LETTERS

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 12, Issue 563, 22 November 1994, Page 4

LETTERS

Dogs & rates • I thank Mr Houston forhis long, informative and figure blinding reply to my letter when I queried whether the rates were going to be increased by two per cent right across the board to subsidise dog owners. However in spite of all, the facts, figures and reasons given by Mr Houston he did not answer my question directly that a two per cent increase was correct. Mr Houston stated and I quote "The matter will now go before Council for further debate and I am sure that the making of any decisions will not be done lightly" unquote. The $14,000 for stock

control referred to in Mr. Houston' s reply would be better utilised if it was contracted out to someone privately, perhaps a person who is presently unemployed who would have the time to get out on our streets and start rounding up the large numbers of unregistered dogs which roam at will and also be available to round up straying stock from the roads at any time. The owners could be fined heavily and this would also help to clean up our streets in particular of the number of dogs roaming. If this would be possible, then Council would be free to just running the registration and dosing of dogs. It . does appear that the costs

of dog ranging and control is the problem that would possibly mean an increase in rates to cover this area. Our local hydatids control officer does an excellent job but he has a large area to cover and is often out of town. He doesn' t have the time to patrol the streets daily picking up wandering dogs. I sincerely hope that Council when making their decision, willconsiderhow the increase will affect pensioners in particular and families who have no dogs themselves but will be forced to subsidise those who do.

Faith Wise. Raetihi

Snow boarder event explained Triple Challenge snowboarding race organ-

iser Neil Pollett has asked that the following letter, written to Mrs Leslie-Anne Walker in reply to her concerns about the October event (see letters Ruapehu SnowBulletin October 1994 and Ruapehu Bulletin 15 November 1994). Mrs Walker and Mr Pollett wished readers to know that Mrs Walker requested that Mrs Walker' s lastletter (15 November 1994) be withdrawn as she had received a reply from Mr Pollett which answered her concerns. Unfortunately, through no fault of the Ruapehu Bulletin, Mrs Walker made her request after the Bulletin of 1 5 November had been published and distributed. Mr Pollett' s reply: • Dear Mrs Walker, Thank you for your letter of 11/10/94 and sorry for

the delayed response. I am pleased your two sons were interested enough to enter the competition (and sorry that you felt the need to complain) but I think some of your observations may be wrong. Yes, there was a drinking competition held at the Hot Lava nightclub after the third event was cancelled at Turoa due to bad weather. This was an optional activity held only for those people who were early for the prize giving as a bit of fun and not designed in any way to promote excessi ve drinking or to demean the sport. In fact it involved about 15 people consuming only one 375ml glass of Brightstone Cider each of which they had to purchase themselves . Therefore no money contributed by the way of entry fees was involved in this

activity. Those people who wanted to take part and did not wish to consume cider were allowed to drink a glass of lemonade or something similar. The Boardercross winners were therefore not selected by way of this competition as you mentioned in your letter. As part of the entry conditions all entrants were entitled to a 50 per cent refund on all cancelled events. These monies were refunded to all entrants that turned up to the prize giving or to Board of Authority (shop) on that day. As your sons seemed to have missed their refund I enclose a cheque for $15. As the Boardercross event was cancelled and refunds given, we were not obliged to give away any of the specific prizes allocated to this event. (ie $350 cash and two pairs of Killer Loop glasses). We decided to give away only the two pairs of glasses (not the cash) to the male and female winner of the one glass drinking competition, at our cost. I confirm thatTuroa staff and management had no prior knowledge of this event which was held as a way having a bit of fun on what was otherwise a bad weather day. Regarding spot prizes the normal procedure at most events is that if you don't turn up to the prize giving-

your name is redrawn and the next person drawn wins the prize. This in fact happened with a $ 1 000 sno wboard we gave away as the main spot prize. A junior section would also have been nice but with less than 5 per cent of the riders falling into the 16 and below age group it is not practical ( Cameron is also 17 and seemed to do better than many people older than him any way with a 30th place in the slalom). I do notknow of any other snowboard competitions currently with a Junior section but maybe as numbers grow in the future this can be accommodated. In fact at the New Zealand National Champs one of the best competitors in the mens section is only 12 years old. I hope this letter clears up the situation. Please contact me if you have any questions.

Neil

Pollett

EDITOR'S NOTE: Mr Pollett also told the Bulletin that the Turoa Triple Challenge was the largest snowboarding event in the North Island this year, second only to the New Zealand Nationals, and that the event was a great success. TO JUNE BATES: Your views on vertical grouping in primary schools and the alternatives have been wellcanvassed — Editor.