Letters to Editor 31 July
The Price of Milk tomorrow night
See the wonderfull full colour ad in this issue! This year we are holding back some tickets for door sales although tickets will remain on sale at Paradise Entertainment until 5pm on Saturday. Village Theatre doors open at 7.10pm. Show starts at 7.30pm.
Dave Myall
Heated swimming pool
How good would it be to be able to swim year-round in the Bay? For me this would be a dream come true. I think of all the people a covered, heated swimming pool would benefit. The elderly, infirm or those needing gentle, rehabilitative exercise, pregnant women, bored teenagers - a healthy recreational space for families to be together in cold, wet winter weather. This is something that would benefit everyone in our community. There is no other facility that fulfills this role in Golden Bay at present.
Annie Turner
Horse riders, please clear up the horse poo
Congratulations to all those involved in the recently completed cycleway from Boundary Road corner to Blyths hill. It is wonderful. The signs at the Boundary Road end depict a cyclist and a walker indicating its usage. Recently we have noticed horses using the cycleway, which we think is great too, as long as they give way to cyclists and walkers.
We do however have a problem with the horse manure deposited on the cycleway and left for cyclists and walkers to dodge. Surely horse riders are responsible for cleaning up after their animals? Dog owners are responsible for dog faeces in our public places, so why not horse owners? Who is responsible for policing a big pile of horse dung left on a public road where it becomes a hazard to cyclists and motorcyclists? Please horse riders, when using public roads, think of others using these places too and pick up your animals’ poo.
The Rountree family, Boundary Road
Disaster at Pohara Beach
Another disaster at Pohara beach at the hands of the so-called Coast Care group whose actions have cause accelerated erosion of parts of the sand dunes along the Selwyn Street frontage and particularly toward the eastern end of the golf course. That area now requires to be restored for the third time.
If Tasman District Council is really serious about concerns of the results of sea level rising, they need to monitor what Coast Care is doing and audit the results of what they have done. Throwing money at Coast Care and hoping for the best is wasting ratepayer money and is not enhancing protection of a fragile land area. This is a matter that requires professional planning and supervision by TDC staff now before dune erosion caused by Coast Care becomes a major engineering problem.
Graeme Hall
Reply from Lloyd Kennedy, TDC community services manager: Council contractors have not had to restore the area for a third time as stated by Mr Hall. What has actually happened is that we are now preparing a third area for Coast Care control. The first area with the spinifex planting has been successful with the sand being collected in front, on top and behind the dune which is the aim of the programme. In the second area the spinifex, which was planted less than a year ago, is establishing and will continue to grow during this coming spring. A third stage has recently been sprayed in preparation for planting which should take place on 19 September.
The dune cutting that has recently happened is part of the cut and fill process that is a characteristic of the sandy coastline during storms and fair weather. Marram and iceplant dunes have also been cut back on this beach during this event. This type of cutting event, based on predictions for weather pattern change and sea level rise, makes it important that we use techniques that help dunes grow in size to act as a buffer for storm attacks in the future. These areas are trials to assess the potential for this and are carefully monitored.
Throughout the district there are a number of Coast Care groups who have given many hours of their time to assist with the programme and we welcome anyone from the community to join these groups. We are also happy to organise visits to coastcare sites to explain the process to anyone interested.
Ligar Bay baches
Debate over the removal or allowing the Ligar Bay baches to remain, has so far overlooked one aspect of the discussion which transcends the interests of the bach owners. This is the profound effect that their removal would have on Ligar Bay’s beauty and visual appeal. They are an asset which must be preserved.
From the beach, the baches create the illusion of a New Zealand pre-dating the stampede to the coast. They form an agreeable buffer between the traffic using the coast road and the beach. More importantly, they help hide the unattractive glass box and corrugated iron structures on the inland side of the road, which in the baches’ absence would overlook the beach.
The continued presence of the baches is essential to avoid losing much of Ligar Bay’s character and charm. The proposed alternative of cycle-ways, trees, grass, etc has no merit. All New Zealanders should have the opportunity to see Ligar Bay in its present state in perpetuity.
The bach owners have already suffered Tasman District Council’s mean-spirited action of unnecessarily widening the road up to their front doors. Their removal would only devalue Ligar Bay as a place worth visiting.
Jeffrey Allen
Anti-violence petition
It was great to see Dot Marshall’s letter (GBW 24/7). I am in total agreement with Dot’s comment “against violence but for child correction”. I just feel sad that our society often views physical punishment as an acceptable way to correct.
Physical punishment often makes children comply, but only in the short term. What we want is for children to realise they should do something because it is the right thing to do, not through fear of punishment. Other, more positive parental strategies have been shown to work equally well and longer term. All the research available is overwhelmingly consistent concluding physical punishment produces negative outcomes for children.
The aim of the law was to prevent the loophole that people were using of ‘reasonable force’. This defence had excused people who had severely abused their children, sometimes to the point of death. The police have no evidence of any increase in reporting of a simple smack, and would certainly never prosecute for removal of a child into time out as Dot suggests. We have to believe in our police to use their discretion, and the law shows they are doing it.
My hope is that over time, parenting without physical punishment will become part of our culture in New Zealand.
Emma Brazendale, co-ordinator
Violence-Free Golden Bay
