• Not racial issue • Really rural • On woe for whales • Closing Kaloko ditch • Let water flow Not racial issue The letter “And the brown-skinned people?” cannot go unchallenged (Letters, Oct. 27). The charge that the challengers
• Not racial issue
• Really rural
• On woe for whales
• Closing Kaloko ditch
• Let water flow
Not racial issue
The letter “And the brown-skinned people?” cannot go unchallenged (Letters, Oct. 27). The charge that the challengers of the Superferry are racists is utter nonsense.
After reading many letters in many newspapers and watching hearings on the Superferry, I do see that most people are in one of two camps. The Superferry support camp is composed of people looking after short-term benefits. Of course the Superferry employees are at the head of the line within this camp. These are followed by the people who think convenience is foremost. Last but not least in this camp are those who will have some monetary gain.
The Superferry challengers have a wider horizon. Their motives go beyond short-term gains. Many see environmental protection for future generations as paramount. Some think our system of laws with its checks and balances needs to be protected from corporate greed. Some think the ferry will lead to even more over-development. Many brown-skinned people are in this camp. Hopefully, many more will join.
We are still tribal animals, largely incapable of acting for the greater good or making long-term decisions for our own welfare. Our moral progress, has not kept up with our technological progress.
Some of us fear quality-of-life issues we and future generations are facing: Irreversible destruction of our coasts, environmental refugees, whole regions of the planet in permanent or near-constant drought, and massive species extinction on land and sea, to name but a few.
It appears that our legislative leaders and our governor cannot be relied on to protect our islands. Remember we have one more vote: we can vote with our dollars. Boycott the Superferry.
David Ward
Lihu‘e
Really rural
My thanks to Emmette Honjiyo for his articulate letter on the debunking of the protesters reason for protesting the Superferry (“And the brown-skinned people?” Letters, Oct. 27).
I’m white, from the Mainland. If I were selfish like so many I would be against anything that would help the young locals or Kaua‘i-born citizens. But I continually ask the people in power to open up the acreage homesites to allow more houses per acre so that working people can afford to buy or rent.
You know, it’s a matter of supply and demand. Keeping things rural just makes everything more expensive, yet the “rural” atmosphere could be obtained by restricting the style of building to a “rural” style. There is plenty of acreage that is unbuildable to maintain the rural surroundings.
I am a great supporter of a Wal-Mart Supercenter. They are good neighbors and they help the working people afford a better life. And they are willing to build in a manner that would imitate the local flavor … i.e. Hawaiian style.
If people want Kaua‘i to remain rural, then the permits for building should require the new buildings to be Hawaiian style. And they should require that all new buildings for business have off-street parking. Streets are for driving, not parking.
There are two 5-acre lots across the street from me with one house on each one. If they were allowed to build nine more houses on these lots that would mean 20 more homes for Kauaian citizens. This is not an area where most Mainlanders would want to pay high prices to live. Yet it is a very nice area.
Now from a selfish point of view: I don’t want either of these lots to have a total of 20 houses on them, but it would certainly be better for the young people.
Gordon “Doc” Smith
Kapa‘a
On woe for whales
The Superferry is a great form of mass transit, so be it if an occasional whale is killed.
Most of us eat ahi?
The whale eats ahi.
We eat ahi.
The Alaskan Eskimo eats and hunts whale as survival. I lived in Alaska for 20 years and have eaten mutuk (whale meat). Believe me, it is not very appetizing to the Western palate. My point is whales are not harvested and an occasional accident would not deplete the whale population. Not that there will be accidents.
Some 40,000 humans are killed on our nations highways every year. Does this mean we need to ground all cars and close down Detroit?
Let’s be reasonable. Let the ferry run, otherwise, the cruise ships, airlines, cargo vessels and all other moving vehicles will need to stand the same rigorous safety standards of the Superferry and before long we will be back in the 19th century.
Then how would we e-mail letters to the editor?
James “Kimo” Rosen
Kapa‘a
Closing Kaloko ditch
We just finished reading the letter about the DLNR diversion of water on Kaua‘i’s North Shore. As a resident of Kilauea Farms and homeowners living on the Waiakalua Reservoir, we have witnessed the diversion of water first hand. The Waiakalua Stream, reservoir and surrounding wetlands are home and nesting grounds to many endangered species such as the Hawaiian nene goose (Hawai‘i’s state bird), Hawaiian moorhen coot and the Hawaiian Galeno duck, just to name a few.
It has been hard and very sad to watch our reservoir, which is over 100 years old and home to these many native endangered species, slowly dry up. The DLNR has done nothing to help this problem and now with its proposed closure of the Kaloko ditch has only added insult to injury. If these areas are left to dry up, the habitat for these and many more wildlife species could be lost forever. By allowing precious water resources to be diverted or go unused while local farmers are scrambling to stay in business is of great concern.
All we are asking of the DLNR, the state and the county is their help, not hindrance. Preserving these critical ecological areas as well as the continued flow of water to the local farmers in this area should be an important priority. At a time when many areas including Hawai‘i are experiencing extended drought conditions, the proposal by the DLNR to build a structure to divert water resources, using taxpayer money, from the Kaloko ditch into the ocean seems absurd. The ludicrous thing is that the pipes and ditches to send this water to the farmers and the reservoir are already in place.
Allowing this travesty to happen will not only harm many endangered native species but may also lead to the extinction of the livelihood for the many local farmers.
Bill and Margo Flaherty
Kilauea
Let water flow
We live on Kaluamakua Stream, or what used to be the stream.
There has been no water flowing into the previously year-round stream for months now. It has dried up to about a 10-foot-long ditch with only about 1 foot of water. There are still some very large fish now trapped in the ditch. They are fish we have been feeding and watching for years. It is very sad to think they too will die as a result of poor human management.
Please turn the streams back on.
Bob Wilson
Kilauea
