Your letters: We need a new pound now

Build a new pound; don't put it off.

Don't defer

The current animal care facility (the pound) is not compliant and has been over capacity on a number of occasions. The relocation matter has been in the pipeline for three years.

Council staff were tasked with designing and costing a LONG-TERM solution. It is now deadlocked by councillors over the final cost, significantly more than that which they sought — not good timing at all, considering it is one of the toughest annual rating processes ever.

Great staff there, but the animal care facility is a depressing and distressing visit.
I may be the only person outside the council building at 12.15pm on Tuesday, February 13, protesting respectfully and actually supporting our councillors' work and simply saying: "Build it."

Which councillor will it be on Tuesday who will break the deadlock, push up a motion to build, or will they push it off to annual submissions? Grrrr ...

There are times I will suffer the possible increase in rates on matters that are key to us. When I look at basic infrastructure, Whanganui District Council nearly put me off coming home when they formerly "gassed animals in a box".

Our council must look more at community grassroots matters and support those. This is one of them.

"Whanganui — all you need and then some" ... worthy, nice slogan, but not there yet. Please councillors, don't defer; build it.

ROSS FALLEN
Castlecliff

Festival rules

I was at the Kiwiburn festival near Hunterville where the cliff accidents occurred recently.
I knew many people there, lots who have been to the festival year after year.

At Kiwiburn there are rules to keep people safe — the rules are there for a reason and when getting a ticket to the festival, one must agree to adhere by those rules.

If that man who jumped the fence had a ticket, then he must have agreed to follow the rules. He broke that promise and suffered.

So, how could organisers reduce the risk of further accidents like the ones that just happened?

You mentioned in the article to pay people to monitor gates well into the night. No one at Kiwiburn is paid — it's completely non-profit and is run by volunteers who have also bought tickets.

More volunteers on the gate perhaps? When we arrived at Kiwiburn it was 3am and there were perhaps 10 volunteers checking ID and cars for firearms and such. They were doing their all to ensure safety at 3am, and not a single one was paid.

Maybe they closed the gates at 3.30am, maybe 4am — we are not sure. What we are sure of is that volunteers monitor those gates until very late.

It was unlucky that the car of people arrived in the short time the gates were closed, and upsetting the hitchhiker did not want to wait an extra two or three hours.

Kiwiburn organisers do everything that they can to keep festival-goers safe. That young man made a decision that he will regret for the rest of his life — we hope that the rest of his life is long.

SHAYLA FARLEY
Festival-goer

Thanks, Patea

Thank you everyone for joining us on an awesome Waitangi Day in Patea.

The committee would like to thank everyone who made this free event possible — none more so than our tangata whenua, who set the tone of the day with our powhiri by Taikura: Syd and Ann Kershaw, Ngapari Nui and whanau from Kahununu, new council chief executive Waid Crockett, South Taranaki mayor Ross Dunlop, Chester Borrows (for his kind words about our late committee member Elaine Powell) and Patea Community Board representatives Ruth Mackay, Olivia Shimmin, Jacq Dwyer and many more.

A big shout out to Patea Area School for the seating; Hoopers Engineering crew for the uplift and delivery of the seating; and Kathy Faiers (property maintenance manager) who opens up super early for them.

Thanks to our funders for making our free music festival possible:

South Taranaki District Council; NZ Lotteries; Creative Communities Scheme; Ministry of Culture & Heritage; Whanganui Community Trust; Lysaght Watt Fund: Halliwells Trust; McBroom Estate.

We also had the support, sponsorship, and spot prizes donated by local businesses (and distributed by Patea's amazing MC Taiaroa Neho): Aotea Utanganui; Museum of South Taranaki; Northcott Auto Services; Red Rock Cafe; McCarty & Hunger; Universal Motors; Thomson, O'Neil & Co; Hurleys Butchery; Patea Historical Society; Awesome Easy; Patea Maori Club (Official); Patea Dairy; Gallery Patea; Patea Tyre Centre; Patea Araba Chemist; Patea Four Square; Four C's; Patea Liquor Shop (ice); Poi Taranaki; Painting & Patches; Gabrielle Belz; Jenni Corbett; CJ The Clown Enterprises; Screenads Taranaki.

And thanks to our volunteers:

Bruce Adrian; Te Oranga Whareaitu; Gary Prentice; Marama Pullen; Vera Kershaw; Christine Windle; Yvonne Anderson; Molly Gutschlag; Mollie Oliver; Howard Houpapa; Minnie Broughton; Carol Thomson; Daniel Nuku; Gloria Tui; Lucy Savu; Bronwyn Wattrus, Mareta Marsters-Grubner.

And to all the entertainers and stall holders:

Kathy Taylor; Katherine Bosworth; Ricki Hapi; Cath Sheard; Narlene Ioane; Michaela MB Stoneman; all the radio stations; Patea Press; Tai Tonga waka ama (Whanganui); Charmaine Matiaha, Tom Matiaha and to TLL for the stage and sound.
Thank you, Patea.

THE COMMITTEE
Paepae In The Park

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