Letters for May 24, 2015

Letters for May 24, 2015

Stand up for Kauai’s health

Regarding Joshua Uyehara’s statement to the people of Kauai.

I lived next to Syngenta’s field directly behind it for 18 years, one block from the school, never once in all that time was I prenotified of spraying which was to occur as you stated. Never was there notification of spraying placed around Kekaha racetrack when me and a friend were walking near there and the smell of chemicals was potent.

I watched the palm trees near the outflows of Syngenta’s fields die off one by one, the toad and frog population get decimated, the soil lack life. Willful ignorance can exist in any individual regardless of the time immersed in studies or the community.

To Gary Hooser I would simply say the world needs more heros that have the courage to stand up for truth. Thank you for the beautifully written response to Mr. Uyehara’s letter. For Mr. Uyehara to write such an inflammatory public attack then say, “I personally invite community members who have questions about our work to simply ask us (because your opinions are based in ignorance and ours at Syngenta are so educated and superior). Not thru inflammatory statements in the media … we are your friend, family, neighbors,” rings false.

If you are my family, friend then I am telling you these chemicals are ruining the integrity of the soil, are polluting our water, and affecting our health.

And I would remind this good neighbor and friend that Syngenta, DuPont, Pioneer and Agrigenetics Inc., a company and affiliate with Dow Agro Sciences, filed suit against who? Their friends, family, neighbors, taking our money, time effort, all because we just wanted to know what are you spraying, disclose it, and keep it away from our kids.

Kauai has been undergoing a war. After a war, things are never the same, Syngenta and its affiliates have waged this war when they chose to believe their rights were more important than the people’s rights which it chose to do business with.

Karen E. Seaton

Former Kekaha resident

Waisale village, Koro Island, Fiji

Subdivision will make traffic worse

The proposal for a new subdivision (HoKua Place) in the hills east of Kapaa is clearly a bad idea. Kukui Grove shopping was built west of Lihue and a new shopping area is currently under construction west of Lihue. If any agriculture land is to be rezoned for residential, it also should be west of Lihue.

Traffic is already extreme in Kapaa, and at times on the Kapaa bypass. When school lets out, the Kapaa bypass round-a-bout is blocked to traffic from the north. Kuhio Highway to Lihue is no picnic. Wailua is often stop and go and nearly impassable when when traffic lights are screwed up. Contra-flo is necessary every morning and although creative, is a sign of inadequate road capacity. Finally, getting through Lihue is no easy task with too much traffic on residential streets as motorists are looking for shortcuts.

The state and county have proven themselves inadequate in timely or speedy road construction. So the proposal is to add to current problems by creating a new subdivision at the north end of the problem areas? The relief of more highway capacity should be in place before allowing that to proceed.

We should have more logical planning and coordination of the location of shopping and living areas. More housing is a good idea but clearly not at HoKua Place. If it is allowed to proceed, we all should be asking why.

Mike Taylor

Princeville