Opinion

The tsunami call

Friday 19 March 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, Our police commissioner has spoken that he will continue to urge all of us into the hills whenever there is a tsunami wave coming our way. If he checks with his counterpart in Hawaii, he would find that for 50 years staff at the centre have made judgement calls to only areas that […]

Consider shipping containers

Friday 19 March 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, Aitutaki Mayor Tai Herman is right to reject the offer of Lockwood Timber Houses. They would not stand up to another ‘Pat’ cyclone. Perhaps consideration should be given to steel constructed homes in the form of shipping containers. I have been involved in the design aspect of these types of homes which are […]

Cyclone Pat may bring Phoenix out of ashes

Friday 19 March 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, After surveying the damage in Aitutaki via pictures sent to me by friends and family in the Cooks, it’s devastating to see the island in the aftermath of Cyclone Pat. I feel deeply for the people of Aitutaki and my family there. Aid money will come and rescue in part and relieve some […]

Manihikians had same fear

Friday 19 March 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, I read with interest sadness Mayor Tai Herman’s letter of Wednesday’s Cook Islands News. However, it was interesting because he expressed the same concerns forwarded by some of us in Manihiki during the planning stages after Cyclone Martin, which were ignored. Sad because it seems that nothing was learnt from the Manihiki experience. […]

Kata - March 18, 2010

Thursday 18 March 2010 | Published in Kata

Congrats to mayor

Thursday 18 March 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear editor, I wish to congratulate Tai Herman, Aitutaki’s mayor, for taking a bold stand in rejecting the proposal from Habitat for Humanity to build 70 houses — funded by both the NZ and Cook Islands governments — for those families whose homes were completely destroyed during Cyclone Pat. I reckon that the very last […]

Bribery is unacceptable

Thursday 18 March 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, I am not surprised that the former head of CICC, John Tini, was allegedly handed a brand new vehicle from the Chinese construction company CCECC a year or so ago. I wonder who else in government may have received such a ‘present’ from CCECC? Whether they be state, public or privately owned, some […]

Suggestions to address death toll

Wednesday 17 March 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, I have a great concern for the tragic death toll caused by drink driving of our young people in the Cook Islands. What is the government doing about this? Are there or has the Ministry of Transport or the Justice Department put anything in place to educate or to raise awareness of the […]

Get over it

Wednesday 17 March 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear editor, It is sad to see that the Demo Party still cannot get over the events that took place before Christmas, which was history in the making for this country. I read in today’s paper that they’ve finally got the ‘balls’ to sack the PM from the Demo Party. Despite the PM’s sacking, this […]

PM should cop the blame

Wednesday 17 March 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, Last night (Monday) on TVNZ One News the NZ Prime Minister John Key explained that his government had made a decision for NZ not to bid for the 2018 Commonwealth Games. The reason: the projected financial costs relating to hosting of the Commonwealth Games would far outstrip the anticipated benefits. In simple terms, […]

Beware 'The Big One'

Wednesday 17 March 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, In reply to Tsunami Stressed, may I remind you that the Word of God is the only truth – it’s absolutely the Right Way. I praised the EMCI for the repeated warnings on the air for the general public especially in the late hours of the morning and the response was awesome. But […]

Aitutaki council frustrated

Wednesday 17 March 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, The people of Aitutaki are grateful that New Zealand Government has now confirmed their aid package of $5.5million towards the recovery of Aitutaki. As much as we want to thank New Zealand for their kind generosity there is a time and a place for that. Under the circumstances, there is a short fall […]

Police took no risks in tsunami response

Wednesday 17 March 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, I refer to the articles in the paper recently about the response of the Police and Emergency Management group to the Chile Tsunami warning. When we previously did not react very quickly to the Samoa tsunami, we were criticised by a number of people and an audit investigation was conducted into our actions. […]

Dump party loyalty

Wednesday 17 March 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, Two things are most certain from the coming elections: Firstly, Makiuti Tongia will never be a member of parliament; and secondly, all MPs sacked by Makiuti Tongia and his club members will win their seats. These include Jim, Wilkie, Wigmore, Piho and Heather. Makiuti’s excuse for sacking them is to pay back for […]

Kata - March 17, 2010

Wednesday 17 March 2010 | Published in Kata

Kata - March 16, 2010

Tuesday 16 March 2010 | Published in Kata

Choice minus, aye bro?

Tuesday 16 March 2010 | Published in Smoke Signals

A couple of friends were chuckling over photos that were emailed from the Pasifika Festival, which showed plastic containers labelled as ‘Minus (Cook Island potato salad)’. “Cookies in NZ always give us Cookies back home grief about being fobs and freshies – but by the minus sign we reckon the fobs are over there!!” If […]

No money left after games 'show'

Tuesday 16 March 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, Good on Serena Hunter for expressing her anger and frustration in the way this country has been poorly governed in recent years. All my family and friends share Serena’s view that the current bunch of politicians have been disastrous in managing the affairs of the country and that new political leadership is desperately […]

Ethnicity important at Highcom

Monday 15 March 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, Regarding the Cook Islands High Commissioner to New Zealand, I just want to ask, don’t we have any qualified, academic Cook Islands Maori person capable of being appointed to this position instead of the one just appointed? I have nothing against the man, but wouldn’t it be appropriate to have one of our […]

Staggered by bad roads all round

Monday 15 March 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, Walking along the back road from Ngatangiia to Avarua the other day, I was staggered to see just how bad the state of our roads is in some areas. When asked, a planter on the outskirts of the backroad in Matavera told me that the last time the ministry of works had come […]