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 […]

Take note and check Tap's conclusions

Thursday 4 March 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, My congratulations to Tap Pryor for his letter about tsunami warnings. Since the Samoa tsunami, I have been telling a number of people the same thing but Tap’s use of the English language is vastly superior to mine. I do hope that those in authority take note and check up on Tap’s conclusions. […]

Why stress over tsunamis?

Thursday 4 March 2010 | Published in Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, To avoid unnecessary anxiety, time, widespread panic and effort being spent by officials and concerned people trying to work out appropriate areas where people can possibly flee to in the event of an approaching tsunami, perhaps we first need to ascertain whether Rarotonga and her sister islands are in fact vulnerable to tsunamis. […]

Sardines and overnight scientists

Thursday 4 March 2010 | Published in Smoke Signals

If 1500 people were gathered on Hospital Hill and cars were crammed up the road like sardines, in a medical emergency how is the ambulance or someone hurrying up to the hospital on their vehicle going to get safe and fast access, asks a reader? “EMCI’s William Tuivaga helps to calm the public’s rattled nerves […]

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 […]

Kata - March 3, 2010

Wednesday 3 March 2010 | Published in Kata

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 […]

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 […]

'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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]