Letters to the editor: Tough on crime talk just not cutting it

Talk of being tough on crime will simply not cut the mustard, writes a reader. Photo / File

Re Samuel Deane Fane, 26, who was sentenced in the High Court at Rotorua to life imprisonment with a 17-year minimum non-parole period for the murders of Paul Lasslett and Nicholas Littlewood.

In my view, this sentence is truly an insult to society and the families of the victims.

Once proven beyond doubt, severe penalties for serious crimes are long overdue.

It is time to review the consequences for people who display contempt and ignore their obligations to society yet expect to be treated at least as well as those who pull their weight.

Politicians must toughen up. They will, in time for sure. But meantime why must such social suffering be delivered on tax-paying, law-abiding citizens?

Talk of being tough on crime will simply not cut the mustard.

This issue must be confronted and effectively dealt with.

B. Anderson
Tauranga

Grateful to our artists

At Creative Bay of Plenty, we are grateful to every artist, performer, poet, and cultural leader who helps express the world we live in.

They expand our connections and understanding of everything. Whether making songs, plays, sculpture, novels, or kapa haka—creative people help us celebrate sense of place and make our region rich in cultural experiences.

We work hard to support them and grow infrastructure like Tauranga's City Art Walk and new public art initiatives, diverse concerts and festivals, and community arts hubs like The Incubator and Activate Vacant Spaces. And every day, our team promotes the work of musicians, writers, dancers, carvers, and story-tellers. The latest is Mount Maunganui-based filmmaker James Ashcroft, whose first feature film is a gripping thriller called Coming Home in the Dark.

Based on an Owen Marshall short story, it had its premiere this year at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival in the United States.

The reviews are still glowing, and soon this independent Bay of Plenty work will hit screens all across Aotearoa. For Rotorua cinema lovers who are not shy of the psychological horror genre, find Ashcroft's first feature film and support a new generation of storytellers.

All of us at Creative Bay of Plenty are filled with pride every time a local artist advances an idea, project, or new work on the global stage. And at home we are ever grateful to serve a remarkable community of performers, writers, choreographers, and filmmakers — artists with something important to say as they expand our connections and understanding of the world.

Eric Holowacz
General manager
Creative Bay of Plenty

Give away, don't throw away

With reference to the supermarket situation, France and Italy and several other countries stopped supermarkets throwing away food beyond its sell-by date and they were forced to give it away.

Maybe this should be implemented in New Zealand where perishable goods are routinely binned.

It would, perhaps, make supermarkets be a little more careful with their ordering and stocking - and pricing.

Jim Adams
Rotorua

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