• KIUC a disaster • No right to complain • Unruly travelers at hotel, too • Who pays for drug tests? KIUC a disaster Our island power system is failing thanks to the apparent incompetence of the management in control.
• KIUC a disaster
• No right to complain
• Unruly travelers at hotel, too
• Who pays for drug tests?
KIUC a disaster
Our island power system is failing thanks to the apparent incompetence of the management in control.
Voltage at my home varies from 114 volts to over 127 volts with power spikes of undetermined intensity. While the intensity of these spikes is unknown they are great enough to burn up the electronics in my home. I have surge protectors but even they are insufficient to protect home electronics from premature failure caused by the excessive voltage spikes.
I have had personnel from KIUC come to my home. I was told the surge protectors we purchased over the counter will not protect us from the spikes delivered. They have told me I need to have them install one of their special surge protectors on my home. These, of course, come with an installation fee as well as a monthly rental.
This is nothing short of extortion. These people are supposed to deliver usable and pure power. Instead they admit to the delivery of a product that is unstable and destructive to our property. Now they want to charge extra for providing the utility we are already being billed the highest kilowatt hour rate in the United States.
In addition to the unreasonably high cost of our electric utility, I have spent thousands in replacement cost of my home electronics as a result of premature failure caused by unstable electric power. I waste hours of valuable time resetting clocks that turn off as a result from frequent power outages.
Our island keeps growing by leaps and bounds but the KIUC is doing little or nothing to keep up. They only demonstrate their incompetence and gross negligence by continued poor service at a premium price.
As our Island adds new homes and businesses we can expect more of the same with probability of increased or total failure of this poorly managed electric utility system.
This situation can only be blamed on a management and engineering issue. I think it is time for a change.
• Ken DaVico, Kapa‘a
No right to complain
Representative James Tokioka’s comments regarding the governor’s proposal to suspend pay raises for government leaders were out of line. (“Lingle proposes pay raise freezes for officials,” The Garden Island, Dec. 22)
All branches of government should be fiscally prudent, and the Legislature is no exception. Characterizing an across-the-board salary increase suspension “fiscally and morally irresponsible” and “at the Legislature’s expense” is over the top and rash.
If I recall correctly, Representative Tokioka was voted into office in 2006. He is in no position to complain about how small a salary Legislators received in the past.
• Stephanie Bukoski, Waimea
Unruly travelers at hotel, too
These people are unbelievable! (“Unruly travelers cause airport delay,” The Garden Island, Dec. 18)
They are staying at our resort and have spent the last 48 hours terrorizing employees and guests. Their kids are running the hallways and pulling fire alarms at 5 a.m., damaging things in the restaurant, threatening employees that they will burn the place down, coming into private offices and trying to take juices, waters, and cookies from the fridge because they’re too cheap to pay for them.
The parents are laying by the pool ignoring the kids, who are breaking all the pool safety rules. When asked to watch them, they stated that “we’re on vacation and we shouldn’t have to watch them.”
When security admonished them, he was splashed in the face with water.
Today was the highlight when one of the kids (defecated) in the pool and we had to close it to clean it. Oh, and one of them held another guest’s child under water.
I’ve never in my life seen such disrespect and bad behavior and it’s obvious the kids are learning it all from the rude parents. It’s seriously like what you’d see in a movie. God help us survive unitl they check out and fly back home.
• alohamom, thegardenisland.com
Who pays for drug tests?
Mr. Tolbe, the issue is not about teachers’ unwillingness to participate in a drug testing program, the issue is that the governor has required the expense be placed upon an already stretched school budget. (“Drug test teachers,” Letters, Dec. 21)
The elementary school in your neighborhood is already cut to below even the barest of necessities but would have to accept the additional financial burden of covering the cost of testing its teachers.
You should sit in on a faculty meeting at one of the local schools to witness the reality of today’s challenges. We are being asked to raise the bar in education by meeting specified standards, however the resources in which to do this are being decreased with budget cuts.
Our past few meetings have included brainstorming ways to make cuts to an already skeletal budget. You would also be surprised at how much of our own money is spent on supplies for our students.
I would be more than happy to submit to a drug test, I have been tested recently for a part-time job. Teachers are fighting for the students, whether you believe it or not.
The drug testing expense decreases the already dismal funding and all we are asking is that schools receive proper resources to do our job, not have the government put more of their financial responsibilities onto the schools.
• lisakauai, thegardenisland.com
• EDITOR’S NOTE: To encourage more interaction between our print edition and our Web site, thegardenisland.com, we at The Garden Island are today beginning to print comments to our online stories alongside our standard letters to the editor. We encourage you to continue to send in your letters, and also now welcome online submissions.
