• Greed butchered view of falls • Gentle Beaux wounded in vicious attack • Two quibbles for a good piece • New roads aren’t the answer • Mahalo for PLF information Greed butchered view of falls Attention everyone!! Mother Nature
• Greed butchered view of falls
• Gentle Beaux wounded in vicious attack
• Two quibbles for a good piece
• New roads aren’t the answer
• Mahalo for PLF information
Greed butchered view of falls
Attention everyone!! Mother Nature has provided all of us the amazing show we view at Opaeka’a Falls. I’m sure it’s been there long before man stepped foot on this island. Every so often I become the passenger instead of the driver when passing by the Opaeka’a Falls lookout. I often think this is one of those reasons we live here. It is definitely not something that occurs anywhere else in the world while on your daily drive to and from.
Now when everyone drives by it has changed dramatically. Now because of the nasty greed that is running rampant over our entire island the serene tranquility of the falls has been taken away. Now when you view this area a big white house which has been there for many years, sits in the middle of your view.
In the past the white house was hidden from the forest surrounding it. What has happened is once again the money hungry greed of realtor, investor, developers have recently purchased that area and have totally butchered the entire property fronting the big white house. Thanks to these wonderful people we have lost the view Mother Nature has provided.
These butchers can only see the “MONEY” for their thoughtless efforts. Total disregard for everyone else who lives and visits here. Just think for $1,295,000 you too can have another choice 1.1-acre parcel of paradise and become part of the other greedy people who live here. What’s next? How about a house pad on top of Sleeping Giant, or maybe condos on top of Kong Mountain!
What ever it is I’m sure all of these greedy butchers will continue driving around in their “bling bling” SUVs looking for other opportunities to purchase and flip more land so they can butcher another view created by mother nature. Where is the next destination of opportunity?
Please pack up and move there soon!!
- Steve Martin
Wailua Homesteads
Gentle Beaux wounded in vicious attack
One of the more picturesque roads on our Island is Kaehulua Road. It is narrow and winding and sometimes referred to as Skeleton Road.
Kaehulua Road is also the home of 3 possibly 4 pitbulls or a mix thereof. This morning on Jan. 7, 8:30 a.m. we took our walk with “Beaux” our golden Retriever (on leash) towards Kawaihau. This beautiful animal is well known on the Island because he is so gentle and a joy to everybody and what a surfer he is.
One of the pitbulls tore loose and charged us on the opposite side of the road and a vicious fight occurred. It took four adults to separate the dogs. Our luck was, that the pit was dragging a chain which made it a little easier to get him under control.
We four came away without injury but Beaux is wounded and we will do our utmost to prevent any future attack by these vicious animals. We thank the Police Department, the Humane Society and a local veterinarian for their help.
- Fred and Marianne Deckwitz
Kapa’a
Two quibbles for a good piece
Attn: Bettejo:
I liked your piece. Just two quibbles.
1. Hindus have “Pantheism,” not “Panoply.” One of my favorite stories illustrates the point. An old friend (old in both senses; we studied the Bible in the 1970s and he would be in his 90s if he’s still alive) was hunting a livestock-killing tiger in India. His gun bearer, a member of the sweeper class or what we might call of the untouchable caste, told him, “Sahib, I pray you kill this tiger this day, for I must leave you tomorrow to go to a religious festival.”
Cletus answered, in annoyance, “Which of your religions is this?”
As Cletus retells it, “This illiterate, untaught, uneducated man looked at me as if I were the world’s biggest ignoramus and said, ‘Sahib, there is only one god. They just have many names is all.’ “
2. Don’t stop with separation of Church and State. Separate teaching and State, as home-schoolers have done already. Perhaps you and I should sit under a banyan tree, gather children and adults around and talk comparative religion. It doesn’t look as if priests, preachers, imams or rabais will do it. They seem too busy checking to see if school boards and teachers do it the way they want.
New roads aren’t the answer
I am concerned about the calls to create new roads to alleviate traffic problems on the island. I definitely believe something needs to be done about the problem, but I’m not sure that creating new roads is going to be a good solution in the long term without some careful thought.
First, we aren’t doing such a good job taking care of the roads we have. Second, and more important to me, I fear that doing such will only open up new land for development. Create the roads, and they will come.” SOMEBODY is going to feel some need to put up yet another golf course, or high cost housing, or shopping areas, or SOMETHING along those new roads. In the short term, the traffic problem will have been alleviated, but in the long term, we will simply get more roads and more development along those roads, and we will be right back to where we are now. If we decide to do this, then I would like to see this PRECEDED by a clear vision/plan of what amount of population growth and development is deemed acceptable for the island, and then I want to make sure that our elected officials actually FOLLOW that plan while ensuring that the island’s infrastructure supports it. Please, don’t just blindly create new roads.
Currently, we seem to be in a “whatever the developers want” mode, and that is seriously hurting this place. When certain council/planning commision members (whom I shall not name), repeatedly state during meetings that it is not right to impose requirements on new developers that hadn’t been imposed on previous developers, the system is NOT working for the good of Kaua’i residents and the island. We can’t have static policies in this regard. (If you want to know who I am talking about, just watch the Ho’ike coverage. It will become readily apparent.) Let’s make the island better, but let’s not be shortsighted about it.
There are no quick fixes, and no free lunches.
Mahalo for PLF information
I want to take this opportunity to thank Peter Antonson for his information on how to find out about the very fine organization, Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF), that is helping the resident home owners achieve a fair and balanced real estate tax.
This group ( www.pacificlegal.org/HawaiiCenter.asp.) , is doing the home owners a big favor for free, you know, at no cost to the resident home owner to fight the misguided efforts of the local politicians as they use tax payers money to fight the desires of some 13,000 home owners who voted for fair and balanced real estate taxation.
I’m not usually supportive of Peter’s positions but in this case he has done all resident home owners a big favor. Now we know where to find out how to donate to this fine organization. Mahalo Nui Loa Peter.
- Gordon “Doc” Smith
Kapa’a
