The Bay of Plenty Times welcomes letters and comments from readers. Below you can read the letters we have published in your newspaper today.
TODAY'S LETTERS:
Time Greenies woke up to reality of life
I had occasion to have a rather scary moment while driving on Saturday, nothing to do with my driving skills.
I was caused to burst into sudden laughter at a news report on the car radio.
The report stated that a small number of noisy protesters, led by former Green Party MP Sue Bradford had demonstrated outside the offices of the EMA, outraged at the comments made by their besieged CEO, Alasdair Thompson. (Also commented on in an infinitely more balanced view by Dame Susan Devoy in an excellent "opinion" column in your newspaper (Bay of Plenty Times Weekend, June 25).
It was reported Ms Bradford and company threw tampons at the building and called for Mr Thompson's resignation because of his comments on air in a radio interview about the pay rates and productivity of woman in the workforce.
Can someone please enlighten me to the fact that Sue Bradford has ever been involved in productive work of any kind?
When will these extreme left greenies wake up to the fact they live in the society that we enjoy because the people Alasdair Thompson represents, as well as many other private sector industries, are productive and pay tax?
Rex Mangham, Mount Maunganui
Parenting styles
Re: Too young, too wasted (Bay of Plenty Times Weekend, June 25)
Get Smart Tauranga Drug and Alcohol Services manager Stuart Caldwell said parents were often responsible for buying the alcohol that was getting teens drunk.
"The other suspicion I have is that with a large solo parent society, there is a type of guilt on some parents that they are not providing everything they should to their teens.
"In their attempt to compensate they seem to think it is more important to be their friend than their guardian," he said.
I agree we have an out-of-control teen culture of drinking excessively. I do not agree with Mr Caldwell in his suspicion that the solo parents are responsible for this culture.
As a solo parent I never raised my children with the understanding that I had to compensate for them not having what society claims to be the normal family unit. We should instead be looking at the parenting styles that exist within society and encourage parents to seek positive changes in the style they are raising children.
Society needs less permissive parents (taking on the status of a friend more than that of a parent) and more authoritative parents (rules and guidelines in a democratic style of parenting), willing to listen, be nurturing, and assertive not intrusive and restrictive supporting their children to be socially responsible.
G McIsaac, Ohauiti
Review decision
Re: Fresh look at decision on church (June 24).
Questions have to be asked over the Tauranga City Council and Welcome Bay Baptist Church lease agreement.
Why was the decision reached by the previous council to not renew the lease? Was it they did not want to set a precedents to lease reserve land to the church or did they require use of the land for future town planning.
What ever the reason, what has the council's present financial woes got to do with revisiting the original decision. When the church were granted the lease all improvements and dwellings should have been financed by the church and there for the property of.
Knowing when the lease was to be terminated, all dwellings should have to be demolished or removed from the site at the expense of the tenant, then the reserve reinstated back to a green area before handing back to the council. The council should not have to be financially responsible for improvements.
If council has no immediate plans for the reserve, then it may well be prudent to review the past decision and re lease the reserve to the Baptist church on a suitable term, ensuring all issues regarding the future termination of the lease will not be a financial burden on the ratepayer.
Daryl Harlan, Tauranga
We don't want you
It is interesting to read the continuing complaints made by Turners & Growers about its inability to export kiwifruit.
It wants to be in competition against the industry single desk marketing arrangements handled so well by Zespri.
The legislation has been in place for a long time and is there because of the benefits to growers and the whole country.
The law was there when T & G started its own kiwifruit plantings so it has only itself to blame for any present problems.
It must have thought it was powerful enough to change the marketing arrangements. Clearly it misjudged the intelligence and wishes of the vast majority of growers.
There are plenty of us who have been in the industry for many years. We all remember those bad old days when there were too many firms competing in the export market. In those days we were simply price takers. If there was any money left over after all the off orchard expenses had been covered, then it went to the growers.
Come on T & G, face reality and accept that NZ growers do not want you as a kiwifruit exporter.
Spare a thought for your shareholders.
I am a GPG shareholder and would like you to stop wasting my money.
David Underwood, Kiwifruit grower, Wellington
Text views
* Payn parents 2 get thea kids imunizd. Sounz like blakmail 2 me. Disgustng!! Steve Grant
* parents r not making an informed decision not 2 immunise their child if they r 2 lazy selfish or disorganised 2 do so
* bb guns should not be banned.nor should all police be armed.
* bb guns shouldn't be banned, instead there should be harsher penalties for people that use them in a manner that ends in the police been called. John mills, bellevue
* Well done to the Council for the 30 km/h speed limit they have successfully ground the city to a halt everywhere else so why not the traffic also? What next??
* New Mt speed limits rubbish, show me the fatality rates n how they are gonna drop
* Fay bayliss go back 2 the police and tell them 2 lay charges. Forget school response. Too soft.
* Oats colege hav police.Tgc hav bd girls atackin students.Parents sort ur kids out.A bt of tlc is wgt kids of 2day nd.
* Mrs cowens of tgc sort ur school out.Ths girls shld hav bn expeld.Wgt disgustin behaviour of ths girls.Parents of ths girls .Shame on u.
* Re.your schools must act openly. Did the editor talk tauranga girls colege head 4 their persective?
* council reimburse ratepayers the costs of chch jaunt. Dont use our money on hikoi. Just an expensive and poor excuse 4 a day out of the office.
* No !. Standard reaction somthing happens ban it ! Tree hugger reaction yet again!
* Do buses hav2 slow dwn around skools or hav they thea own rules?
* What a winner Aaron McIntosh, the cannabis cook, is. Wouldn't you be proud to be one of his three children. Such a role-model. Bloody idiot.
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