• For 1 hour, turn off lights • Distortions • Were other path offenders on front page? • Disappointed tourist • Election mandated For 1 hour, turn off lights Climate change is happening all around us and its pace is accelerating. From
• For 1 hour, turn off lights • Distortions • Were other path offenders on front page? • Disappointed tourist • Election mandated
For 1 hour, turn off lights
Climate change is happening all around us and its pace is accelerating. From melting glaciers to increasingly intense weather patterns, we already are feeling the impact of climate change on our lives.
In a bold statement of collective concern for our planet, millions of people around the world will turn off their lights for one hour.
“Earth Hour” on March 27, 2010 at 8:30 p.m. local time. I urge the Kaua‘i community to take part and support this effort by turning off all non-essential lighting during Earth Hour.
Sponsored by World Wildlife Fund, Earth Hour is the largest event of its kind in the world. In 2009, nearly one billion people from 4,100 cities in 87 countries turned off the lights, as well as international landmarks including the Golden Gate Bridge, Empire State Building, Eiffel Tower and Great Pyramids, and the city skylines of Las Vegas, Hong Kong and Tel Aviv.
We have the power to make Earth Hour 2010 even bigger.
This is a critical moment for our planet. Together, we can raise our voices and demand that our elected leaders join with the global community to find solutions to this urgent problem. Please visit www.EarthHour.org to learn more. On March 27 at 8:30 p.m., let’s all turn out for Earth Hour and for the future of our planet.
Andrew Solomon, Anahola
Distortions
Glenn Mickens (“Bieber and balance,” TGI, March 24) superimposes a baseball image on the decision by the Board of Ethics to uphold the integrity and authority of Charter Section 20.02D and the process leading to that decision.
By his account, the underdogs (“the nitpickers”) won a huge victory and their powerful opponents (“the status quo”) suffered a resounding defeat when the hero of the day hit a home run in the seventh game of the World Series. Then the team’s owner inexplicably refused to reward the hero with a new contract.
In my view, his account does not serve the public interest because it distorts the actual process and its outcome at almost every turn. Here are two key examples: **The “victory” was for our form of self-government. Changing to a football image, members of the public carried the ball for the first year, while members of the Ethics Board, led first by new members Paul Weil and Rolf Bieber and later supported by incumbents Mark Hubbard and Judy Lenthall, carried the ball for the second year with continuing support from the public. It is unfair to Bieber as well as others to single him out as a larger-than-life icon. By having 20.02D restored to its rightful place in the charter the public and elected and appointed officials are all winners. **The mayor does not legally have the right, as Mickens suggests, to appoint anyone he wants to the Board of Ethics. The state constitution requires that ethics commissioners be chosen in a manner that assures their independence and impartiality. Accordingly, “balance” (however defined) is an unconstitutional standard for selecting members of the Ethics Board as well as a meaningless explanation for not reappointing Bieber when his one-year term expired.
In my opinion, “us” against “them,” with its winners and losers and heroes, is a harmless metaphor for describing a sports contest, but it serves the interest of no one when applied to the workings of our representative, constitutional democracy, for which we bear a collective responsibility.
Horace Stoessel, Kapa‘a
Were other path offenders on front page?
I’m just curious whether or not the other path offenders made the front page? Why a fine and not a warning? Seems to me….poodle tethered in a basket on a bike is a lot less of an issue than an off-leash dog. It’s a shame that someone didn’t make a judgment call. Not everything is black and white. Dr. Rhoades and the entire Humane Society work tirelessly day after day to educate people. To run that article (Rhoades fined, The Garden Island, March 24) like a spanking was distasteful.
Kim Manchester, Lihu‘e
Disappointed tourist
I have just returned from my fourth visit to the Hawaiian Islands. It has been five years since I was on the “Garden Isle,” and was disappointed to see that the garden has been neglected and allowed to be over run by woody weeds. I presume the problem is that the cost of land has made producing agricultural commodities unviable. The only commodity left to trade is the land itself. While realtors, developers and speculators (“investors” in realty propaganda) may become wealthy, the island’s traditional aloha spirit is fading behind a wall of “private property,” “keep out” and “no beach access” signs. It was the “many people, one island” attitude that created a unique atmosphere on Kaua‘i that made it so different to the many beautiful islands in the Pacific. I see no reason to return again and wish you all the best for the future.
Maurice Nichols, Wyalong, NSW, Australia
Election mandated
Badly needed state education funds have been diverted for a special election to replace Neil Abercrombie in the U.S. House of Representatives. If you ask why, I can give you a one-word answer — the Constitution. A special election must be held to replace a House member.
Some other office may be filled by appointment or have a built-in replacement (i.e. Lt. Governor). When Abercombie quit to run for governor our nearly broke state government was forced to pony-up. If you listen to his radio commercials, he tell us he is listening to public sentiment and wants the kids back in school full-time. His actions speak louder than his words.
Suzanne Woodruff, Kapa‘a
