Letters for Saturday, February 21, 2009

• Charge local golfers more for Wailua

• Obama not killing jobs

• Preserve Coco Palms

Charge local golfers more for Wailua

We have been coming to Kaua‘i for 30 years, as it is our favorite island. We also, have enjoyed many rounds of golf at the Wailua Golf Course in the past. (“Taxpayers foot golf budget shortfall,” The Garden Island, Feb. 19)

However, this year we have been here for four weeks and have not been able to phone in our request for a round of golf, as the line is always busy. Even when I went to the course in person, I was told they were all sold out by 8:45 a.m. The person ahead of me, a resident, was able to get on right away.

So, we have been here for four weeks and could not get a tee time for Wailua. We are now playing other golf courses, and will continue to do so, while the locals tell us they can get on any time they want for $15.

Good luck with raising your fees for us non-residents to $60, plus at least $18 for a cart. At that price, we can play almost any other course. How about raising the local fees, and maybe you will be able to break even on your course? 

We are sorry we are not welcome to play your very fine public course.

• Ellie Peden, Minneapolis, Minn.

Obama not killing jobs

Donald Lambro’s column on the editorial page is rife with misinformation and statistics that were produced by the sore-losing right-wing pundits who have no factual data to support their skewed ideology. (“Obama, stop killing job creation,” Forum, Feb. 18)

Whine, whine, whine. The Republicans lost the election. Go back to your caves. You had eight years to prove yourselves and just plain, flat-out failed. It’s our turn again; the Democrats, the progressives, the party that will restore sense and sensibility, not to mention restoring our Constitution.

Let’s first note that Lambro is chief political correspondent for the Washington Times and is a right-wing conservative who uses distorted facts to support his rhetoric. He indicates one of his sources to be the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press as if it is some non-partisan think tank passing on data supported by actual facts or legitimate surveys. Pew Research Center is owned by the Pew Charitable Trust, founded by (and still controlled by) the Pew family of Sunoco Oil, known to be politically conservative and probably a tad supportive of big oil and all that it represents.

Lambro states that President Obama supports tax spending “though he cannot point to a single instance where government spending lifted an economy out of a recession.” Has he overlooked FDR and the great depression as but one example? Fiscal stimulus, including both tax cuts and government spending, can help. It’s reasonable to debate the best mix of tax cuts and spending, but it makes no sense to pretend that spending has no role to play.

One good example of creating jobs is to address the problem of our decaying infrastructure. The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates that America needs $2.2 trillion of repairs and upgrades during the next five years just to have an adequate infrastructure. So we should be working on our infrastructure anyway, even if we weren’t in a deepening recession. Since we are in a deepening recession, the case for infrastructure spending is even stronger.

We will put people to work, providing asphalt, concrete and steel. We will provide construction jobs. And the people employed will have more money in their pockets, which they can spend at the grocery store and the hardware store. That’s what fiscal stimulus is all about.

For someone who’s been spewing conservatism twice a week since 1980, you’d think Lambro could get his facts straight. He is typical, however, of his party ties. But, like I said earlier, the Republicans lost. Give it up. Go back to your cave, quit whining and acknowledge the party that’s going to get us out of the mess your party created.

• Richard Kracke, Kapa‘a

Preserve Coco Palms

This is an open letter to Phil Ross, one of the current owners of Coco Palms. (“Coco Palms up in the air,” The Garden Island, Feb. 11)

Mr. Ross, you hold the fate of Coco Palms in your hands. As the owner, you recognize the legion of people in this world who were guests at this hotel. They hold memories of a time and place when Coco Palms offered an oasis of Hawaiian Culture.

You undoubtedly know the historical significance of Wailua and the many sacred Hawaiian sites within and around Coco Palms. It is an area permeated with spiritual importance and a tradition of hospitality that is centuries old.

And then Hurricane ‘Iniki visited. In 1992 it wreaked havoc upon this gracious island and Coco Palms. Since then, hotel developers have come and gone, and yet this renowned site has resisted proposed changes that would have morphed it into something unrecognizable, undesirable and completely out of sync with the sacred land on which it stands.

In memory of our ali‘i who occupied this graceful site, you could bestow the gift of Coco Palms into the hands of a community partnership. There are creative solutions that would support its use such as a cultural park for all to enjoy rather than a resort development.

There are some things in this world that should be allowed to retain their cultural and spiritual embodiment. The Coco Palms Hotel can never be brought back as it was, but the spirit and traditions that prevailed can be nurtured to flourish again. This special place calls out for protection and preservation.

• Haunani Rossi, Wailua