•Mahalo for saving our son •Don’t be tricked twice •Book sale a success Mahalo for saving our son Last Friday our son drowned at Ni‘ihau from “shallow water blackout.” He was revived by the Blue Dolphin staff and two visitors,
•Mahalo for saving our son
•Don’t be tricked twice
•Book sale a success
Mahalo for saving our son
Last Friday our son drowned at Ni‘ihau from “shallow water blackout.”
He was revived by the Blue Dolphin staff and two visitors, airlifted to Lihu‘e by the Coast Guard and transported to Wilcox by local paramedics.
The emergency room staff performed flawlessly and today he is alive and recovering.
We would like to thank the first responders, intensive care unit, and his current staff of nurses and doctors. You are our heroes!
Dr. Fornari, Dr. Schumacher, Dr. Terdik and Dr. Elliot, thanks for your concern and caring in this situation. I appreciate your honesty and dedication to your profession.
To all the Wilcox staff that we have touched this past week, God bless you. You make our day much easier to look forward to.
Mark and Janis Gowan, Kapa‘a
Don’t be tricked twice
Kaua‘i County GOP Chair Bill Georgi is correct to point out that the Sept. 24 “Islam Day” coincides with Sept. 11 in the Julian calendar — and I commend The Garden Island for including Mr. Georgi’s remarks.
Islam Day-backers from the “Muslim Association of Hawai‘i” have come up with at least three different excuses for why this date was selected. Their first two stories falsely tied Sept. 24 “Gregorian” to the foundation of Islam. Their third story claims that Islam Day was intended to coincide with the end of Ramadan. It doesn’t. Ramadan ended Sept. 20.
The fact is that Muslims celebrate the foundation of Islam on the lunar date “12th of Rabi al-Awwal.” This is year 1430 in the Islamic calendar and 12th Rabi coincided with March 9, 2009. It will be in February in 2010/1431. Contrary to each of the three different MAH stories, Sept. 24 in the Gregorian calendar used in the West today is of absolutely no significance whatsoever to Muslims.
I understand that many Americans would like to work with “moderate Muslims” to resolve the terror threat and resolve problems in the Middle East. But when one wants something too badly one has a tendency to see it where it does not exist.
Islam Day was established for 2009 by the Hawai‘i Legislature with the unanimous support of Kaua‘i’s elected representatives and senator. When the Legislature reconvenes for 2010, legislators are likely to be invited to make “Islam Day” a permanent feature of the Hawai‘i calendar. Our elected representatives may be excused for being fooled once by the slick salesmanship of the MAH — but there is no excuse for a repeat performance.
We must recognize that “moderate Muslims” do not lie about the foundation date of their religion in order to maneuver Islam Day to secretly coincide with Sept. 11. We must further recognize that the search for the all-too-elusive “moderate Muslim” is hindered — not helped — by giving undeserved recognition to those who falsely claim this title.
Andrew Walden, Hilo
Book sale a success
The Friends of Lihu‘e Public Library would like to thank the Kaua‘i community for making last weekend’s Friends of Lihu‘e Library Fall Used Book Sale fundraising event a success.
The Friends supports the Lihu‘e Library and all proceeds from the book sale go to strengthen the programs and services of the library in our community. We help buy reading incentives for the children’s and young adult’s summer reading programs, materials and honoraria for special programs, library equipment to enhance services, and supplies that are otherwise not available through the state.
We would like to thank our literacy sponsors PAHIO Development and the Queen Deborah Kapule Hawaiian Civic Club for supporting the sale’s Free Books for Kids. We thank the many volunteers who helped move and sort books in preparation for the book sale, during the sale, and to clean up after the event. In particular we thank Jan TenBruggencate for managing sales, and Jess Nall, Luana Ruggiero and Susan Matsunaga for their tireless and cheerful work. We also thank the Teen HAMSTERS, and Ginger Carlson from Caffé Coco for the delicious goodies to help sustain the shoppers and staff.
All the remaining books from the book sale were picked up by the KIUC Ohana, and the Filipino Chamber of Commerce to use in their Books for the Philippines program.
Our neighborhood libraries are even more important these days when people in our community are suffering from the effects of the economy. More people are turning to their libraries for information, online access, entertainment, and the comfort of a caring community.
Thank you for supporting our Kaua‘i libraries, and we’ll see you at the next book sale.
Bill Grier, President, The Friends of Lihu‘e Public Library
