Opinion

One death is one too many

Thursday 4 March 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, If I had a magical solution to our horrific death rate here or anywhere else in the world I would have used it by now. But I haven’t! Helmets are not a magical cure to our deathly problem but they are one component in a whole mix of measures that need to be […]

Kata - March 3, 2010

Wednesday 3 March 2010 | Published in Kata

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. […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

'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 […]

Tsunami signs

Monday 1 March 2010 | Published in Smoke Signals

Early on Saturday morning shortly after the first widespread tsunami warning arrived from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre, some people texted others to say that Avarua harbour was looking very empty, believing this to be the drawback from the tsunami that was still six hours away from Rarotonga. Instead, the very low water was the […]

Appeal committee pledges accountability

Monday 1 March 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, The Aitutaki Cyclone Appeal Committee is saddened by the insinuation by Anonymous Donor that monies raised by the national appeal will not reach its destination – the Aitutaki people. The ACA cannot speak for monies given to Red Cross or the Government – we can only speak for funds that have been donated […]

Church defended

Monday 1 March 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, I have read what someone else is saying about the CICC. Tepuka land was given to the CICC, so that means that CICC owns the land which was given to them by God. Why do people jump so quickly down the throat of the CICC without doing their homework first. Friends, if you […]

Rule of fist should never apply

Saturday 27 February 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, I noted Norman George’s comments as reported in your court news of February 26 regarding assault on a female – a ‘minor assault,’ ‘way down on the scale of seriousness’, ’a domestic argument not in some lawless area of town but in their own home’, rendering it ‘just an argument’. Sorry Norman but […]

Hotel idea 'a load of hogwash'

Saturday 27 February 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, I write in response to a recent article published in Cook Islands Herald by Charles Pitt promoting the notion that government should seriously consider getting into the business of reviving the failed Vaima’anga hotel project. What a load of hogwash. For starters, why on earth would any person of a sane mind want […]

Kata - February 27, 2010

Saturday 27 February 2010 | Published in Kata

Who's counting all the funds?

Friday 26 February 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, This cyclone appeal is certainly a good idea to help our brothers and sisters in Aitutaki. Many people have made cash donations and pledged donations, sales of plates of food, sales of t-shirts and many more. Others have provided materials, containers and equipment. Our concern is whether all the money raised will actually […]

Sounds like a TCI promo

Friday 26 February 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, It’s no wonder that the PM is flip flopping on allowing Telecom’s monopoly to continue. He was wined and dined twice by the Telecom board members last week and wrapped up nicely with a cocktail evening at the Salsa. Everyone knows that the quickest way to get the PM to agree with you […]