Opinion
Thursday 20: FAIR TAXI FARE?
Wednesday 26 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
“I had a great meal in town the other day with a friend from overseas,” one of our readers writes. “We decided we did not want to wait for the next bus, an hour away, so asked the waitress to organise a taxi. ‘Could you tell me roughly how much it would be to go […]
Thursday 20: DPM must prioritise funds for prison
Wednesday 26 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, There is an awareness among the general public of the need to upgrade the Arorangi Prison. Many people are asking when this can be achieved. Some people are interested from a moral point of view and others because of the threat it poses during an escape such as the wild rumour of the […]
Thursday 20: ADOPTION COSTS
Wednesday 26 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
Great idea and very successful says one of our readers of the adopt-a-country programme for the netball champs. “Indeed the school visits were seen as highlight experiences for just about all the visiting teams. Just one downer in all of this…while a very limited number of t-shirts were sponsored, all the school children had to […]
Thursday 20: OCH AYE
Wednesday 26 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
On the subject of the netballers, judging by the close-up shots in the filler snippets played on CITV, the Scottish lasses sure know how to swing their bums in time to the local drums!
Thursday 20: Copycat crime story
Wednesday 26 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
A smoke signaller wonders whether two Polish prisoners who broke out of a German jail might have heard about our prison breakout on the coconut wireless. They escaped by tying their bed sheets together to abseil down a 15 metre wall. “The wall is pretty high,” a spokesperson for the prison in the southern city […]
Wednesday 26: RAINMAN FOR HIRE
Wednesday 26 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
A weather watcher remarked yesterday that we should loan the Cook Islands’ weatherman Arona Ngari to countries like Australia where they need someone to break the drought. “Every time Arona predicts a weather pattern, or pronounces such and such, we usually get the opposite weather pattern. Like the other day when he said we were […]
Wednesday 26: BEST PRICES
Wednesday 26 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
Since critics are always quick to slam CITC, someone ought to note how the Main Store’s prices for sports gear are among the best anywhere, a smoke signaller says. “Nike apparel, for example, is cheaper here for the same latest range as in NZ and Australia. Evidence of that was seen on Saturday when visiting […]
Wednesday 26: INITIATE, NOT REACT
Wednesday 26 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
In responding to Wilkie Rasmussen’s expulsion from the Democratic Party, one signaller says that he only wishes that “MPs like Rasmussen will get off their butt and initiate things, rather than just react to anything and everything”.
Wednesday 26: SMOKE TERRORISTS
Wednesday 26 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
A reader says rubbish burning is an issue the island needs to urgently address “as it’s a real health hazard for children, the elderly and people prone to developing respiratory illnesses. Shops and households burn cardboard boxes, plastic, cans, green waste, and all other waste in between. These are the Smoke Terrorists – you never […]
Wednesday 26: Good deed pays off in the end
Wednesday 26 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
Here’s a smokie with a happy ending. A parent writes: “Had to mention this one. My daughter and her friend found a wallet in town – they were waiting for the bus at Cooks’ Corner. They did the right thing and headed to the police station. The police officer opened the wallet, looked at the […]
Tuesday 25: MILLER TIME
Wednesday 26 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
The police headquarters in Raro gets plenty of courtesy visits from fellow police members from other countries, and there was a special visitor last Wednesday. Senior Constable Bruce Miller, one of the two officers wounded in the Napier shooting siege in New Zealand in May this year (one officer, Senior Constable Len Snee, died in […]
Monday 24: HELLO?
Wednesday 26 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
Some phone users get rattled when they’re confronted by an answerphone message rather than a live person at the other end of the line, and quickly hang up. Over the weekend Air New Zealand’s answerphone – which is normally kept busy updating callers with the latest flight arrival times – was not working, so friendly […]
Monday 24: PIZZA ON WHEELS
Wednesday 26 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
A reader is curious when a mobile oven that can cook about 30 yummy pizzas an hour, is going to hit the beach. An article in Wellington’s Dominion Post a couple of months ago featured the Petone firm Piazza that has developed the mobile ovens. “People can set it up in a sports ground or […]
Monday 17: HoMs fiasco raises discontent, distrust
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, I make reference to the letter in Saturday’s publication titled ‘PSC answers criticism’. In my view the PSC Commissioner Navy Epati has failed miserably to address the growing public outcry in regards to the recent appointment of some HOMs, in particular, the three who were appointed to Justice, Agriculture and Culture. Therefore, in […]
Tuesday 18: OVERKILL?
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
Where are the cops when you really need them, asked one lady at the World Youth Netball Championships at the Telecom Sports Arena last week. “When you want them, they are never there. But look at them here [at WYNC] – they are crawling all over the place!”
Thursday 13: Every HoM position should be re-advertised
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
“Cook Islanders are so familiar with the process by which HOMs are chosen from a tiny pool of political shoe-ins that talented and experienced young Cook Islanders just don’t bother to apply,” a reader says. “Thus it is that Cabinet ends up with a short list from the tiny pool of those who are otherwise […]
Monday 17: 'Soft touch' buys a sob story
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, What on earth are our leaders doing? Since when do our country’s leaders cater to the demands of rapists and murderers! I think a response from Mark Short justifying his actions would be appropriate now. How can he condone the actions of the prisoners who escaped after they put the island on high […]
Tuesday 18: HOM PANELS
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
While Audit is looking at the HOM appointment process should they be asking questions about the selection panel itself, a smoke signaller asks. “Mark Short has publicly defended his appointment in part due to the fact that a fellow lawyer, Tina Browne, sat on the panel. Is this the same Tina Browne that is the […]
Monday 17: Govt cruel, inhumane to old HoMs
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor, Now we all know what this Demo government had in mind when they brought in the ‘new’ Public Service Act. And it is not very nice at all. Six Cook Islanders – Terry Hagan, Nga Mataio, Russell Thomas, Tamarii Pierre, Makiuti Tongia and John Herrmann – have now been consigned to the scrap […]
Tuesday 18: Public service easy money?
Wednesday 19 August 2009 | Published in Smoke Signals
Since the HoM contracts have yet to be signed and sealed, one person has suggested that the public service commissioner start everyone on a base salary of $45,000 and then work their way from there. “What I always notice is that when HoMs lose their job, you never seem to see them working in the […]
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