• Kaua‘i’s people, its essence • Let’s do something about sex offenders • Power in the workplace Kaua‘i’s people, its essence I am saddened by the controversy raised by a couple of Kauai County Council members to the mayor’s proposal
• Kaua‘i’s people, its essence
• Let’s do something about sex offenders
• Power in the workplace
Kaua‘i’s people, its essence
I am saddened by the controversy raised by a couple of Kauai County Council members to the mayor’s proposal to devote a small portion of eight county workers’ time to direct community outreach.
Kaua‘i’s essence is its people and the community they form by working together. The biggest complaint we hear with all the proposed and actual development taking place is “government is not listening to the people.” The mayor’s program “Ka Leo O Kaua‘i” is a small, but very significant way to hear what our friends, neighbors and business partners are actually saying and feeling. I appreciate the importance of each county worker — whether they drive a truck, sit behind a desk working an Excel spreadsheet, or watch our beaches.
Each is important. However, we can’t underestimate the added value of a county employee actually being charged with regular contact with the community in meetings scheduled outside of the regular workday, workplace, or official settings.
The mayor has tapped into a long-used method of neighborhood meetings used in most of our cultures throughout history. Community outreach, the core of Ka Leo O Kaua‘i is being used today in successful, proven and much duplicated programs in large Mainland cities such as Portland, Seattle, Madison, Chicago and Dayton. These cities, like the mayor, recognize the importance of getting out of government offices and going to the neighborhoods to truly listen to our neighbors in their neighborhoods and then to take that information back to the appropriate government sources.
Much can be learned by just being a part of the fabric of Kaua‘i. The mayor by continuing to support and push for community outreach through programs like Ka Leo O Kaua‘i understands this and shows that he values the simplicity but tremendous importance of actually listening and talking with the people of Kaua‘i.
David Lane
Koloa
Let’s do something about sex offenders
I have been reading the letters on this and I wish there was something I could do. Any parent, child, church, educator, legal enforcement officer, etc. can contact me. I know of girls and boys who have been sexually offended on this island. They are afraid to prosecute because they think the perpetrator will come after them again or the legal system is not strong enough to do something about this.
When someone is violated, the perpetrator needs to be reprimanded and that is that. Unless we all just want this to keep happening. The law needs to be strict enough so that offenders think twice about offending others.
People of 13 years of age are not mature enough to decide to be sexually active and people over 18 should know better than to exploit this.
Maybe we all need to focus on respect more. We need to respect our bodies as sacred temples and not hurt ourselves or others.
This is a serious issue here on this island and needs to be addressed. This is our island, don’t we want it to be safe and beautiful for all of us?
Margaret Folsom
Anahola
Power in the workplace
Governor Linda Lingle presents her veto of proposed right-to-organize legislation as if she were doing a favor for working people (“Lingle announces plans to veto union voter rights,” A5, April 14).
Yet the wonderful “secret ballot election” process now imposed on workers is anything but an exercise in democracy.
Most often, these elections take place in a context controlled by the employer, in which the employer has subjected workers to months of mandatory anti-union meetings and other intimidation tactics which may or may not cross the line of illegality. The National Labor Relations Board offers flimsy protection to union-supporting workers who are fired during organizing drives. The penalties for employers who are rarely caught by the NLRB for violations of organizing rights are insignificant and do not offer a deterrent to anti-union employers.
By contrast, right-to-organize legislation offers workers the autonomy to decide, free of intimidation and fear of job loss, if they would like to belong to an association of workers which grants them greater power in the workplace than they would have by going it alone. Employers understand the value of belonging to associations — for that reason, most are dues-paying members of business associations and chambers of commerce. As far as I know, employers are not required to undergo months of campaigning by their employees to dissuade them from deciding to join these organizations — it is assumed that they are capable of making intelligent decisions on their own.
Naturally, the real concern of anti-union politicians and business-people is that organized workers will cut into profits. Yet, leaving aside the principle that providing living wages and benefits and honoring the dignity of workers is a reasonable cost of doing business, business owners should recognize that it is health care costs that are the real drag on profits. Business owners large and small should quit wasting their energy fighting their workers and band together to demand a comprehensive, single-payer health care system in the U.S. We are still the only industrialized nation in the world without one and it is hurting us, one and all.
Katy Rose
Hanalei
