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:
From critic to fervent supporter
Having been a past critic of the chaos that once was Baypark when the Chiefs came to play, I feel obliged to say how things have turned around quicker than a set of Colin Bourke boots.
Last Sunday was not only Steamer magic on the field against the Wellywoods but off the field as well.
As it was the Saturday before when we whipped the lack lustre Luke and his HarBros.
I left Te Puna with a waka full of Bourkie worshippers at 3.45 and by kick-off at 4.30 we were crouched on good seats, holding on to a handful of hotdogs and fully engaged in a great game of rugby.
It was first-class entertainment with HoriBop babysitting the kids, dancing girls who were as good as any I have seen in Vegas and champagne rugby at its grass roots best.
Well done Baypark and Bourkies Boys for turning up and turning on a first class event.
T Kapai, Te Puna
State of play
Kids want a playground in town. Town is not just for adults, it's for kids too.
We've just been in Wellington in the school holidays and they had a great playground on the waterfront. We don't want just shops we want a playground too.
Lucy Watson, 8, Matua
Kids need risk
Re Waterfront playground plans (News, July 28).
Previous decades have seen playground designers struggle to make playgrounds safe and interesting for older kids. But maybe we have to realise that we can only make them safer. Kids need risk in order to evaluate it.
Imagine a clever, unique, dynamic and challenging playground in Tauranga. Design it for older kids, 7-plus, fence it off and make it well signposted so preschoolers aren't permitted in. And the health benefits?
True vision would see it in tourist guides like Lonely Planet and bring more tourists into town.
And helping kids understand there are consequences to decisions they make, that the things they do can have dangerous outcomes? I would prefer a few bumps in a playground to a car down a cliff. Research confirms kids need risk.
Don't be Australia, where 90 per cent of playgrounds are targeted towards preschooler safety. School kids rock up at the new $200,000 playground, turn, go home. New Zealand is braver.
I am yet to meet a parent who approaches a playground with an older child and says "oh goody it's nice and safe". Ten-year-olds want to be challenged. Parents understand kids need to deal with stuff.
Let's leave a meaningful legacy for our kids.
Jodie Bruning, Tauranga
The best care
I would take issue with Angela Scott of Tauranga Age Concern and the comment she made "support of family, friends and close neighbours who can check up on us". (Elderly woman found alone and bleeding, News, August 4).
Unless the elderly lady had a medical alarm that she could have activated, family, friends and close neighbours are not going to be checking on her at 11.30pm to ensure she was safe and what "personal disaster plan" would have ensured that this lady was found earlier (apart from the medical alarm).
I believe it is unfair to infer that her family, friends and neighbours were uncaring people.
It would seem that as soon as she was discovered, the very best care was given to her and I wish her well in her recovery.
Lori Sinton, Te Puna
Tall Kiwis
What a brilliant and refreshing "Our View" in Bay of Plenty Times (August 1). I get so frustrated with Kiwis and their tall poppy syndrome complex. Tell me, what is wrong with working hard and reaping the rewards of all that hard work?
As Nelson Mandela stated in his famous address - "Your playing small does not serve the world - there is nothing enlightened about shrinking so other people won't feel insecure around you ..."
Keep up the good work.
Helen Barnard, Tauranga
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