Strangers’ kindness lauded

We would like to acknowledge the tremendous help we received when our car blew up outside Putaruru on August 18.

Special thanks to the very helpful lady and her son who provided insulation tape; the gentleman and his daughter who had a screwdriver so we could do running repairs; and the kind staff at the BP station who came to our aid when we blew up again coming into the forecourt.

Terna van der Merwe from Putaruru Arms Motel, you are amazing and we will always remember your kindness, and last but not least, Jeff from the Putaruru Service Station.

Take a bow and thank you. R and A Slater Whangamata

Fine fiasco

Wow! A $380,230 fine for a stuff-up in the relatively simple exercise of administering a contract. I’m amazed that our council even called for tenders, given its practice of giving out work on a jobs-for- the-boys basis, or so the mayor informed me.

So, has the idiot or idiots responsible for this fiasco been fired yet? If not, why not?

Oh, how silly of me, of course they haven’t, the long-suffering ratepayers will foot the bill so there’s nothing really to worry about. F Lawton Tokoroa

Nepotism

I agree with part of M Smith’s letter from last week. While someone should be held to account for this massive loss to ratepayers, I agree a commissioner should be put into our council and all councillors stood down. It seems if you are related to a councillor you will be well looked after by ratepayers’ money but if you are not (most of us) you pick up the bill.

This feels like a Tui advert: ‘‘Our council does not base decisions on bloodlines’’. . . ‘‘Yeah right!’’ Makes you wonder if anyone in MPL is related to anyone within council? (Edited) S Jones Tokoroa

Road rage

Let’s forget about who said what between the paper and the council. There are more important things to worry about. One being the state of our roads and streets around Tokoroa. Our council spends thousands of dollars on our roads and still they are shocking. Look at John St. They dug it up resealed it; not even a month old yet and it is full of patches already. The roading crew will blame the weather not poor workmanship. Come on council roading manager, check on the state of our streets before you award the next contract. The work is not up to a suitable standard. L Pinkerton

Tokoroa

Alcohol rules

Daily, I see firsthand the damage alcohol can do on a society. I believe the minimum alcohol purchasing age should be raised to 20, coupled with other measures to deal with our binge drinking culture.

The Salvation Army has five goals when it comes to the alcohol law reform debate.

Maximum opening hours across the country for the sale of alcohol; with a suggestion that off licences be open 9am10pm. Purchase age 20 Increase alcohol tax. Greater restrictions on how alcohol is promoted

A greater focus on providing alcohol counselling.

I believe leaving the purchasing age at 18 would be disastrous for us as a country.

The question we need to ask is what kind of future foundations do we want to be building in our families and community?

Ready to Drink (RTD) spirits will be regulated by the industry that makes and markets them. The Law Commission noted in its report that RTDs were the preferred drink for 14 to 24-yearolds, particularly women, so self regulation sounds like a fox looking after the henhouse. C Bridle Tokoroa

Tree vandal

For months and months now we have had a vandal in our parks in Tokoroa.

He or she is cutting the lower branches from trees. The one that really broke my heart was the stunning tree in Lancaster Reserve. The branches touched the ground and in autumn it was an amazing sight with its red and golden leaves. It looked like a blazing cone of colour. I was devastated to come across it after the vandal had done their work, cutting off the bottom branches. As far as I know, this practice is only done in forestry, so that the trunk is nice and straight when the tree is sent to the mill. The trees in our park are ornamental, they are not going to be cut on maturity. This is not being done at the request of the council, so surely taking a chainsaw to a tree in a public park is a criminal act.

The volunteers who had planted new native trees in the Tasman Reserve were very annoyed to find that they too had been targeted by this vandal with a chainsaw. I ask that this person leave their blasted chainsaw in their own home and leave our trees alone. P More Tokoroa