• No regulation the problem • Families need a break • It’s a two way street • War as disease • It’s a free country No regulation the problem Stan Godes (“Protestors don’t represent me,” Letters, July 22) is certainly
• No regulation the problem
• Families need a break
• It’s a two way street
• War as disease
• It’s a free country
No regulation the problem
Stan Godes (“Protestors don’t represent me,” Letters, July 22) is certainly entitled to his belief that turning Hanalei into a Visitor Destination Area would be desirable. He is entitled to feel that when “dozens of fly-by-night boat operators” turned Hanalei Bay into a commercial boat harbor and commercialized Hanalei’s beaches, Hanalei Bay was not degraded. But if residents want that type of a future for Hanalei, it should be achieved through public processes and changes to zoning regulations.
That’s not what’s happening. Instead, two operators have started up commercial boat tours in Hanalei without the necessary permits. And last Wednesday, the county issued a violation notice to the property owner whose land is being used as a staging area for those new boat tours. Among other things, that notice ordered the property owner to “cease and desist any further commercial activities on the site being conducted by the noted commercial tour boat operator/s.”
But the unauthorized boat tours have continued.
If one property owner and two tour boat companies are allowed to unilaterally and illegally provide very lucrative commercial boat tours from Hanalei, there is absolutely no reason why we soon won’t have another 50 commercial tour boats operating in Hanalei — just like the good-old-days.
So community members have indeed been protesting. We have been protesting to let these tour boat operators know that we will not stand by idly while they commercialize a residential area, recreational beach and bay. We have been protesting to let the co-conspirators in these activities (the activities desks and timeshare operators who promote these illegal tours and profit handsomely) know that they should cease booking these tours. We have been protesting to let tourists know that they should respect the law and local residents by not patronizing such activities, and to inform tourists that there are plenty of honest, respectful tour boat operators elsewhere on Kaua‘i who can provide them with legal tours of the Na Pali coast.
Tourists who want to “savor the beauty and magic of Hanalei” remain welcome here — provided that they don’t patronize non-permitted commercial operators. But tourists who prefer to take illegal tours or engage in other activities that harm the local community should indeed go elsewhere. Mr. Godes’ suggestion of the Caribbean sounds fine to me.
Carl Imparato
Hanalei
Families need a break
Mayor Bryan Baptiste and Mrs. Fujiuchi are on the right track when planning for a place for the homeless by utilizing the old courthouse to house the homeless (“Mayor announces new program to help homeless,” A1, July 21).
However, Mr Togioka says that the mayor and Fujiuchi should listen to the parents concerns of their children’s safety attending Wilcox Elementary.
According to the story printed in The Garden Island newspaper, the mayor will accept only non-violent families and will set high standards (that the families be able to save to buy their own home).
Remember these are families that need this kind of break to try and get ahead. So, before anyone should comment about this program, how are things in your closet? Is it all that perfect? Don’t judge, give the homeless a break. They are humans, too.
Maybe the mayor and Mrs. Fujiuchi can put a plan together for young adults,too.
Howard Tolbe
‘Ele‘ele
It’s a two way street
Regarding the letter (“Respect and the Office of the President,” Letters, July 21) by Bob Yount, perhaps sir you have forgotten that respect is a two- way street.
The current occupant of that office has clearly and agressively displayed his disdain for us citizens of this once great nation via his continuous assault on our Constitution. We may wish mightily that we can retain our respect for this once well respected office, however it is ever more difficult to do so when the incumbent hides behind this office like the coward and liar he has proven to be.
Craig Millett
Kalaheo
War as disease
I am appalled by Diana West’s suggestion (“Train of thought: A letter to Sen. Arlen Specter,” Media Voices, July 21) that the United States step up to its true power and decimate Iraq, regardless of how many of their deaths result. Their is her word for innocent Iraqi civilians as clearly distinguished in her article.
Diana, I believe that their and our people are of the same human race, sharing a common home. We are one body of humanity, and yes, sometimes parts of our body are not well. Like autoimmune diseases — the body attacking itself — we are on a rampage.
Cancer is often treated by cutting out the defective cells, yet with new technologies we are more able to remove cancerous cells only, and not harm the rest. We also know that disease (dis-ease) can be reversed through prayer and positive, life-enhancing thoughts. Now that’s real power.
Imagine if our country’s show of power came from being the world’s leader in non-violent conflict resolution and peacemaking, rather than from outdated shoot ‘em up war making. Power comes from the inside — from knowing who we are. It’s high time we learned more about ourselves and all parts of our body of humanity in order to address conflicts from the inside out. I urge our elected officials to support current legislation for a U.S. Department of Peace, whose agenda would be to reduce violence at home and abroad by understanding and addressing its root causes. Isn’t it better to prevent disease in the first place?
Marian Head
Kapa‘a
It’s a free country
For our visiting friend Mr. Ord of Colorado (“Read the signs,” Letters, July 19).
I do not personally have any of those signs. However, if they are on private property and put up by private citizens, it is called freedom of speech. Nothing you mentioned was obscene, so obscenity laws would not apply.
Love them, hate them, agree or disagree with their expressed opinion, business interests can never, ever trump our right to speak out in non-violent ways. To suggest so goes against what America stands for and disagrees with that wonderful document, the United States Constitution.
Freedom to speak your mind, regardless of the popularity of your opinion, is one of the many freedoms the fine members of our armed forces have died to protect.
Frederick Kuhne
Lihu‘e
