LIHU’E-The Colorado couple whose actions helped save Hokuanu Aki after he was attacked by a shark at Brennecke’s Beach in Po’ipu last month drew praise from Kaua’i Mayor Maryanne Kusaka, the Kaua’i County Council and Po’ipu business and resort groups
LIHU’E-The Colorado couple whose actions helped save Hokuanu Aki after he was attacked by a shark at Brennecke’s Beach in Po’ipu last month drew praise from Kaua’i Mayor Maryanne Kusaka, the Kaua’i County Council and Po’ipu business and resort groups yesterday.
The youth, whose leg was amputated above the knee by doctors following the March 25 attack, was recovering at Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu and has been released, a hospital spokeswoman said yesterday.
At an afternoon meeting yesterday at the historic Kaua’i County Building, the Council, via a telephone conference call, recognized David and Nancy Roberts of Littleton, Colo. with a certificate of commendation for helping the 17-year-old Kaua’i in a life-threatening situation.
The couple was on vacation on Kaua’i at the time and have returned home.
David Roberts said the acknowledgment and the experience of helping to save Aki’s life will be “something I will remember the rest of my life.”
The Council expressed its “heartfelt thanks for your outstanding courage, kindness, and for being such caring individuals.” David instructed Aki to shore while Nancy, a registered nurse provide initial aid.
Kusaka, meanwhile, in a separate certificate of commendation, declared that the couple’s intervention helped save the life of Aki and that “Aki’s family and our entire community will be forever grateful to you for this act of good will.”
Sue Kanoho of the Kauai Visitors Bureau also gave praise, wishing the couple a “rainbow of good fortune.” She also said a book on Kaua’i and basket will be sent to the couple.
Jim Hill, board member with Po’ipu Beach Resort Association, said the couple will be given a canoe paddle in recognition of their “extraordinary citizenship” in helping Aki.
David Roberts said Aki was the real hero for taking the initiative to save himself. “He did what he had to do. He swam 80 yards with his injury …. It was one of the most remarkable human feats,” Roberts said.
In another matter, Kauaians expressed pros and cons about the scheduled April 20 opening of the Kauai Resource Center, built after Hurricane Iniki in 1992 with $2.2 million in federal funds to help divert recyclable materials away from the Kekaha landfill and future landfills.
The facility will accept from businesses aluminum, glass, newspapers, cardboard, plastics, mixed papers, tires, pallets and electronic equipment.
Island Recycling of O’ahu has won a county contract to run the facility and will pay $800 a month to the county.
The low rent, county equipment parked at facility and the security provided for it amounts to government subsidy that is being supported by Kaua’i taxpayers, complained Kapa’a resident Glenn Mickens.
He claimed the county should be getting up to $10,000 a month rather than $800 a month from the vendor.
“In other words, if we aren’t getting fair market value, then the $9200 is money lost,” he wrote in a prepared text submitted to the county.
But David Camp, a retired chemical engineer, said Mickens was off the mark on what is actually usable.
The enclosed area of the facility is about 3,000 square feet and the rest is covered bays and lanai, hence the rent to the county would be far less than what Mickens projected, Camp said.
Mickens and others also said that the resource center will be in direct competition with other island recycling companies.
Camp said the facility was initially designed to take in broken furniture and appliances that were to be recycled.
As far the current plans for the facility, it should be opened so that the county will not have to pay back $2.2 million to the federal government to build the facility, he said.
Camp also said it was unfortunate that people who didn’t win the contract “jump in and complain that the process wasn’t fair.”
“To me, I don’t care what we get in there. Get the cock started,” Camp said.
The Committee of the Whole held off further discussion on the operating costs of the facility because Allison Fraley, the county’s recycling coordinator, was sick and unable to attend the meeting.
The committee subsequently opened up the meeting to receive public comments on the project.
