LIHU’E – Rhoda Libre loved traveling as a young woman on cultural and entertainment tours in the U.S. mainland, China, Japan, Canada and the South Pacific. But it took being away from Kaua’i for 10 years for her to realize
LIHU’E – Rhoda Libre loved traveling as a young woman on cultural and
entertainment tours in the U.S. mainland, China, Japan, Canada and the South
Pacific.
But it took being away from Kaua’i for 10 years for her to realize
the best place for her was home.
Today, Libre, a first-time Kaua’i County
Council candidate and a 38-year-old mother of two children, feels compelled to
protect the island’s rural, family-oriented lifestyle, guard its traditions and
explore new ways to make it a better place for the future.
Reaching that
goal starts with government helping to preserve the past, Libre
said.
“People should remember and enhance the old ways,” she said. “They
were good.”
In a fast-paced and changing world, Libre said she draws
strength and wisdom from her 97-year-old grandmother.
Libre is the
daughter of West Kaua’i plantation workers and is proud of her roots.
“There is that plantation mentality—honesty and truth,” she said.
She
said she is running for a council seat because she wants to be a “new voice”
for people who have not been heard.
She said she “can contribute to the
council and enhance it. I have no axe to grind with the council. I can work
with them.”
Libre said these are priority issues with her:
* Better
planning. “The tourists are telling me that they would like to see what Kaua’i
used to be, and there is bad planning (related to development) here,” she
said.
*Women issues and public safety. “Safety is one of the topics that is
lacking consideration on our council,” she said.
Libre has been fighting
crime in the best ways she knows how – the media. Since 1993, she has worked on
community education programs, including those related to crime
prevention.
Libre also said she has worked with the police to set up a
system offering information on sex offenders.
An independent program
producer with Ho’ike television, she said she has invited local law enforcement
officials to appear on shows to educate the public on crime prevention.
Management of the solid-waste problem. “The council talks about money and
development, and I am pretty tired of hearing it,” Libre said. “They pretty
much ignore the problem of solid waste.”
* Better use of the skills of
senior citizens. “We need more things for our seniors, who along with our
children, need to feel they are part of the community,” Libre said. “We are not
using our national resources and treasures.”
* More programs to protect the
environment.
Founder of the Kaua’i Westside Watershed Council, she said
she has worked to keep streams clean and to protect stream life.
The group
will prepare a video to educate government and the public about water resources
in West Kaua’i, she said.
Libre runs Hoi’ke’s “High Profile,” a community
informational program. She also is a student at Kaua’i Community College,
working toward a degree in genetical botany, and she has worked on projects at
the National Tropical Botanical Gardens.
Libre is a former Miss Kaua’i
Filipino 1981 and a martial arts practitioner.
Staff writer Lester
Chang can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) and
lchang@pulitzer.net
