• Fine folks • Homeowner’s rights • We should drill our own • 2 percent promises Fine folks Last Friday my sister, who is visiting us, tripped and fell, injuring herself. The manager on duty at Da Imu Hut called
• Fine folks
• Homeowner’s rights
• We should drill our own
• 2 percent promises
Fine folks
Last Friday my sister, who is visiting us, tripped and fell, injuring herself. The manager on duty at Da Imu Hut called 911 for us. Hanapepe paramedics responded immediately. They treated her caringly and transported her to West Kauai Medical Center. The nurses on duty were competent and caring. Also Dr. Fukino tended to her wounds and meticulously stitched up her cut. Everyone involved was courteous to the utmost and very thoughtful, even holding the hospital pharmacy open past closing time so we could fill her prescriptions. Mahalo nui loa everyone. We have some of the world’s finest and most caring medical emergency personnel on Kaua‘i.
Kim Nofsinger
Princeville
Homeowner’s rights
I can understand why people are upset that others are building on burial grounds (“Home approved, bones remain,” A1, June 4). However, what I don’t get is why this land was ever for sale. If Hawaiians knew that their ancestors were buried there, why on earth would they ever put the land up for sale in the first place? The people who chose to buy the land did so not knowing it was burial grounds, they just wanted a nice piece of land to put a house on. Why is that wrong?
Why are they being persecuted? Isn’t buying land and homes a right afforded to all of us? Let me ask those who are so eager to pass judgment on the current landowners: (1) If you purchased a piece of land, legally, for what was probably a huge sum of money and then found out that it happened to be a burial ground at one time, would you just “give” that land away without some sort of payment in return? (2) If you knew that it was a burial ground, why did you not speak up before these people purchased the land? and (3) If it was so important to preserve this land, why didn’t you all get together and purchase the land yourselves so that nobody else could do so, so that you could use it the way you believe it should be used.
Maybe you ought to look in the mirror and answer these questions honestly before you sit there and judge others.
Rusty Baker
Lihu‘e
We should drill our own
Not only is the cost of gas rising, anyone who buys groceries will notice that they are rising in price substantially also. Who would believe milk at $7.99 a gallon.
Why?
It costs more to bring things to market with trucks, barges, ships and airplanes. I expect gas to approach $5 per gallon before summer is over. Young Bros. increases its surcharge often for their barges. It’s easy to blame Bush, he is the head guy, but is he really the cause? The real cause is a Congress that has thwarted efforts to do more drilling or build more refineries. Much of this is due to environmentalists whose efforts to go green or whatever, have been very effective. They completely ignore the financial effects their policies have on our country. The Middle Eastern countries, predominantly Muslim, love to see us suffer. Does it bother them? Not at all as Saudia Arabia (not a friend, though we saved them from being invaded by Saddam) turned down Bush’s requests for increased production. I learned yesterday that there are several applications in to build nuclear power plants. If no lawsuits are filed, they project it would be six to eight years before any construction could start and then four to six years to complete the project. It seems our own people are our worst enemies. As I have stated before, the sight of oil rigs off any of our coasts doesn’t please me, but I really would like to go back to $2 per gallon gas.
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge drilling would involve some 2,000 acres which is miniscule to the size of the whole refuge. It seems the majority of our senators and representatives would much prefer to pay multi-billions of dollars to our enemies for their oil, than drill our own oil. No wonder the world thinks we are crazy, we are begging them to increase oil production when we have oil we won’t drill for in our own country. Makes even me wonder about our national sanity. If our country goes into a depression, it will not be because of the sub-prime housing mortgage crisis, it will be because of the price of oil. I am not encouraged that our Congress has the sense to do what should be done.
Bob Yount
Kalaheo
2 percent promises
When I appealed the outrageous increase in my property tax assessment a few years ago, the board simply supported the testimony of the county assessors’ office. My friends and neighbors who also contested their assessments were told the same thing: the County Council has put a 2 percent cap on your tax increase, so it really doesn’t matter.
The next year, I paid my $10 dollars and appealed the further assessment increase. The assessor’s office called to convince me that it wasn’t worth my time, because there was a 2 percent limit on my increased tax liability. I agreed that it wasn’t worth my time because I knew that I could not prevail.
This year, the assessment seems to have declined. As far as I can tell, my tax payment will still increase by 2 percent.
Now the mayor and presumably the council expect us to think we will actually realize tax savings thanks to their latest proposal. I think not, based on my experience. It’s time we hold them accountable to their 2 percent promise, at the very least.
Steve Hansen
Kekaha
