Your View - Letters to the Editor

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
School's bell rings true
Starting school is daunting. When you're joining children who've been together for three years, even more so.
Having had a not-so-great experience at school in The Avenues, we needed a better learning environment. We chose Bellevue School and began to prepare ourselves for change.
Principal Dave Bell suggested a day's trial at Bellevue - a very successful idea. He also invited us to their gala. It was a eye-opening pleasure to see really involved teachers manning stalls and cooking sausages.
So we were set. Good first impressions and positive things to talk about over Christmas. But the best was yet to come.
Day one - nerves and trepidation gave way to smiles and, "It's all right, you can go now mum," as, when we arrived, Mr Bell was at the gate welcoming families.
"Morning Isobel, Jo. Great to see you." That personal, clear, simple, friendly communication made the day.
Day two - even better. Mr Bell engaged her for 10 minutes finding out whether she liked her class, teacher and school. It put a beam on Isobel's face that could light up the Bay of Plenty. Not only did he know who she was ... he cared.
Thank you, Dave Bell.
Joanne Allum, Otumoetai

National on notice
Re English, Sharples crazy choice to steer review (Winston Peters, February 5).
I agree with Winston. National has been extremely sneaky in their dealings with the Maori Party. Look at the way Pita sneaked off to the UN to ratify the Treaty.
National are not taking the least bit of notice of their voters when they say the Seabed and Foreshore Bill is going to create huge problems because the radicals will take it into their hands to treat it as they like. Instead, we are told if we vote for Peters we are voting for the Labour Party as National will not work with him.
John Key is becoming a dictator and taking we as voters' democratic rights away from us. He may live to regret that decision one day.
Margaret Hills, Bethlehem

Drink much worse
Recently in the BOP Times there was an article on cannabis, claiming it to be NZ's worst drug problem, and costing the taxpayer $315million annually to clean up the damage.
I do not disagree with him but the dubious "honour" of being NZ's number one drug problem - legal or not - is alcohol.
Alcohol scrambles the brain, confuses judgment and self-control and lowers moral standards. It dissolves wedding rings and puts the safety of the unborn child at risk.
The cost to the taxpayer is more than a billion dollars annually but no amount can bring back the lives lost, homes broken, children abused, dignity lowered and enslaving one in 10 social drinkers and causing another two of the 10 to become excessive drinkers.
Alcohol has a lot to answer for.
H M CRAIG, Aspen House, Tauranga

Terrace treasures
The news of the finding of the Pink and White Terraces which still might be intact is of great interest to me.
In the late 1930s, I knew Mrs Ina Hobbs - formerly Ina Haszard, survivor in the Haszard family Tarawera eruption in 1886. She lived with her daughter, Elva Aitcheson, in Putaruru. She also had relatives who lived at Waotu in the Putaruru district. Ina taught painting and Elva music.
In their home was a large collection of Ina's paintings, the terraces, scenes of the lakes and waterfalls. The painting of great interest was of the eruption as she remembered - as eye-witness. She always explained that her paintings where accurate. She was my first teacher in art and taught "paint what is before you".
I believe Blomfield viewed her paintings before painting his versions which are now so well known. She also gave talks on her experiences - she had great mana and presence. She wrote a book - Days of Our Years.
I now wonder where her paintings are as they will be of great historical value, and of great interest to the scientists doing this survey 125 years on. Perhaps someone may be able to tell us in whose keeping her paintings are and, hopefully, if they have survived.
BP DAVIS, Tauranga

Sense called for
Re: Route K Toll Road.
For motorists travelling south along Cameron Rd, the last access to Route K is via the roundabout at Elizabeth St West.
Surely as not all traffic travelling south originates from downtown Tauranga, common sense indicates that a more southerly access from Cameron Rd is required at either Waihi Rd or 15th Ave?
Waihi Rd eliminates four sets of traffic lights while 15th Avenue eliminates three (excluding the pedestrian crossing).
Both exits from Cameron Rd would avoid the bottle neck by the hospital, Gate Pa School plus its pedestrian crossing, Tauranga Girls' College, the bottleneck at the Greerton pedestrian crossings and the Green Park School restrictive speed zone.
Hopefully the powers that be will construct this exit/access soon and that an increased traffic volume will increase the revenue from Route K for as long as it is a toll road.
WILL GOLDSMITH, Pyes Pa

Hunter horror
I read with a mixture of incredulity and anger MJ Forsythe's letter regarding the tragic death of Ms Ives. For him to suggest that Ms Ives' wearing of a head torch on a camping ground was "foolhardy" is jaw dropping. Using a head torch while cleaning teeth is a sensible choice as it leaves both hands free.
I know absolutely nothing about hunting as I would expect the vast majority of campers from NZ and overseas likewise don't. Is MJ Forsythe suggesting that my family and myself are at danger of being shot while camping on a camping ground? MJ Forsythe gives hunters a bad name with such tasteless remarks.
Adam Hughes, Matua
Totally off target
I'm gobsmacked that MJ Forsythe (Your View, February 8) could feel sorry for a "hunter" who has intentionally broken all the rules and subsequently shot and killed a fellow human being who was going about their legitimate activities.
Positive identification is required to confirm in every instance that the target is actually a deer and nothing else. To suggest that the victim could have contributed to the tragedy by using a head-light, perceived to be hunting equipment, is to put it mildly, offensive. Head-lights were the preferred equipment among my tramping fraternity to ensure safe arrival at the hut in darkness; or were we fair game?
I might have some sympathy for a hunter who shoots someone dressed in a deer skin, who was crawling around on all-fours in a recreational hunting area. Otherwise they should rightfully face a manslaughter charge.
Alastair Jones, Bellevue

Penalty fitting?
So what I'm wondering is that if Illuminati was found guilty of serving overly intoxicated patrons on a Saturday night then why isn't the closure on a Saturday night? Obviously, the LLA is not aware that Saturday in Tauranga is the busiest night and the punishment should fit the offence.
If Illuminati were, by overseas standards, an actual superclub - there wouldn't be this type of problem.
However, here in good old NZ - binge drinking, muppets on the streets ... another story, another day.
Dean Hokianga, Bellevue
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