Letters to the Editor

Throwing fuel on the fire
I was deeply disappointed to find the article by Worzel's World/Chris Sellars in the March 22 edition of the Mangawhai Focus was peppered with conspiracy theories. On such a serious issue as the pandemic you should have verified his claims before publishing and spreading misinformation.

Chris Sellars says "It may indeed prove that the cure is worse than the disease" and even more shockingly "It may be that the disease was made for the medication". His views are not based on any evidence whatsoever. His argument that because medical science hasn't managed to eradicate cancer or the common cold it's unbelievable that we can control any disease is a logical fallacy. There has been great success for some viruses, for instance, smallpox and HIV/Aids (cancer, by the way, is not a virus, hence it is not comparable with Covid-19).

You should be publishing advice from reputable doctors and specialists rather than a random lay person who is such an incurable sceptic that he can’t see the wood for the trees. See for instance 'Ten common misconceptions about the Covid-19 vaccine, debunked' by Emily Writes (working with Jo Kirman, associate professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Otago) in The Spinoff, February 4, 2021.

I have also read Chris Sellars' previous anti-lock down columns. "Doing my best to connect the available dots" would have me conclude he's in favour of NZ following in India's footsteps instead, where the health system has collapsed and people are literally dying in the streets.

In a time when false information and distrust abounds you are irresponsibly throwing fuel on the fire.

(Name supplied)
Mangawhai

Massacre at magical Mangawhai
Next time you're heading into the village across the Molesworth Drive causeway bridge, take a quick glance inland at a beautiful, natural, piece of estuarine landscape and witness, live, right before your very eyes, its current destruction. It's a horror show. And it's screaming at you now from a development right near you. Probably less than a kilometre from the museum, where another piece of our priceless history, the salvaged wreck of the 'Daring', is being lovingly resurrected and treated with all the TLC that human kindness can bestow upon it. It's another classic example of the true spirit of Mangawhai, of people with passion.

On the other hand, the wreck that is about to be, Mangawhai Central, it appears is not salvageable. It beggars belief that the Council, despite acknowledging that "of the 208 submissions received, by far the majority were in opposition" to the changes to the original plan, has approved the developer application to increase housing density.

Well thank you Council. I don't have all the facts. I'm not a lawyer. But I do have eyes and I can see what an ugly visual assault on our beautiful irreplaceable landscape is already well underway – all while councils and committees bury their heads in procedure. Look up everybody! Use your eyes! They will give you a much more realistic picture of what this Mangawhai Central development is going to be than any of their white board presentations and talk feats.

Why anyone with a modicum of aesthetic appreciation, environmental awareness, or conscience would want to site an industrial-slash-commercial development slap bang in the middle of such a sensitive landscape I just don't know. Despite following the gratuitous 'public consultation' process, rest assured, dressing up this blot on the landscape with a mock lighthouse and a few faux bollards at its entrance is not going to fool anyone. Well, not me anyway. It'll be just another stock-standard out-of-the-box characterless shopping area. No offence, but to be honest, it's virtually identical to any other newly developed bland Auckland suburban shopping centre.

Take a look at the 'Daring', and pause to reflect on her history and what a miracle it is that, after 100 years buried on a West coast beach, a freak storm has revealed her to us long after those that sailed her have passed away.

Then drive a couple of hundred metres down the road and take a look at how, in the name of 'development' and with Council approval, a few individuals now have the right to plunder and pillage our own community’s unique piece of living history. Once it’s gone, that beautiful stretch of land will disappear under concrete and tar seal never to be seen again by us, or generations to come. Take a look.

John Dawson
Mangawhai Heads