•Persistence •Lousy pictures Persistence I admire both Glenn Mickens’ and retired Judge Alfred Laureta’s “persistence” in their efforts toward sample a course of governance that relies upon transparency or upon one that maintains a policy of closed doors and limited
•Persistence
•Lousy pictures
Persistence
I admire both Glenn Mickens’ and retired Judge Alfred Laureta’s “persistence” in their efforts toward sample a course of governance that relies upon transparency or upon one that maintains a policy of closed doors and limited access to “hope and change.”
Apparently Judge Laureta’s admission to “choosing the ‘lazy’ way” to reach his final point of decision on this matter can best be resolved “by asking proponents (of a County Manager) to commit their specific reasons for change in writing in the only media we have on Kaua‘i.”
Perhaps the following endeavors this writer has been involved with will help demonstrate the need for a more transparent method, policy and leadership that a well trained county manager might provide.
Over the past 43 years of my residency on Kaua‘i I have always sensed a policy of favoritism toward special interest and individuals within our governmental practices, local and state, as many others have.
However, the magnitude of this tsunami of favoritism never really hit home until about eight to nine years ago and has steadily gained force over those years to today. My experiences revolve around four rather large and important segments of our community which deal with:
— Avoiding prosecution of violations of state and federal environmental statutes;
— Illegal practices within our state’s educational system;
— A complete ineptness on the part of our local government to manage Kaua‘i’s solid waste and garbage issues (16 years to pick a new landfill site?);
— A refusal on the part of our citizen-owned energy co-operative to genuinely discuss and consider alternate “cellular enriched power pellets” (CEP2’s) for the generating of electric power thus reducing Kaua‘i’s addiction to petroleum fuels while at the same time begin reducing the adjusted fuel charges attached to every electric user’s monthly bill.
— If these are considered positive, working forces, then Kaua‘i is in deep trouble!
These are but four issues I have “persistently” been fighting with our “government agencies” for years to rectify. Outstanding “environmental violations” issues have been going on for eight years, nine months, which may be coming to an end soon, involving two very wealthy parties, a large Kaua‘i land owner and a hotel chain, that have been sheltered from prosecution and fines by state agencies.
Hopefully, fines will be realized to help eliminate the “Friday Furlough” school issue or to reimburse substitute teachers wages the DOE withheld for nine years (embezzlement?) or for balancing our state budget.
Huge amounts of environmental fines may be made available to help correct injustices created within our educational agency. It may be possible to “kill two birds with one stone” if public support steps forward in a massive manner and the proper agency enforces the law. Your help may be needed very soon.
Many readers of this letter are already aware of county officials’ and agencies’ willingness to ignore an opportunity of a $100 million investment offer being brought to Kaua’i to resolve our island’s solid waste/garbage dilemma by building a state of the art recycling facility that would bring jobs, new manufacturing capabilities along with a diversion of waste.
To close, again I admire the “persistence” of both Mr. Mickens and Judge Laureta and I hope they will both join in my persistence to help correct these major problems our Island faces.
In truth, I too feel that “we the people” should at least be given the opportunity to try the county manager system for a set number of years. If it does not work we can always return to a mayoral system. Put the county manager to a vote by the people.
John Hoff, Lawa‘i
Lousy pictures
My husband and I never had photos taken at our original wedding in 2007. So in September 2009, we went to Kaua‘i to renew our wedding vows. It was beautiful but there is a little problem with the photographer.
I found a photographer in Kaua‘i by Google. The company name is Nalu Photos. The owner is a woman named Tonya Ellis. Let me tell you that she is not a professional at all.
I had contacted Tonya on Sept. 4 and asked her is there was a package we could put together on a tight budget. She agreed to $300 for one hour’s photography and a disc with all the photos taken.
She took the photos and the $300 and said she would be sending the disc in three weeks tops. The vows were on Sept. 9, but as of Dec. 4, we have not received the disc.
There have been 20 to 30 e-mails that I have sent to her inquiring about the disc. She keeps coming back with quite a few excuses (via e-mail) and telling me that the disc was sent. The last communication with her, which was three weeks ago, she was sending another copy.
To say the least, this kind of so called professional is not representing the aloha spirit. I know the spirit of aloha is there, but people like this make is hard to feel anything but negative. I don’t know what to do.
Marie Gross, Snohomish, Wash.
