Letters to the Editor
Letter: Is UN seat worth the risk?
Friday 12 April 2024 | Written by Supplied | Published in Letters to the Editor, Opinion
Dear Editor, We like to think that we march to the beat of our own drums when it comes to our lives but do we?
Letter: Don’t touch our New Zealand ties!
Thursday 11 April 2024 | Written by Supplied | Published in Letters to the Editor, Opinion
Dear Editor, I write with palpable gloom and deep concern about this subject matter (Referendum needed to decide UN membership, says Elikana, Cook Islands News, April 6). We need to sift through the issues carefully and be able to anticipate the full consequences.
Letter: ‘No to paying for my water’
Wednesday 10 April 2024 | Written by Supplied | Published in Letters to the Editor, Opinion
Dear Editor, Well, aren’t we busy bees on this island coming up with all sorts of ideas and ways to make money. Way to go whoever you are that comes up with these brain waves and of course, always including the people in the decision making as you go. Now it’s water.
Letter: Water charges ‘poverty to the people’
Tuesday 9 April 2024 | Written by Supplied | Published in Letters to the Editor, Opinion
Dear Editor, This week To Tatou Vai is hosting vaka consultations on water charges. The imposition of user-pays is the authority following through on neocolonial development policy.
Letter: Cannabis laws vs public opinion
Monday 8 April 2024 | Written by Supplied | Published in Letters to the Editor, Opinion
Dear Editor, It was reported in the Cook Islands News on 9-12-23, a jury of nine women and two men found an Aitutaki man guilty of supplying cannabis following a two-day trial on Rarotonga.
Letter: Cook Islands voices matter
Friday 5 April 2024 | Written by Supplied | Published in Letters to the Editor, Opinion
Dear Editor, A question to the Editor about the column published by Thomas Wynne. No discredit to his column at all. It can be a great read and it is an Opinion column and he does that and you have published it for many years.
Letter: The real cost of their crimes
Thursday 4 April 2024 | Written by Supplied | Published in Letters to the Editor, Opinion
Dear Editor, I raise questions on the sentencing of former Cook Islands deputy prime minister Robert Tapaitau and two other former high-ranking Government officials (Nga Puna and Diane Charlie-Puna), handed jail terms for fraud and corruption charges.
Letter: Marijuana a cure for costly pig feed?
Tuesday 2 April 2024 | Written by Supplied | Published in Letters to the Editor, Opinion
Dear Editor, There is a special provision in the Narcotics and Misuse of Drugs Act 2004, number 33, that allows you to grow as many marijuana plants as you want, as long as you don’t use it for a pharmacological effect.
Letter: Responsible ownership, not bans!
Thursday 28 March 2024 | Written by Supplied | Published in Letters to the Editor, Opinion
Dear Editor, I am struggling to comprehend the rationale behind the recent list of prohibited dog breeds released to the public by the Police department.
Letter: Church setup- Mamae e ngakau
Wednesday 27 March 2024 | Written by Supplied | Published in Letters to the Editor, Opinion
Dear Editor, Last Sunday I went to Church, the Avarua Christian Church, a usual practice that I’ve done over many years growing up as a child from the village of Tupapa. As I approached the front steps of the Church, I noticed that the front had been upgraded and looked good. There were the usual men greeting arrivals and we exchanged pleasantries warmly.
Letter: Promoting sustainable and organic farming
Tuesday 26 March 2024 | Written by Supplied | Published in Letters to the Editor, Opinion
Dear Editor, Kiriau Turepu used to be the minister for agriculture and environment and had at the time the unique opportunity to turn the islands into an organic self-sustaining producer (Fertiliser shortage threatens crops, says former Agriculture minister, March 22).
Letter: The victim ‘had a proper helmet on’
Monday 25 March 2024 | Written by Supplied | Published in Letters to the Editor, Opinion
Myself (Chrissy) and my daughter were first on the scene at this accident as we were driving right behind the young girl and her friends and I witnessed the whole accident.
Letter: Fake helmets raise concerns
Monday 25 March 2024 | Written by Supplied | Published in Letters to the Editor, Opinion
Dear Editor, The Police department’s response to the problem of fake German hats worn as crash helmets is pathetic and inexcusable (Teen injured in Nikao motorcycle collision, March 23).
Letter: Broken trust
Friday 22 March 2024 | Written by Supplied | Published in Letters to the Editor, Opinion
Dear Editor, I am still trying to wrap my mind around the justification made by (Minister) Tingika Elikana during the recent consultations that because we now have more money compared to 10 years ago, this warrants increasing our number of Ministers in Parliament.
Letter: Spot on, Iriti!
Thursday 21 March 2024 | Written by Supplied | Published in Letters to the Editor, Opinion
Kia orana, a couple of great Letter to the Editor from Iriti Maoate.
Letter: Life’s most important lesson
Thursday 21 March 2024 | Written by Supplied | Published in Letters to the Editor, Opinion
Dear Editor, We can all wonder what our under-paid school teachers, sweltering in sauna-hot classrooms think about our ‘honourable' members of Parliament, in their aircon offices, crying for more money so that they can skip work more often.
Letter: Hemp legal in Cook Islands
Wednesday 20 March 2024 | Written by Supplied | Published in Letters to the Editor, Opinion
Dear Editor, In an article in the Cook Islands News on December 12, 2023, the esteemed senior defence lawyer Norman George pointed out that hemp, not being a prohibited drug, saying it should not even be mentioned in the amendment.
Letters: Avatiu football
Tuesday 19 March 2024 | Written by Supplied | Published in Letters to the Editor, Opinion
I am a recent convert to soccer. I have followed the progress of the Avatiu Women’s soccer team at the OFC tournament in the Solomon Islands.
Letters: Paychecks and proxy votes
Tuesday 19 March 2024 | Written by Supplied | Published in Letters to the Editor, Opinion
Dear Editor, Overworked? Underpaid? Daily stress trying to get the job done? And all the while still facing the weekly family financial burdens with cost of living, inflation, etc.
Letter: The roadway that disappeared
Friday 15 March 2024 | Written by Supplied | Published in Letters to the Editor, Opinion
Kia orana. Can anyone out there assist with info and photographs? Back in about 1984/85, there was a major construction of a roadway, more or less across from the Police Station today, and going across in the direction of the Boiler.