone, so report them. Charge them, put their names in the paper and shame them. A woman found the dogs because they were barking. Didn’t the neighbours hear the dogs? Someone must have known they were there, so why didn’t they help or report? It is pathetic how these people can get away with such cruelty on such a small island and no one sees or knows anything. It is time to give police the power to arrest for cruelty to animals. and as harsh as it sounds, culling may be kinder in the long run. The poor bitch dogs left to have puppies constantly should be removed from the owners and desexed immediately. And for repeat animal cruelty human owners should be offered castration or imprisonment.” LOCAL WORDS “Just to help Jaewynn McKay out in her letter on the Chamber of Commerce, the word we use in the Cook Islands is “papaanga”, not “whakapapa,” a smoke signaller says. “That would make the letter more, ahhh, “local.” TURN IT DOWN, PLEASE! Can the CIRU lovers and haters please keep it down, the leagues on. BENEFITS FOR SOME… “In the March 2000 Economic Gazette, under the heading ‘Current Court Actions’, it is recorded that MFEM was taking action against a certain retailer for the sum of $103,784.64,” a smoke signaller says. Eleven years later, on June 9, 2011, a CI News article recorded that the amount owed to MFEM from that same company was now $237,216.05. You can only wonder what the amount is today. And now the government wants to write off the penalty tax. So effectively the company will receive an interest free loan for over 17 years from the taxpayers. Is that what the Minister of Finance means by saying ‘all Cook Islanders will benefit from this’?” REDS UNDER THE BED What reds under the bed are scaring Papa Williams, a smoke signaller ponders? His attack on an Australian heading the inquiry into the multiple shootings near Titikaveka in October is bewildering, a smoke signaller says. “Williams whinges that it should have been a New Zealander heading the inquiry and that by not picking one it is a slap in the face for the Cook Islands relationship with the former colonial ruler. What is he on? Australian police have had a long relationship with Cook Islands Police and Australia’s Federal Police fund many training programmes here and through the Pacific. And his thought that the government’s choice is done purely to cover up issues is an outrageous slur upon the integrity of Dennis McDermott, a man who is a former AFP Assistant Commissioner. If Williams wants to slam the government he should make sure it is the politicians he targets, not experts who come here to help Cook Islanders.”

Smoke Signals


Out of illness comes whole new awareness

Saturday 4 February 2017 | Published in Virtues in Paradise

THERE are times in our lives, when we receive major wake up calls.

Virtues in Paradise

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