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
Choked by fumes - yet smokers are a problem?
What a laugh: people go to Baypark and breathe in the stinking dust and exhaust fumes of a hundred race cars - and have the temerity to complain about breathing in cigarette smoke. Unbelievable.
Get the council out of the entertainment business - it's none of their business. The council should not be involved in the entertainment business anyway.
If I owned Baypark I would ban councillors to save the public from having to rub shoulders with people who would use force on them.
Graham Clark, Lower Kaimai
Siren solution
Re: Council must act now on sirens (Our View, March 15).
The council should install Bay-wide Thunderbolt warning sirens - they are the most recognisable sound when a disaster happens.
Terry Jones, Mount Maunganui
Beware of scam
I've just got off the phone with a kind gentleman from India who wanted to fix my virus-riddled computer over the phone by directing me to a site where he reassured me, if I just pressed the inviting green button, all my computer woes would disappear. I declined as I was already aware that this was a scam that had been used in the UK and America.
It seems that these scumbags are now fishing for dupes in New Zealand. The people they target are those of us who are not "computer savvy", quite often the elderly.
If you get an unsolicited call from someone claiming to be from Microsoft, an ISP, or "tech service" who wishes to fix your computer over the phone by directing you to a website, it is a scam, They will put viruses on to your computer and try to get you to pay for the privilege.
Put the phone down and if you are especially worried about viruses ask a teenager to put on one of the many free antivirus programs available.
Paul Ferris, Tauranga
Stones in rings
I believe Tania Lilly is too sweeping in saying that coloured stones should not be considered for engagement rings (Bay of Plenty Times Weekend, March 12).
The hardness of minerals is measured using a resistance to scratching method known as the Moh's Scale.
Jewellers know that any stone in the 8-10 range has a precious stone hardness status.
While it is true that diamonds are the hardest of all at 10, stones such as sapphire and ruby at nine are perfectly satisfactory for engagement rings.
Lawrence Woods, Katikati
Save, then spend
Re Mega-mall in Tauriko tipped to fill gap (Bay of Plenty Times Weekend, March 12): What on earth are people thinking?
The Lakes goes into receivership.
The Christchurch earthquake has made New Zealand totally broke.
In fact, we were well broke before that.
Where on earth are all these rich customers for retail spending going to come from then?
Tauranga City Council is in serious debt.
I wonder why?
Maybe because all the people that work there are paid too much? CEO $400k a year - for doing what?
I would do it for $75k a year.
People need to stop being ignorant about the economy and grow up.
Save first and then spend when you have it, not the other way around.
Robert Clark, Papamoa
Ridiculous lights
Re: Traffic banks behind "silly" lights (News, March 16).
This is not silly, it's totally ridiculous. The Tauranga City Council has been on an idiotic, unnecessary programme of throwing up traffic lights hither and thither for no good reason, other than spending more ratepayer money on useless projects. This is the latest dumb move.
None of the businesses or residents were consulted (advising does not constitute consultation). If they were, the council would have been told the likely ramifications. But surely traffic engineers should have known. Well, good ones would have. And guess what makes this debacle worse? While the position of the lights may fit the rule book on where they should go, they are in the wrong place for users, and everyone is still running across the road as they always did. Typical TCC, spending without thinking.
Chudleigh Haggett, Tauranga
Text Views
* Lets face it the ratepayers of tga cannot afford the waterfront makeover and neither can the retailers. Get real and CAN IT & concentrate on getting rates down.
* 1100 trained life guards instructed 2 stay out of the water at the main mount beach by BOP civil defence YET swimmers and surfers were not stopped by anyone!
* Turn waterfront into park. Lower parking building fees and open them 24/7. Sorted. Can i hav 200,000 consult. fees pl.
* How many ppl agree to all the pubs and swillhouses along the strand - not m n e , i.l bet . df
* Tsunami. I had a lovely day at the mount beach. Only strange thing i seen was all the panic merchants telling everyone to stay off beach. What a joke.
* Tsunami warning. What a wast of time that tsunami had to in though/past all thoes islands before it reached nz. Of cause it never had any effect.
* Why is it that neighbour hood stores cant sell alcohol because parents of now days are so slack/useless to teach children senseably drinking habbits.
* Whats wrong with selling alcohol from the 4 square its called compertition, not the 4square problem if parents can not teach kids how to behave.
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