• Life savers • Thanks from the Salvation Army • The real story on ‘‘affordable housing” • Aloha Award for Peter Dease Life savers What beautiful issues, the last two Garden Islands (1/28, 1/29) with front-page coverage of recent rescues
• Life savers
• Thanks from the Salvation Army
• The real story on ‘‘affordable housing”
• Aloha Award for Peter Dease
Life savers
What beautiful issues, the last two Garden Islands (1/28, 1/29) with front-page coverage of recent rescues (of three people) by our fire-fighters and lifeguards! The horror that was averted and the joy that was created…It merits a ‘‘Dean scream! n Wow!
Well done men, for your professionalism and your coverage and your quick thinking and your skillful actions. And well done County of Kaua‘i, for beefing up our lifeguard service as you have in the last few years and thus paving the way for these joyous happenings.
Now, please keep the ball rolling. We still had nine drownings last year (as compared to five auto-related deaths). We still have work to do – mainly in adding lifeguards so that, for example, we can provide lifeguard coverage on into the late afternoon hours (i.e. after 5 p.m.) which are very popular with beach-goers especially as the days lengthen into summer. And we desperately need the State to help with lifeguard coverage for their beach, i.e. Ke‘e Beach, which is so heavily used by swimmers and snorkelers that you have to park a half a mile away to get there.
MONTY DOWNS, M.D.
Co-Chair, Kaua‘i Water Safety Task Force
Thanks from the Salvation Army
The Salvation Army Says Thank You For Your Support Through Out The Holiday Season.
The Salvation Army wishes to thank the community for your excellent help and support through out the holiday season. With your help, we were able to assist over 300 families with a turkey and all the trimmings. In addition, over 1,200 hot meals were served to the needy, lonely, and homebound the day before Thanksgiving Day.
For Christmas, The Salvation Army assisted over 300 needy families with food, toys, and other basic items by the community. In addition, 13 agencies received Christmas Toys For Tots gifts for over 1,500 needy children in which they served.
Holiday food and gift items were donated by hundreds of individuals, local businesses, schools, service clubs, churches, organizations, and groups who responded to appeals for help from several holiday assistance programs associated with The Salvation Army. Donated food and gift items from the Share A Feast, Toys for Tots, Angel Tree, Adopt-A-Kettle, and the Food Drive benefited so many less fortunate, especially children and seniors in our community.
Mahalo Nui Loa Kauai for caring and sharing the spirit of Aloha with those in need during the holiday season. May God Bless.
CAPTAIN MILTHAM CLEMENT
Corps Officer,
The Salvation Army, Lihu‘e
The real story on ‘‘affordable housing”
Randy Weir’s letter of February 1 on affordable housing stands out especially for this laughable sentence:
‘‘Government land-use rules, regulations and tax policy have guaranteed that there is little land available for low- and mid-level cost housing projects.”
There one primary aspect about land on Kaua‘i that works against affordable housing: The ownership by a very few individuals and families of the vast bulk of privately owned land.
Mr. Weir’s own family, the Robinson family, owns about 16 percent of Kaua‘i n tens of thousands of acres. That he never mentions this in his constant complaints about land use law is at the very least lacking in full disclosure and undermines his endless whine about private property rights.
Kaua‘i has beautiful weather and a beautiful environment; as a result it is in great demand as a place to live for people with money. Kaua‘i is also tiny, so there is not much land available that is not locked up by large private landowners. The state’s considerable acreage lies largely in interior watersheds, in Waimea Canyon and in Koke‘e. What private land becomes available for sale thus commands a high price.
The lack of affordable housing on Kaua‘i has little to do with land use laws and everything to do with the law of supply and demand. Maybe Mr. Weir can convince his family to cut loose a few thousand acres and earmark them exclusively for affordable housing.
William LeGro
Kapa‘a
Aloha Award for Peter Dease
I had the pleasure of being on one of Peter Dease’s tours through the beautiful, historic Limahuli Gardens, and was so impressed with his knowledge and little tidbits of information on the days of yore. His love of the aina and the native plants and how the Hawaiians lived ages ago and the sharing of this information to all who visit is something that everyone should experience.
Certainly, he is one of the greatest assets that the National Tropical Botanical Gardens has, and he volunteers there as a guide, besides volunteering at the Kilauea Lighthouse, the Wilcox Homestead Museum and the Allerton Gardens…He told us that he worked for the Hawaii Visitors’ Bureau out of Chicago for more than 25 years…I would like to recommend Peter for the Aloha Award for his positive work with the promotion of Kauai with all who are lucky enough to be on one of his tours through all these places.
He is truly an unsung hero and does it all because he loves Kauai. Thank you for your part in promoting our beautiful island, Peter…you are the best.
Suzanne W.S. Matsumoto
Lawa‘i
