• Undermined • Fight for your right • A load of fertilizer • Good start, but … Undermined Congratulations, Planning Commission. You have managed, in a 5-2 vote, to follow in the footsteps of other great governing bodies (USSR, China,
• Undermined
• Fight for your right
• A load of fertilizer
• Good start, but …
Undermined
Congratulations, Planning Commission. You have managed, in a 5-2 vote, to follow in the footsteps of other great governing bodies (USSR, China, North Korea) to undermine the freedoms that generations of U.S. soldiers and sailors have fought and died to ensure.
Freedom of choice is our right. By telling the County Council it may pass a bill restricting freedom of choice, you have shown how shortsighted, blind and ignorant you are of what citizens of this America have stood for since 1776.
Freedom to conduct interstate commerce is our right. Your next move might be to ban people from using mail order or the Internet to obtain goods and services not available here on Kaua‘i.
Freedom to pursue happiness is our right. You have just interfered with that right by keeping the “old boy network” in place, denying people from pursuing the happiness of being able to feed and clothe their families and themselves using the meager funds available to them.
When a governing body, even in a small community, interferes with the rights of its citizens to live their lives as they see fit, it is a travesty.
When a governing body, even in a small community, bows to the interest of a few business owners afraid of competition, it is a travesty.
When a governing body, even in a small community, uses ridiculous, specious and fallacious arguments to justify their decisions, it is a travesty.
Lihu‘e is one of the few areas on Kaua‘i which is decidedly not rural. That is where Wal-Mart wishes to expand. Wal-Mart does not wish to build a Supercenter in Waimea, Hanapepe or Kalalau. It wants to expand an existing store in Lihu‘e.
Wal-Mart is on commercial land. It has been suggested that Wal-Mart plow up the vacant land next to the store and allow the senior citizens of Sun Village, Wal-Mart’s near neighbor, to grow their own food. What a brilliant idea. Many of the seniors in Sun Village moved to the facility because they could no longer manage the homes and land they have lived in for 40 to 50 years. How are they supposed to feed themselves by farming when they no longer are able to do that? In stating that the majority of testimony at the commission meetings was in support of size limits, the commission is correct.
Others had to be working to support their families and were unable to spend countless hours listening to the commission discuss ad nauseam the minute details of each case brought before them. Those who did not attend to support the expansion of Wal-Mart were doing something infinitely less important: supporting their families.
Kristi Stephens
Lihu‘e
Fight for your right
House Bill (HB702) and Senate Bill (SB1276), requiring an Environmental Impact Statement on the Hawaii Superferry can possibly accomplish what we have been fighting for for the past eight months. If these bills are passed it will stop Superferry from becoming operational until the EIS is complete. The bills if passed also stop work on the docks until the EIS is completed. The Superferry impact on our island will undoubtedly be more severe than on O‘ahu, but they have the majority of House and Senate members. If Gov. Lingle vetoes the bills, it will require a two-thirds vote to override her veto. We therefore need to influence the people and politicians on O‘ahu to support these bills. This can be done through letters to the editor of daily newspapers. Senators and House members check the public pulse via letters to the editor, and they don’t have time to read the thousands of e-mails that their offices receive. Please, all Kauaians, write letters to the editor of newspapers expressing your support of the House and Senate Bills.
Rich Hoeppner
Kapa‘a
A load of fertilizer
I recently purchased a bag of lawn fertilizer from a local “big box” store (which, for its protection, I will not name). After carefully reading the handling precautions on a side label, I asked a sales associate to explain its instructions. The SA read the precautions and promptly called over his supervisor, the supervising sales assistant, who after looking at the label and asking the SA how much the fertilizer cost, skillfully directed me to take my purchase home and find definitive clarification on the fertilizer manufacturer’s Web site (whose name I will not give out to the general public). Such product mastery by the SSA was truly astonishing to me.
The SA helped me load the bag into my car’s trunk and departed with a brief comment that excessive heat may cause a potentially dangerous chemical explosion. Although he was called back into the “big box” by the SSA (for an SA planning conference?), his last words earned my undying gratitude.
But, what was I to do? Would the “big box” compensate me for my injuries?
Well, after 20 minutes of anxiety I hatched a plan to drive to a shady spot under a tree that the “big box” had thoughtfully installed for my benefit. The “big box” stood by me during the entire traumatic episode. I have only the “big box” to thank for its boundless consideration of my plight.
Long live the “big box.”
Unfortunately, after waiting for four hours until the cool dusk arrived, I was stuck in traffic for an hour and a half (on a highway whose name will live in notoriety).
The warning label cautioned against prolonged enclosed storage of the fertilizer. There I sat, doomed by the tyranny of the almighty automobile.
Down with the stranglehold of the black asphalt ribbon!
Dana Bekeart
Kapa‘a
Good start, but …
Your recent coverage of the three sheep who were brutally beaten and stabbed to death in Koloa prompts the question as to why livestock like sheep were not included in proposed felony animal cruelty legislation this year. Hawaiians should be just as frightened to have a violent predator running loose in the community who would brutally kill a sheep as one who would brutally kill a dog or cat in such a manner. Animal cruelty and violence against people are inextricably linked, and experts agree that it is the nature of the violence, not the identity of the victim, that is most important in cases of abuse.
The bill is a good start toward protecting the safety of animals (and people) from the worst kinds of abuse, and we wish it a speedy passage through the legislature. But Hawai‘i’s animal cruelty law won’t be truly meaningful until all animals, including farm animals, are included in its purview.
Gene Baur
President, Farm Sanctuary
