Make drunks pay: Letters, 5 January 2012

The Bay of Plenty Times welcomes letters and comments from readers. Here you can read the letters we have published in your newspaper today.

Rain ruins band's big chance on Mount stage

I would just like to express how disappointed the members and families of the band The M Six were when celebrations at the Mount for New Year's Eve were cancelled.

To all the people who were involved in the organisation of this yearly event, we imagine you must have been just as disappointed.

The M Six band members, Jacob Jones, Joseph Burke and Connor Bourne, had been very excited at coming second in the Battle of the Bands, winning them a 20-minute slot on the Mount Beach stage.

The boys are all 16 and this event was a big deal for them. They did some extra practice leading up to the event and we, the families and friends had fingers crossed for good weather.

Sadly this was not to be.

We thank everyone involved with the event and hope there will be another opportunity for the boys to show their talents at another event in Tauranga.

Jan Jones, Pyes Pa

Make drunks pay

It is a real concern that the accident and emergency department at Tauranga Hospital has been inundated with drunks over the festive season and on many Friday and Saturday nights during the year, to the detriment of those in genuine need.

This is a needless waste of taxpayers' money and a drain on our medical resources and personnel. I am sure the doctors and nurses would prefer not to deal with these often obnoxious and sometimes violent people.

While I am not suggesting that these people should not be treated they should pay the full cost of their treatment.

This could be recovered from them as an account payable to the DHB that treated them, they may then realise how much their stupidity is costing the taxpayer.

If they fail to pay it should be treated the same as someone who has an outstanding fine and registered against them until paid.

Mike Williams, Katikati

Climate facts

Dave Finney (Letters, January 3) accuses of scaremongering anyone, such as internationally-recognised journalist Gwynne Dyer, daring to propagate the view that climate change is real.

The tactics are simple: State the exact opposite of established scientific facts with conviction.

The statistics (most of them courtesy of Nasa): Arctic sea ice loss has averaged 11.5 per cent per decade since 1980 (no long term recovery in sight).

The Antarctic ice sheet has averaged a net loss of over 100 cubic km per year since 2002 (no sign of the 30-year high). The statistical increase in extreme weather events, including flooding around the world, are increasingly recognised by scientists as related to climate change.

Sea levels have averaged +1.70mm per year since 1870 but, over the past decade, have increased to +3.27 mm per year (hardly a lower rate).

There is, in fact, general agreement amongst climate scientists that the point of no return will be reached at about 2C - and well before the end of the century. (That figure has already been exceeded in parts of the Arctic and Antarctic).

The failure to agree in Durban will ultimately prove detrimental to our great-grandchildren.

Peter Otway, Pahoia