•Questions for new
county officials •More potholes on
Kuhio Highway •Thank you for making difficult time easier •Obama an example of America’s melting pot •Children in Gaza Questions for new
county officials I recommend that the following questions be included in the interviews
•Questions for new
county officials
•More potholes on
Kuhio Highway
•Thank you for making difficult time easier
•Obama an example of America’s melting pot
•Children in Gaza
Questions for new
county officials
I recommend that the following questions be included in the interviews of board and commission appointees on Jan. 27:
Questions for all appointees:
• Briefly describe the process by which you were recruited and any questions you raised before agreeing to accept the appointment.
• Have you received a copy of the oath of office, and do you have any questions or reservations about what the oath requires you to do?
• What do you consider to be the most important power exercised by the board/commission you have been appointed to?
Questions for Civil Service Commission appointee:
• Are you familiar with the state laws and charter provisions governing the Personnel Department and the commission?
• What would you do if you learned that the administration is violating the merit principle on which the civil service system is based?
Questions for Board of Ethics appointee:
• What is your understanding of the relationship between Charter Article 20 (Code of Ethics) and regulations related to ethics in Chapter 3 of the Kaua‘i County Code?
• What would you do if you learned that within the past year the board gave permission to a county officer to violate the code of ethics and/or that within the past month a member of the board violated the code of ethics?
Question for County Council members:
• When, in the interest of open government, will the council begin televising its interviews of mayoral appointees?
• Horace Stoessel, Kapa‘a
More potholes on
Kuhio Highway
A few months ago, the county did an excellent job of repairing the potholes on the Kuhio Highway ingress and egress to the Kalihiwai bridge.
However, it is very puzzling why they didn’t extend the repairs another 200 yards west of the bridge on the Makai side while all the equipment was on site. Here are some of the worst and most dangerous potholes on the whole Kuhio Highway.
Patches to the patches now have potholes in them and they are getting worse by the day. Also, somewhat further west there are still more abominable potholes on both sides of the highway. It almost appears that the county doesn’t care much about the highway on the North Shore.
The potholes make it easy to distinguish local North Shore resident drivers from visitor drivers. The local drivers are the ones whose cars can be seen slaloming down the highway as they try to avoid the potholes whereas the visitor drivers are the ones who can be seen bouncing wildly up and down as they hit the potholes dead on — well, their cars are rental cars anyway.
Maybe with the billions of dollars of bailout money that will soon be available the County we’ll be able afford to fix this deplorable and dangerous North Shore Kuhio Highway situation.
• Peter Nilsen, Princeville
Thank you for making difficult time easier
A few weeks ago on a visit to your lovely island, I had the misfortune to lose my brother in a snorkeling accident. (“Canadian visitor drowns on South Shore snorkel tour,” The Garden Island, Jan. 11)
I am writing to express my heartfelt thanks to the staff and owners of the diving company. Their care and genuine concern for all of us was beyond expectation.
I also want to thank the staff of the Grand Hyatt who made a difficult time easier. I hope to return to Kaua‘i in the future, and when I do, I will be looking up my newly found family and perhaps go diving with them.
• Gail Conrick, Trenton, Ontario
Obama an example of America’s melting pot
I watched the inauguration coverage and all stations kept repeating that Barack Obama is our first African-American president. That’s great, look how far our country has come!
Except Obama is not our first African-American president. He is actually our first biracial president. The major broadcast stations and everyone seem to forget that he is actually biracial.
Saying that he is our first African-American president is no more correct than saying that he is just another white president.
I guess that our country has come to the point that being politically correct is more important than being factually correct, even for our major national news organizations.
As Barack himself might say, “There is not an African-American America, there is not a white America and there is not a Latino America. There is a United States of America.”
We should embrace, rejoice and acknowledge that our country is the great melting pot and that our new biracial president is a great example of that.
• Christopher Webster, Kalaheo
Children in Gaza
Think locally, but act globally. That’s allowed, even on Kaua‘i.
If you kill for politics or religion, will your God forgive you? And if you kill for self-righteous and religious reasons, how would that make you any different from another group of people who kill for political and religious reasons?
If your father or uncle commits a crime, does that mean you are guilty as well? Profiling is racism, and it eventually leads to one group of people trying to kill the other group.
You either fight tyranny or you become a part of tyranny by allowing it to grow and flourish. If a man commits a crime, you go after the man; you do not kill everyone in the man’s neighborhood. Or everyone in this man’s town.
I am talking of course about the recent Israeli offensive into the Gaza Strip.
Some 500 children have been killed in the last 25 days in Gaza. Does the God of Israeli politicians care about these children? Does the God of American politicians care about these children?
Do you?
• Dennis Chaquette, Kapa‘a
