• Come Superferry • Surfboard our freight • Inspection saved money • The circus is coming to town • Columnist responds • Bicycle path possibilities • Service clubs’ important work Come Superferry Now that Aloha Cargo is not flying I
• Come Superferry
• Surfboard our freight
• Inspection saved money
• The circus is coming to town
• Columnist responds
• Bicycle path possibilities
• Service clubs’ important work
Come Superferry
Now that Aloha Cargo is not flying I wonder if the people who are against the Superferry are thinking otherwise.
I hope when the time does come in an emergency and we need the Superferry, they will be begging for the Superferry to come to Kaua‘i and Supeferry will say, “Sorry, we changed our mind.”
Kanu Medeiros
Lihu‘e
Surfboard our freight
I’d like to ask all those who opposed the Superferry if they’d be willing to pack some freight on their surfboards and paddle our freight back and forth between Kaua‘i and O‘ahu.
Mary Kealoha
Kapa‘a
Inspection saved money
In this month’s KIUC Currents magazine there is an article about residential energy services specialist Claurino Bueno.
He did an inspection on our house a few months back and since his visit our electric bill has dropped over $60 dollars a month even as rates have gone up. If Claurino has not visited your house yet, you might just be wasting energy and money and not even know it. Mahalo, Claurino, keep up the good work.
Jason Nichols
Koloa
The circus is coming to town
No wait, it’s Uncle Jimmy’s Traveling Salvation Show (“Westside issues on tap for tent,” A1, April 28).
He, LaBedz and other self-anointed experts will be in Kekaha to save the ignorant Westsiders from themselves.
Then, they will drive out those evil agricultural interests, and cast the military away.
Hallelujah!
Steve Hansen
Kekaha
Columnist responds
In response to Gordon Oswald’s comments on my article on Hawaiian Nation History (“Wilson column needs research,” Letters, April 29):
Gordon, you are right, most of the research for the article was done on the Internet. Google certainly played a role.
Among other things, GoogleBooks is attempting to scan all published material and is creating a searchable database of it all. It’s the next best thing to having the Library of Congress on your desk.
Importantly, you should know I interviewed two Hawaiians with interest in sovereignty before writing the article. Before publishing, I submitted my article, for review and comment, to three individuals with more knowledge of Hawaiian history than I have.
I was surprised by your conclusion that I thought Kamehameha II-V were the tools of the English and Americans.
I believe for a century after contact the Hawaiians played a strategic chess game against the overpowering influences of Anglo-American technology.
In the end, do you not agree that there was bad faith on the part of America regarding Hawaiian independence?
Juan Wilson
Hanapepe
Bicycle path possibilities
A few years ago some of us made successful appeals to be allowed access to the beach through the south end of Lydgate Park. We have been allowed to park on or near the dirt road and to walk our dogs, on leash, down the road, under the bridge onto the beach. I proposed then that dog walkers use the beach before 10 a.m. and after 4 p.m. to reserve the best time for bathers.
Dogs should be allowed on the paths on 6-foot or shorter leashes (see below). Dogs should be good citizens, licensed for sure, but owners should also have to show evidence of proper socialization (obedience class, note from DVM or other qualified person ). And, of course, no one wants to step in dog feces. Dog walkers not carrying the materials needed for clean up, or for not cleaning up, could be cited. Conveniently located refuse receptacles help. In the part of Lydgate Park that we use, the hazard is not feces, rather it is freshly broken beer bottles. But a far more important problem than dogs on the paths, is deliberately mixing bicycles and pedestrians.
In 1998 I moved here after 20 years as a professor at Michigan State University. In 1998 MSU was a community of 60,000, about the size of Kaua‘i. The huge campus is crisscrossed by sidewalks and by parallel bicycle paths. Even so, bicyclists use the sidewalks. They ride fast and silently. A pedestrian who veers even slightly from course is in danger of being struck.
I also lived in Palo Alto, Calif., an extremely bicycle-friendly place. I rode safely 7.5 miles to and from Stanford University daily. It was safe because of curbs. In the major streets such as El Camino Real there were bicycle lanes, parallel to the automobile lanes and sidewalks, protected from encroachment by curbs. Our bicycle paths could be made safe for both pedestrians and bicyclists by dedicating half to each. For the bicycles (and skates and skateboards) create two one-way lanes, side-by-side, each 3 feet wide, protected from each other and the 6-foot wide pedestrian lane, by sizable curbs. Painted lines and arrows just won’t prevent crashes.
John Chimoskey
Kapa‘a
Service clubs’ important work
Thank you for printing news about our community service organizations. It’s important that The Garden Island readers learn more about community service organizations such as Rotary, International, Lions Clubs and Kiwanis. I am a member of Hilo Rotary, senior active. That means that I am no longer required to attend weekly meetings as a requirement of remaining in good standing. As an active member of Rotary, I attended meetings all over the United States, Europe and Asia.
During my active membership, the International project of Rotary was to wipe out polio all over the world. We immunized millions of children all over the world. Little kids stood in line to have the vaccine squirted into their mouths. It worked. Recently there have been new outbreaks of polio in some third world countries, a situation which can be handled locally by the countries involved.
For many years, the Lions clubs have worked hard to prevent blindness and other eye diseases. It has been a constant effort that has saved the eyesight of millions of people who would have been rendered sightless if not for the Lions’ efforts.
Kiwanians are connected with the YMCA, and serve their communities in many ways.
Each Rotarian in an individual club represents a particular occupation or profession. My designation in Hilo Rotary was County Government, because of my position as director of personnel services for Hawaii County. Although Rotary began as a male-only organization, several years ago women were invited to join. Today, men and women Rotarians work side by side in advancing the various projects that Rotary is engaged in.
Harry Boranian
Lihu‘e
