Letters to editor 21 November 2008
Building on Takaka floodplain
Am I dreaming or does the council have double standards? After all, Abbeyfield and the library were built in the so-called floodzone, yet the council won't allow a new medical centre to be built there. I thought we voted Mr Borlase in to work for the folk of the Bay; after all he collects our ratepayers' money for wages.
There are a lot of elderly people in the township who are there so they are handy to the doctors because they can walk or go on their scooters. How are they supposed to get to Park Avenue? There may be another flood but also a major earthquake which could see houses fall at Pohara/Tata areas as they have been allowed to be built on the fault line. I think the council needs to look at the history of the Bay and listen to Paul Sangster and Nola Drummond who have seen the floods before. Mr Borlase, you and your council need to think of the older folk in the Bay who have lived in the township all their lives. The council is trying to force them out of their homes by increasing rates every year.
Betty Wilson
Response from Cr Stuart Borlase: It is an unfortunate fact that nobody can predict the timing or severity of a flood event; we in Takaka could experience a flood much worse than the 1983 event but we may miss out entirely. Nobody knows.
Council, rightly or wrongly, errs on the side of caution. Because of the unpredicatability of flood events, council is rezoning an area of flat land close to Takaka for residential purposes but is discouraging new homes being built in the flood plain. It is not a prohibition, and Variation 57, recently released, is subject to appeal.
With regard to Abbeyfield and the library, both of these buildings have been built up so that the floor is at least 500mm above the 1983 flood levels.
I should point out that council has not stopped a new medical centre from being built in the flood plain and the integrated health project is continuing to research the areas that have been offered for the building of their complex. When that decision is publicised, the management group will examine ways and means of transporting people without other means of transport, to the facility.
Pro life
Abortion is a tricky issue isn't it? Some years ago I was entrusted with the care of a young woman who was terrified to tell her parents that she was pregnant. She came to the agency I was working for at the time to seek help, so distraught that she said she would kill herself if she had to go through with the pregnancy. And I believe she would have. I struggled with the decision to accompany her to the gynecologist - in school time - and without her parents' knowledge or consent. The deciding factor however, was that I knew if my daughter ever found herself in a situation that she couldn't approach me about, I knew I would want her to have a caring and responsible adult available to go to for help.
People are often a mystery to each other, though. Personally I always find it hard to fathom that in a community whose main industry is based on the sad reality of the harvesting of newborns, we don't concern ourselves with the sanctity of life on a broader scale.
Name withheld by request
Abort political correctness
Madam, let me allay your fears regarding the meddling of politicians in family life (GBW Letters 14/11).
The logical and obvious fact is this: those Greenies have so many abortions, they will soon become extinct. Besides, I overheard someone in the supermarket saying that the Greens were all homosexuals! That won't raise their birthrate now, will it? Not to worry then: with more kiddies on our side, the Greens will be outpopulated and outvoted. Then we can inherit what is left of the earth.
To prepare my own children for that future, I practise the simple parenting method of "preventative smacking". Method: Smack each child firmly, every morning. Like a dose of cod liver oil, it's good to get it out of the way first thing. Also, smacking before breakfast (not after), has a better effect on the moral fibre. The smack is a preventative against prostitution and unplanned pregnancy for the rest of the day! Having a sore bottom makes hanky-panky a much less attractive activity.
Preventative smacking also gets around those pesky new laws, because "prevention" is not the same as "punishment" or "correction", which the smacking laws forbid.
See? With logic and a little sound advice, political interference in family life can be avoided altogether!
Jaywyn "The Trousers" Riley
Complaint was incomprehensible
We, the Golden Bay RDA Group, are appalled that there are some narrow-minded people who are too gutless to speak to us in person. That they have to resort to contacting the Nelson RSPCA to complain about our horses is incomprehensible.
Our horses are under the daily care of our horse carer and supervisor, and our feeding and health routines are always under veterinarian advice. We can only surmise that the authors of these baseless complaints have an agenda of their own which has nothing to do with animal welfare.
The local RSPCA inspector and our vet have checked the horses and find nothing wrong with them except that they have a tendency towards foundering if they are fed too much lush pasture at any one time. So for this reason pasture is restricted to them on a daily break-feeding routine. If these people (and we know who you are) have a genuine complaint, then please contact us first and we will listen to you if your reasons are genuine.
We have also found that people have been into our paddock and have moved the fences, thus giving the horses too much grass, which could have a very serious affect on their health. These actions will not be tolerated.
Cliff Chapman, president, on behalf of Golden Bay RDA
Community mosaic workshops
During the festive season, with family and friends visiting, if by some unfortunate accident a special piece of crockery, china or crystal should break, please don't throw it in the garbage. We would like to use it in our mosaics in the Rototai community projects. I'll be happy to collect any pieces, just give me a call on 525 7646.
NgAng
Zeitgeist
Ever had the unshakable feeling that there was something deeply wrong with the world? How is it that 5 per cent of the world's population controls 40 per cent of the world's resources, gained by corruption, coercion, and violence - motivated by greed and hunger for power - while the rest of the world struggles to live or die?
If you ever saw the Matrix movie and had the creepy feeling that it contained some metaphor about the human condition, you weren't wrong. We are living in a world where we have unwittingly become slaves to the machinery of big business and the powerful stakeholders in it. We are held in this slavery by corrupt political institutions that no longer serve "the people". There are now millions of other people who share this view and want to do something about it. If you want to find out more, please watch Zeitgeist and Zeitgeist the Addendum. It is not illegal to download, or copy and distribute these movies, in fact they want you to do this. Also visit <www.thezeitgeistmovement.com>. Alternatively you can ring me on 525 6202 and I can help you obtain copies.
Cait Tomlinson
Bring on de-amalgamation
A big thank you to Noel Riley and Joe Bell who worked hard to keep TDC from sticking us with higher rates for our governance, of course, to no avail, as we sit on this board of Richmond-based and controlled TDC. Again we see TDC acting against the majority of Golden Bay and the Local Government Commission on this issue. Since the dreaded amalgamation, we have seen our valuable assets sold, suffered untold TIC directives that do not benefit Golden Bay, and our rates have soared. Golden Bay used to run its own affairs efficiently and we can do it again. Bring on de-amalgamation.
Victoria Davis
Motupipi Hall fundraising soup luncheons
Motupipi Hall Inc's committee would like to thank everyone who patronised our Fundraising Soup Luncheons and Book Fairs. We have now paid for our foyer carpet and painting of the outside of the hall. We will be having another Book Fair and produce stall on 10 January 2009. If anyone has books, magazines etc they would like to donate towards this fair please ring Megan Nalder 525 8064 or Myrtle Nelson 525 9797. The proceeds of this fair will go towards upgrading our toilets.
Motupipi Hall Committee
Aotearoa - Racism
Maori history - like Pakeha history - includes love and peace. It also includes tribal conquests, cannibalism, slavery, rape, subjugation of women, and environmental pillage and destruction.
Political correctness at the expense of honesty, integrity and equality is just excrement. Elitism cloaked in the feathers of the birds from any land is still elitism. We share one land, one sun, one moon. In our town I see black, white, yellow, brown, some spotty ones, some with only red necks and enough greens to fill two plastic shopping bags. The potatoes that make up this Pakeha grew from this land.
Spirit knows no colour, or gender. Greed knows no colour. Integrity knows no colour. Love knows no colour. Ask your mother, or mine. Love and peace.
BJ White
Tourism numbers in Golden Bay
Year: 1992 1997 2002 2006 2007 2008
August: 442 673 1314 1610 3309 2083
September: 544 833 1755 2109 2561 3286
