• Where are the timeshare thousands spent? • Vote for Lum • Regarding Mr. Bush • Prostate cancer awareness key Where are the timeshare thousands spent? A relatively short letter from me, for a change, in response to Polly S.
• Where are the timeshare thousands spent?
• Vote for Lum
• Regarding Mr. Bush
• Prostate cancer awareness key
Where are the timeshare thousands spent?
A relatively short letter from me, for a change, in response to Polly S. Stroud’s letter concerning timeshares.
I have but one question for Mrs. Stroud. She says that she and her timesharing friends spend between $5,000 and $8,000 during their stays on the island.
The question is, exactly how much of that money actually stays on Kaua‘i, and how much eventually ends up in the pockets of someone on the Mainland, or even in another country?
Vote for Lum
Beyond any doubt there is an orchestrated conspiracy going on to accomplish one thing — get rid of Police Chief Lum.
As one very observant newspaper journalist on Kaua’i asked, what has K.C. Lum done to have the Mayor, the Council, SHOPO, the Ethics Board, and the Finance Director use every means available to them — legal or illegal depending on where the decision is coming from — to remove this very dedicated man from his position as chief?
Let’s chronologically look at what has happened and what is happening.
First, one of our respected North Shore citizens, Mike Ching, was pressured out of his position as a member of the Police Commission where he served voluntarily with dedication for six years. His “crime” for being asked to resign — supporting chief Lum.
Then, those in power who want Lum gone target their next victim, Carol Furtado who is also on the Police Commission (now Chair) and is an independent, free-thinking person who votes on fact and what her conscience tells her. She is the kind of person we need on commissions or to be a representative of the people by being in office. Though the “powers” tried, they couldn’t come up with a good enough case to push her out of the commission.
Then, since only the Police Commission can, by our Charter, hire or fire the chief and since it takes a majority of the five members (three votes) to remove him, and since the vote if taken two weeks ago would probably have been two for dismissal and one to keep, another dismissal vote had to be found. One commissioner will probably have to recuse himself from voting and with Ching gone and Furtado the positive vote left on the board, it leaves a two to one vote.
Our Mayor “found” this new commissioner within four weeks from the time Mike Ching left the board. It does seem odd that he hasn’t been able to “find” volunteers to be on the Cost Control Commission nor the Salary Commission for four and two years but he filled this vacancy in record time.
Hopefully, this new member will respect the will of the majority of the people who know that Lum has lowered crime and pushed drug busts to a new high on Kaua‘i. Should he vote against Lum and if neither of our other two commissioners change their positions, then the “power” wins and the people lose a fine chief.
And finally, also caught up in this web of conspiracy is probably one of the finest officers that KPD has ever hired, Deputy Chief Ron Venneman. The “power” has decided that officer Venneman is also favorable to chief Lum and thus must have the system come down on him.
Just look at officer Venneman’s record as a policeman — it is amazing. He served for 21 years on the Los Angeles police force having extensive experience in narcotics, gang detail, and undercover rolls. He became the senior Detective Supervisor of the Crimes-Against-Persons Unit in the Los Angeles area.
These are but a few of the qualifications of officer Venneman. Needless to say, we are extremely lucky to have a person with this background to serve the people of Kaua‘i. And we certainly don’t need those in power trying to remove him.
K.C. Lum may be one example of how the legal system can be used and manipulated to gain an end result that is completely counter to the welfare of the people. But what goes around comes around and if chief Lum is forced from his position, you, the people, can help this dedicated person get elected to a position where he can continue to serve you with the same commitment he had as your chief.
Regarding Mr. Bush
I realize that because we tried to impeach Mr. Clinton, and it turned into a fiasco, that we the people, do not want to go through that again.
However, Mr. Clinton went through an impeachment, basically because he did not want the world to know he had an affair behind his wife’s back.
Now we have a president whose lies have lead to thousands of American deaths, while the lies told by Clinton resulted in no deaths.
Also, we have a president who did what Nixon did, and is getting away with it. All in the name of fighting an enemy who is responsible for as many American deaths as our current president Bush, and Bush is responsible for the tens-of-thousands of women and children killed because of his illegal invasion of a country that did not pose any threat to America.
Democrats are constantly being made fun of by Republicans for their lack of guts.
Is the Democratic party run by people who cannot stand up to injustice?
There is a time for diplomacy, and there is a time for justice.
Prostate cancer awareness key
As many of you know, Hawai‘i received a ‘D’ in the first-ever prostate cancer report cards released this week. As requested by many, here is a statement that further explains the poor grade.
“One of the important pieces of criteria we considered when putting together the prostate cancer report cards was examining if each state had a law guaranteeing that insurance companies would cover prostate cancer screenings. Hawai‘i does not. We were saddened to hear that a bill has been proposed for this law but Finance Committee Chair Dwight Takamine, D-Big Island, has killed the bill. Men don’t need another excuse to avoid taking care of their health and we believe not having to pay out-of-pocket for health screenings will encourage some to get the testing they need. Further, passing the law will create much needed awareness about the seriousness of this disease. Awareness we need to convince U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, a key appropriator in the federal government, to support an increase in prostate cancer research. Essentially, it is holding up, in part, a search for a cure.”
- Richard N. Atkins
CEO — National Prostate Cancer Coalition
