• Every dog gets its day • It’s a dog’s life • Made the sun shine brighter • Project “coconuts” Every dog gets its day “This is Major Tom to ground control, I’m stepping out the door and I’m floating
• Every dog gets its day
• It’s a dog’s life
• Made the sun shine brighter
• Project “coconuts”
Every dog gets its day
“This is Major Tom to ground control, I’m stepping out the door and I’m floating in a most peculiar way…” scratching my head, because Susan Straight’s letter (“Ground control to Major Tom,” Letters, Feb. 10) just proves my point. Straight gets right to the heart of the matter as just one supporter of the humane society: “There is no way he is not guilty of the deaths,” and, “There is no defense for Steve Cummings.”
Tried, convicted, condemned all in two sentences. To clarify a few points in regard to her response:
• My letter doesn’t support the “actions” of Steve Cummings, but his due process rights to a “fair” trial without being proclaimed guilty and having his personal life publicly shredded by the accusers again and again.
• That hunters shouldn’t be stereotyped and threatened that they have been “put on notice.” The lines of judicial authority and enforcement start to become blurry when the leader of a public “society” or association begins to make such statements. Does the humane society have law enforcement abilities and arresting powers?
• Where we get even more blurry is Straight’s comparison between children and dogs. There is no comparison and one shouldn’t be given.
• Straight suggests that “public sympathy” requires charges to be brought upon someone, but charges are brought by the law and those who have the authority to enforce them. If we based charges on our emotions and how we feel, we would have serious problems. I’m all for “responsibility” and the “accountability” of people’s actions, of Steve Cummings’ actions, after they are proven or not proven. We need to remember it is the “humane” process in which we afford people hearings and trials that makes our country great.
Tom Iannucci
‘Ele‘ele
It’s a dog’s life
Mr. Tom Iannucci gives us all a very good example of why America long ago wanted a separation of church and state, with his self-titled “Humane or Insane Society,” Guest Commentary, Feb. 9.
Mr. Iannucci, who is both a pastor and a police commissioner, goes to great lengths to defend Mr. Steve Cummings, who is going through the court process for abusing 20 dogs and starving to death three, one at the end of a chain.
Mr. Iannucci then goes on to berate Dr. Becky Rhoades because she states that the humane society can go bankrupt because of inhumane people like Steve Cummings.
I guess Mr. Iannucci forgot about another recent case last May, where the humane society ended up paying the bill for the teacher on O‘ahu who stuck the humane society, and the people of Kaua‘i, with a huge bill of $269,000 and then got his 55 dogs back to sell at a profit.
Why did it cost so much?
Because the case was postponed many times by the man who abused so many dogs. The humane society brought them back to life, and good health, and cared for them for over a year.
What happens to any nonprofit company that keeps getting stuck with other people’s bills?
Does Mr. Iannucci care about dogs that are abused and killed?
Mr. Iannucci doesn’t say anything about how sorry he is that God’s creatures were abused in such a fashion, and starved at the end of a chain.
Mr. Iannucci doesn’t say much of anything.
All Mr. Iannucci does is defend Steve Cummings.
Everyone likes to talk about how corrupt the Kaua‘i Police Department is.
And then we get a police commissioner who writes a Guest Commentary like the one on Feb. 9.
I personally believe a few bad apples don’t always spoil the barrel, but when a bad apple shows you they are bad, you should really listen and act when you can, and not just complain.
Dennis Chaquette
Kapa‘a
Made the sun shine brighter
To the family of David Boynton — my heart goes out.
This is a huge heartbreak, our islands and the world have lost a treasure of national proportion.
As a professional photographer, I had the wonderful opportunity to take a workshop with this amazingly creative man. To this day I keep in my car a silver window reflector, upon David’s suggestion, an inexpensive item to illuminate faces for great portraiture.
And I thought I knew it all, even after 35-plus years as a professional.
Obviously I didn’t.
I will continue to remember that day, as I have, as a turning point in my ongoing creative quest.
Mahalo, David Boynton, for your genius and contribution to the arts and enlightenment of our ‘ohana Kaua‘i … You will be missed and appreciated for generations to come.
Pattie Taylor-White
Koloa
Project “coconuts”
This is the second letter that we have written to the Planning Commission.
As owners and part-time residents of the island of Kaua‘i, living at Plantation Hale, we respectfully request that the commission reconsider the development of the property adjacent to ours. The approval of the “Coconuts” project would be disastrous to this small, rural island. Environmentally, this construction would exhaust the many factors that are already a big concern: traffic, noise, water, sewer overflow and disruption of a surface which is a natural habitat (marsh) for wildlife that is already endangered. Flooding on this property is a yearly experience. More disruption and earth-moving devices will only impact the wildlife and present population.
For centuries, locals have fished and used this land as a natural setting for a culture that is already diminishing. We have a duty to respect this land, in its natural state, and beauty without destroying the “‘aina” for economical gains.
Once this project is approved there is no going back, only damage and regret.
On the shoreline, not far from the property, in 2005, Tom Morris, now deceased, found a human bone. Just on the corner of the bay near Lani Kai is a special place for ancient events and sacred to the people of Wailua. A marker exists to acknowledge this — no more than 200 yards from the proposed project.
So, in conclusion, we ask that you reconsider all that is known and unknown about moving forward, because it is obvious, but not for economical gains; no reasonable purpose is represented by moving forward. In keeping with the spirit of the people of Kaua‘i, honor the land, honor the people and stop the project.
• Sue Verutti
• Grace Verutti
• Yvonne Morrise
• Mary Syreen
• Charles Raleigh
Residents/owners
Plantation Hale
Kapa‘a
