• The essence of it all • Dear Mr. President • I picked-up my hammer and ‘saw’ • Power gone wrong at Moloa‘a festival The essence of it all Let’s appreciate the fact that the process of identifying important agricultural
• The essence of it all • Dear Mr.
President • I picked-up my hammer and ‘saw’
• Power gone wrong at Moloa‘a
festival
The essence of it all
Let’s appreciate the fact that the process of identifying important agricultural lands on Kaua‘i has been established and that there has been time and attention focused upon this intrinsically important topic.
At the same time, let’s remember that each of us plays a continual and vital role in that process because we are here, and as such: “We are but stewards of the land; the land is chief.” We all have that responsibility; not just a select few.
In other words, this is not something for a handful of people to decide and determine. Let us be thankful that we have the Kaua‘i Farm Bureau and the Kaua‘i Farmers Union to render support to the efforts that must be maintained by all of us.
Let us seek ways in which we can participate to protect, preserve, promote and perpetuate the “Garden Island” aspects of our aina. Let us raise our consciousness about the ways in which we distribute and share our water resources or how we can truly become the breadbasket that can grow nearly all the food we eat instead of importing what we consume from elsewhere.
Let us continue to place an emphasis on integrating our agricultural endeavors beyond mono-cropping or profit-making, and to encourage ways in which the ahupua‘a system of shared responsibilities takes precedence.
This, really, is the essence of it all.
Jose Bulatao Jr., Kekaha
Dear Mr. President
I will probably vote for you again in 2012 (assuming you win the nomination). Yet it is sad that after all the hope and inspiration I had felt during your campaign, my voting for you will now be just a matter of choosing the better of two evils.
This is what you have become.
You campaigned on the promise to end Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Now that a federal judge has ruled it unconstitutional and ordered an end to it, this would be the perfect time to do so.
You wouldn’t even have to take the heat for it. After all, it was a judge who declared it to be unconstitutional, not you.
But what do you do? You appeal the judge’s decision.
Yes, I will probably vote for you again. But only reluctantly.
Loyd Clayton Jr., Hanapepe
I picked-up my hammer and ‘saw’
On Oct. 24, The Garden Island published the editorial, “Your community newspaper.” The editor writes that “TGI makes a deliberate effort to provide balance in the coverage,” and that TGI is our community paper.
In the late evening of Oct. 9, our community KPD Officers were required to respond to a location due to a noise disturbance complaint. KPD officers were dispatched to One Love Gardens, where as many as 500 people were attending the Homegrown Music Festival. Sixteen officers appeared.
TGI reporters would write a story titled, “Peace, music and police at One Love Gardens.” Among other elaborate comments, it was written that “KPD officers reportedly showed-up this late evening in large numbers.” Does 16 police officers, responding to a location of as many as 500 individuals, constitute large numbers?
I was left scratching my head, when Mr. Dove Liddle was quoted to his voluntary “sobriety level” stating, “Here I am totally stone-cold sober…” In the end, Mr. Dove Liddle was arrested for disorderly conduct. Quoted in this story would be complaints around a garden variety police check point. Following, TGI would publish three LTE to this story. All letters were unfavorable to KPD officers performing required duties.
Lee Enterprises — holding company to newspaper The Garden Island — has determined principals, and core convictions, to quality journalism for all of its newspapers. These practices include “providing depth and continuity in coverage, being accurate and fair,” and to inform, educate readers, and explore solutions, to name a few.
TGI, please honor a continuum to the story “Peace, music and police at One Love Gardens.” You have only begun to build the framework to the completion of this story. No matter how many “newspapers flew off the stands,” there is a whole community on Kaua‘i — many members who have a different view than your story presented to police response and presence at One Love Gardens.
Deborah Morel, Kapa‘a
Power gone wrong at Moloa‘a festival
Why? Will anyone from the mayor’s office or the police department please tell us why such an intense focus on this event (“Peace, love and police at One Love Gardens,” The Garden Island, Oct. 14)?
Did something happened in the past that prompted this? Was it illegal to have this festival? Who sent such a show of force to this event?
I didn’t attend the event, I live in Moloa‘a and to tell you truth when I drove by I felt intimidated. Will someone please explain to us the people of Kaua‘i the reason? I am sure there has to be a reason because I have profound respect for Chief Perry and his officers.
Thomas McCall, Moloa‘a
