Letters to Editor: Feeling terrorised

I have just returned from my solicitor to arrange for an injunction to be placed on the planned cellphone tower to be built metres from my backdoor.

I have been told, to do that I would have to engage a barrister which is beyond my financial capacity.

I feel I am being terrorised by a phone company.

I did get a letter including a very incomplete sketch missing information such as height and the strength of the signal it stated the Hastings City Council had given them consent.

We are going ahead, nothing you can do about it, the fact is the council has no say in the matter it is part of our Government policy.

I can only assume they have not updated the information available from governments, neurosurgeons and scientists the world over, worried about the increase of patients turning up in increasing numbers with brain tumors where the cellphone is held and health problems with families living under or near cellphone towers.

I will be contacting Members of Parliament and suggest the citizens of Hastings do the same. There is just too much evidence floating around to dismiss the safeguards other countries are putting in place such as China, Sweden and other countries who claim to have found there is a link between continuous low-level microwaves and ill health, cell phones and brain tumors.

The Government is failing the public miserably by ignoring world-wide evidence and creating a free cowboy land for cellphone companies, making it possible to do what they like.W J BorsboomHastingsHard-hearted councilWe are just ordinary people, with a young family trying to earn a living, have a small business and, like everyone else, have been feeling the pinch of the recession.

Three years ago we got a letter from the council stating that our lease was being re-assessed and that they were going up from $4000 per year to $14,000. What!!

I emailed Mayor Barbara Arnott regarding the increase right back at the beginning of this negotiation and said that it was a huge jump in lease ... basically, her reply was that "everyone is in for profit". What?

We decided to pay for a valuer to assess it for us and the council also did the same. Last week we received a letter informing us that the agreed amount that we now have to pay is $13,000 +GST per annum. Plus! We also have to pay back the three years in arrears, totaling $30,000.

How on Earth can you expect people to pay that sort of money Mayor Arnott?

That is disgusting and no wonder there are so many people out there struggling - maybe the $18 million dollars you have agreed upon to pay for the museum upgrade could have gone to better use helping out your community.

When is the last time anyone went to the museum?

How many people are struggling to buy food and clothes for their families?

I hope you are earning enough money to support your family, - oh of course you are.

Just forget about the hard-working people who help make Napier the place it is. ...

Recession - a period of an economic contraction, sometimes limited in scope or duration.

What does it mean to you?

We are not the only ones who are in this position and I understand that, I think it is about time there were changes made to help us normal people trying to keep afloat.R SimmonsNapier