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:
So many are born to unwed parents
I immigrated to New Zealand from Canada 10 years ago and have since become a NZ citizen.
It's not without its problems (like any place), particularly in terms of the family unit.
I have lived in five different countries and travelled extensively, and nowhere have I seen so many illegitimate children born to unwed parents as I have in New Zealand.
It is shocking. Each week I see the birth notices and notice that the mothers' names are usually different than the fathers'.
Why are fewer people getting married and more "shacking up" and producing illegitimate children? What happened to strong families and family values? Are we teaching our children that it is okay to have a child out of wedlock?
I am shocked at the casualness of marriage in this country. The family is the foundation of society. Statistic after statistic, study upon study, shows that children do best with a mother and father who are married and supporting one another in raising their children.
I for one congratulate those who do get married and who honour the vows of marriage. Good for you. You have my complete and utmost respect.
(Abridged)
Mark Richardson, Welcome Bay
Parental duties
Rights and responsibilities - two of the most important words in the vocabulary of the civilised world - and the Government has hijacked both of them.
When you choose to bring another life into this world, the child should be your responsibility until it leaves home and becomes responsible for itself.
It is not the Government or schools' responsibility - it should be yours. Therefore any debate over abortion is none of their business and you should have the right to know.
The Government has stolen this responsibility from you.
When it comes to reprimanding your children, it should also be the parents' choice. If the Government did not have a monopoly on the education system by forcing us to pay for government schools, and leaving only the affluent with a choice, parents could choose to send their children to a school that had corporal punishment - or not - depending on their preference.
The Government has stolen this right from parents also.
When they have successfully stolen all your rights, you will have communism. When they have taken over all your responsibilities, you will have no rights. Rights and responsibilities - two of the most vital ingredients to your freedom - and you are all just giving them away.
Graham Clark, Lower Kaimai
Exotic diseases
Re article in Bay of Plenty Times (May 25).
The kiwifruit industry is now faced with disastrous consequences, which I feel are through MAF Biosecurity letting down its guard and allowing the importation of pollen from an overseas source where Psa has occurred.
There has been no report of an inquiry into the pollen importation.
I now question how safe our dairy, sheep and beef industries are from the likely introduction of foot and mouth disease through similar circumstances. We import pork, so are we going to be faced with an outbreak of swine fever in the future?
I would strongly recommend a review of the systems in place to keep exotic diseases out of this country.
BRAM UlJEE (Snr), Te Puke
Text views
* They plank because most young kiwis no longer have the spine 2 work, Try throwing a xr around in the country when offline and not planking
* Disappointing that Cr David Stewart has resigned from TCAL (pools company)
* Wot abowt all the oversea workers in the kiwifruit industry. Sum1 shoud do a survey to get the numbers
* The council shuld reduce our rates so we can focus on retaining walls, sirens, etc ,, not on jet setting artists.
* Its a terrible thng that has happnd to this lady but in defense of the bleed i strongly disagree, pitbulls'american staffator terriers' r the most loyal dogg around and clearly after seeings itz owner in a argument has just defendd the owner az every dogg should. Iv ownerd a pitbull 4 2yearz and hav nothing but gud thngs to say about the breed
* I liv nxt door 2 a lovely young family with a pitbull, i also hav a rottwieller, both their dog and mine are calm non aggresive dogs that i totally trust.It is NOT th dog or th breed, it is th environment and th way they r treatd.I bet that statistics wil show a dog that attacks cum frm disfunctonal homes.
* Mt hot pools rip off.not even hot and they still charge u 10 bucks 2 get in. I am local and won't be going back ever.
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