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:
Lower rail track for The Strand not viable
With reference to the letter May 25 regarding lowering the railway line on The Strand. If the line was lowered enough to conceal the trains, a tunnel would have to be built to allow access to the waterfront. This tunnel would be below sea level, with attendant problems to prevent flooding.
Also, lowering the rail line to the required level would result in the gradient being too steep for the short distance between the tunnel and bridge, for the trains. That idea is no-brainer.
Joy Macgregor, Tauranga
Limit consumption
Many Wellingtonians are critical of the proposed commercially inspired "Wellywood" sign. Shouldn't Tauranga's BOP Times readers (and editor) take a similar stance with the "indulge" title the paper gives to its weekend supplement.
"Indulgence" in lifestyles of excessive consumption powered by the energy obtained from fossil fuels is heading our planetary home into a climatic catastrophe.
The message the BOP Times - and the rest of our media and our administrators - needs to be instilling in present generations is not to indulge but to limit our consumption to only that which we really need, and our energy use to renewable forms only.
Eddie Orsulich, Otumoetai
Trigger happy
For 63 years I have owned and shot with everything from a Joe Manton flintlock to a Colt .357 Magnum but never have I shot a bird on the water or taking off. For two years, I humped a rifle as a soldier, and another two years used rifle and shotgun on the East Taupo Rabbit Board, so I think I have sufficient qualifications to write on the subjects of firearms and pest control.
Guns pose many legitimate questions, and I know they can never be the answer to any single question. To me, a swan shoot is like shooting cows in a paddock.
From what I saw on TVNZ1 of the swan shoot in the Bay of Plenty, if this firearms discipline is maintained on the next shoot, the swans are not going to be the only ones to die on that day.
In this age of technology, limiting the numbers of these beautiful birds need not be left to the lazy, the incompetent, and the trigger happy. In my day, there was a great difference between hunting and killing. Let's get our heads together, reject needless pain and suffering, and come up with what, after all, is a fairly simple problem.
Julian Dickon, Katikati
Minister erred
About 40 years ago, when there was talk of allowing pitbull terriers into the country, there were a number of letters in the Manawatu paper saying these dogs were banned from several countries.
The then minister who had to decide said he would make up his own mind and not be told by others. He is now deceased, but common sense should have prevailed.
M Alexander, Tauranga
Text Views
* Re Rachel Huntr n Giggs.Who the blody hel cares f she had sex with him!Missing nt being n headlines rach?I more interestd n wat feedng cat 4 dinner 2nte!
* OH COME ON! Hands up if u've ever put your ear on a railway line 2 c if u really can hear a train comin or walked along balancin on 1 line or even walked to the middle of the road & waited 4 a chance 2 cross 2 the other side. Reid Moodie has 2 ears & a photogragher 2 keep a lookout for a sneaky train.
* I agree with the correspondent who wrote about the radio stations re: playing the same old songs over and over. They are all guilty of it. How hard is it to change your programs, there are 1000s of songs to choose! Come on radio stations get your act together, give us some variety
* Why dont the council gather up the hot air they produce in their meeting room and use it for heating mt hot pools.
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