Time for council to stop bickering and take action
OVER 20 years ago, I purchased a rural block of land bordering the Taieri River. With it came historical water rights dating back to the goldmining era.
It allowed for unlimited taking of water from the river. I knew at the time of purchase that these water rights were to expire in 2021. Therefore, I did not develop farming practices or invest in infrastructure that would require high water usage.
Since then, the waterways and soils of Otago have become degraded from inappropriate farming and horticultural practices.
Water is a precious and limited resource which everyone is dependent on. With climate change a reality, we are already facing more severe and unpredictable weather events. Otago is not an exception to this.
The situation is urgent and we can no longer abrogate ourselves of responsibility. How can we look our children and grandchildren in the eye if we do nothing to secure their future?
I fully support Marian Hobbs in her effort to lead the Otago Regional Council in addressing the appalling state of Otago’s waterways, which seems to be the concern of everyone except for those regional councillors who appear to have been captured by vested interests.
Patricia BosshardBrowne
Middlemarch
Court case
I READ a very interesting report of a court hearing in the Auckland District Court which occupied almost a quarter page and told me almost nothing (ODT, 26.6.20).
The accused pleaded guilty to a serious charge which could have resulted in a prison sentence of up to three years. We were permitted to know the details of the charge and they would have sickened any decent person. Despite his guilty plea and despite police opposition, he was granted a discharge without conviction.
He was a manager in a government department, but we are not allowed to know his role or any details about his workplace. The name and location of the premises where the offences took place are also to remain secret.
It must be very frustrating for reporters to be told that there are only very few details of these cases that can be made public.
The person who discovered the behaviour of this man was rightly outraged at the offender being given a slap on the wrist with a wet bus ticket for such a serious offence and also that he got away without being named and shamed.
When is this ridiculous nonsense going to stop? Isn't it about time that the judges who make these ridiculous decisions were held to account? Surely also the rules around the outofcontrol use of name suppression need to be investigated urgently.
Trump rally
Bob Scott
Cromwell
ONE of the heartening stories of late has to be the kids on Tik Tok and the Kpop community defusing Donald Trump’s racist rally in Tulsa, deliberately picked to mark one of America’s darkest hate crimes of the 20th century inflicted on the AfricanAmerican community.
The intervention of the youth community defused not only a greater spike in Covid19 in the midwestern United States of America but may have averted racial tensions and possibly helped the white community see they are not going to get a free ‘‘get out of hell’’ card by voting for their feckless incumbent POTUS in November.
Aaron Nicholson
Manapouri
IN recognition of the importance of readers’ contributions to the letters page, the newspaper each week selects a Letter of the Week with a book prize courtesy of
Penguin Random House. This week’s winner is Susan Richardson, of Balclutha, for a letter about bad behaviour by club rugby players. The prize is a copy of Weed, by James Borrowdale. The winning letter was printed on Friday and can be read on the ODT website.