Opinion

LETTER: ‘I don’t want to die’

Dear Editor, I did break the law, yes, I did deserve to go to jail, and when I got sentenced my lawyer put to Crown Law, all my medical records stating my condition and asking for my sentence to be reduced, and Crown Law said no, and that Corrections can cater for me and look after people in my condition.

Kata: Education summit

Kata: Prison facility

LETTER: Prison abuse allegations dismissed

Dear Editor, I wish to respond to recent allegations levelled against the corrections department by a current inmate who is on medical referral in New Zealand.

‘Hat off for focusing on the plight of this poor man’

Dear Editor, Too frequently we read and hear about the egregious behaviour meted out by the Crown, or its servants but, consistent with those in positions to do something about it, nothing happens, and the perpetrators continue their merry way, abusing the rule of law with impunity.

PET TALK: ‘There is a far better way, the animals could have been desexed’

They weren’t sure where the noise was coming from, or what it was. High pitched and loud, yes, but not something they could place. It wasn’t a mechanical noise, something alive was definitely responsible. Dr Michael Baer of Te Are Manu Veterinary Clinic reports.

RUTA MAVE: ‘We ask others what we as nation are not prepared to do ourselves’

We may be small and unremarkable but we know how to punch it out to the big guns to stand up and call the large nations of the world to attention, to take heed and stock of themselves and look at us small minions.

Letter: Time to review our legal system

Dear Editor, I write in support of the plight of inmate Teina Simiona Ataera and his young family (‘They put me in this situation’: Authorities mum on claims of inhumane treatment at prison, Cook Islands News, October 7).

Plastic waste is growing at an unhealthy rate

In efforts to smash out plastic waste, Te Ipukarea Society partnered up with Cook Islands Sports and National Olympic Committee (CISNOC) to run a month-long “Plastic Battle competition”.

Kata: Cook Islands Games

LETTER: Wealth, health and spiritual balance

Dear Editor, Replying to ghost writer of 26.09.22, referencing Bishop Pere as to a Freudian’s Id, Ego, and Superego theory, hailed as the founding father of psychoanalysis, which is used in the treatment of mental illness.

Kata: Secret Service

LETTER: Everybody counts, or nobody counts

Dear Editor, We are now into the seventh year of the disappearance of Lissette Gonzalez Brito, a 44-year Venezuelan woman who lost her life at sea in August of 2016.

Kata: US-Cook Islands relationship

RUTA MAVE: Challenging the legality of Queen’s Memorial ‘day off’

Government is the largest employer in the Cook Islands so are they paying everyone to have the day off? Are they paying double time for all those employees who worked on September 30 for the opening of the Cook Island Games? Ruta Mave writes.

LETTER: Queen’s Memorial ‘public holiday’

Dear Editor, There is nothing like a good old debate regarding what constitutes a public holiday and what does not, not just in a legal sense but in a social sense. There is much confusion around this and unfortunately this has to rest with those who are charged with ensuring clarity around what is or is not recognised (by law) as a public holiday.

It’s time to clean up our act

International Coastal Cleanup Day is dedicated to raising awareness about the growing pollution on our beaches and in our environment. This year, Te Ipukarea Society ran a coastal cleanup which took place at the Social Centre, with over 300 Apii Nikao students and 20 students from Gisborne Girls’ High School, visiting from New Zealand.

Public holiday proclamation: Questioning the authority

Dear Editor, With no disrespect for our late Sovereign, nor the King’s Representative, Sir Tom (Marsters), I have to question the putative authority being employed to give an aura of legitimacy to the Crown’s unilateral proclamation that Friday 30 September 2022 is a Public Holiday but more particularly, from an employer’s perspective, the urgent need to be reliably informed in view of the announcement that s. 38 of the Employment Relations Act 2012 applies along with all the responsibilities and commitments that entails.

Kata: Cook Islands Games

PET TALK: Cancer in pets

Our pets suffer from many of the same cancers we get. Mammary tumours (breast cancer) is very common in female dogs, less so in cats but it tends to be severe (malignant) when cats do get it, writes Dr Michael Baer of Te Are Manu Veterinary Clinic.