• Barking bigger concern • Doesn’t make us dog-haters • The nuclear option • Sense of urgency needed Jose Bulatao Jr. Kekaha Barking bigger concern Let the dogs on the path. This is a rewarding and normal form of life
• Barking bigger concern
• Doesn’t make us dog-haters
• The nuclear option
• Sense of urgency needed
Jose Bulatao Jr.
Kekaha
Barking bigger concern
Let the dogs on the path. This is a rewarding and normal form of life most everywhere. I find nothing wrong with it. What is wrong on Kaua‘i are the many disrespectful dog owners that allow their animals to bark constantly night and day. This nuisance barking disrupts the ebb and flow of life on all levels. It allows no sanctuary in the privacy of one’s home. Most all counties in Hawai‘i have a nuisance law in effect with fines for those in violation. Why not Kaua‘i? Why should so many neighborhoods be held hostage by a few that show no regard or respect for their fellow neighbor? It is a beautiful day and I cannot open one window or door to enjoy the breezes due to this situation. Is this right? Since when do dogs have domain over humans? I encourage councilmember Tim Bynum to push forward with the proposed bill for “nuisances committed by dogs” (and their owners). There are many of us that would support the bill 100 percent.
Liz Stevens
Kalaheo
Doesn’t make us dog-haters
I think it is rather silly for Kaua‘i Humane Society director Becky Rhoades to think we would be considered dog-haters by the tourists if we did not allow dogs on the bike path.
Matter of fact I have heard many tourists complain about the unleashed dogs on the beach that not only are sometimes threatening to them but also leave their poop behind and they step in it. And those same dog owners would then also make use of the path. Especially where the path follows the shoreline.
If we were in a perfect world we would have the dog owners leash and pick up after their dogs. Unfortunately, very few dog owners do this.
I do not think that the dogs belong on the path. This will only make Dale Rosenfeld bring up the issue again of allowing horses on the path. It really bothers me that she is not fined for leaving all those messes behind on the trails in Wailua and also not observing the no horses law on holidays.
Now I have a suggestion. Make horse owners put diaper bags on the horses when they are on public property. This is done most places like New York where they have horse and buggy rides in the city.
Sonja King
Kapa‘a
The nuclear option
There are many causes for the spike in gasoline prices. Foremost are worldwide demand and the falling dollar. Because oil is traded in the dollar and OPEC countries’ currencies are not pegged to the dollar, OPEC just raises the price of oil to compensate for the falling dollar.
In 1978 the U.S. used 18.9 million barrels of oil per day, 30 years later we presently use 20.3 million barrels of oil per day. Our use is not really increasing but the rest of the world, especially in rapidly developing countries like China and India, consumption is increasing dramatically. It takes lots of oil and coal to produce all the junk they sell us.
After crude oil costs, gasoline taxes are the second largest contributor to the price paid at the pump. Together federal and state excise taxes on fuel account for an average cost of approximately 62 cents per gallon. That’s a combined tax of about 15 percent per gallon of gas. Reducing or eliminating these taxes would just shift the taxes elsewhere. Do you really think the government would spend less if they received fewer taxes?
Average profit per gallon of gas for oil companies: 10 cents. Clearly this is not the problem.
Other lessor factors are reduced refinery capacity, special seasonal boutique gas blends required by the EPA and speculators.
Just as there are many causes, there are many solutions. All are small parts of the puzzle. Conservation, drilling in Alaska, perhaps ethanol. But right now it appears to be a giveaway to big agriculture with the unintended side effect of increasing food costs and environmental harm, and electric cars will result in the increased burning of dirtier coal instead of oil to power the grid. Alternative fuels aren’t even worth discussing until we have enough electric capacity to produce them.
No clear solution except one that nobody wants to talk about … nuclear energy. Clean, non-polluting, non-so-called-greenhouse-gas-emitting electricity can be produced from nuclear power at a cost of .02-.03 cents per kilowatt-hour. Kaua‘i pays about .44 per kwh. With enough cheap electricity we can charge electric cars and produce non-polluting hydrogen to replace oil. The rest of the world is on board with this idea. France is 90 percent nuclear, while China and India are building nuclear plants as fast as they can. Only in the U.S. the environmental movement is holding us hostage on this issue, forcing us to burn coal, natural gas and oil.
T.L. Cameron
Boulder Creek, Calif.
Sense of urgency needed
The failure to compost the food waste from Taste of Hawai‘i is the tip of the iceberg. Most of the time when I recycle at the Kapa‘a site, the mixed paper bin is full and cardboard is often full. Our landfill is filling up and we clearly have no sense of urgency. What is the plan? To reopen the ocean dumping sites?
Stephen Northcutt
Kapa‘a
