• Respect for the dead • We the people Respect for the dead I am writing this letter in hopes that it stirs some feelings. We had the pleasure of visiting your island several weeks in December. While we were
• Respect for the dead • We the
people
Respect for the dead
I am writing this letter in hopes that it stirs some feelings.
We had the pleasure of visiting your island several weeks in December.
While we were visiting our daughter and son-in-law, we were in awe of the beautiful vistas, waterfalls, canyons, luau, coast line and of course all the nice people, and the stories of their heritage.
On one of the side trips, I saw a sight that appalled and disgusted me. Behind the power plant in Pt. Allen there is a cemetery that is completely over grown with grass and brush.
The headstones barely show. Then there’s a road that goes by the beautiful soccer field in Hanapepe. Where this road ends, there is another cemetery that shows no respect for the heritage of your state. It appears there is no care at all.
I understand funding may be short, but it seems to me that there may be ways to repair and clean up what Hawaiians refer to as heritage.
Please don’t leave me with those images of disgust of your beautiful land.
Donald Cox, Portland, Oregon
We the people
Kaua‘i is at a civics crossroads. Best practices or keep Kaua‘i Kaua‘i?
Why were the Police Department and chiefs Lum and Perry tasked with modernizing KPD policies and procedures, but not every other county supervisor and department head?
The federal constitution begins with the words: “We the People of these United States”, not we the elected representatives.
The mayor and County Council insult and violate the civil rights of “We the People” when they are scofflaws, and act like or state that UIPA and the Sunshine Law don’t apply on Kaua‘i, and that the mayor or council, not “We the People,” control the government and governmental process on Kaua‘i.
Boards and commissions are the public’s watch dogs. They are not the mayor’s lap dogs nor any department’s pets.
The executive and council interests, by state and federal statutes, are never the same as the public’s interests. That is why boards and commissions exist.
The public’s interests are written in county documents and defined in federal and state law, not by the traditions of whomever is currently mayor or council chair.
Elected officials interests are always political, and by state and several statutes, they are never the same as the public’s.
The state provided three training seminars regarding the Sunshine Law and UIPA for all county elected, paid, or volunteer personnel in 2010.
What excuse do our officials have for continuing to violate these laws, except to commit a crime for personal political advantage? Sunshine Law criminal violations include both the initiator of the communication and the recipients if they participate.
Does the county wish to be sued by the public over whether the Sunshine Law and UIPA will be enforced on Kaua‘i?
Did a single one of our elected or appointed officials have the courage to fulfill their oath of office and file a complaint regarding the recent Sunshine Law violation by the mayor?
Does the recent decision of the council to pretend they can violate our civil rights by removing a section of UIPA from written county policy make any sense?
Elected officials have no power, only procedural prerogative. They must serve the public and follow the rules the public enacted.
Sufficient breach of faith by the government is addressed through recall or prosecution. Breach of faith by the public results in politicians losing an election. The public does not ever serve the government, nor does the county council ever determine what our civil rights are.
Does the Planning Commission serve the public, or the mayor? Do boards and commissions serve the public, or do they serve the mayor’s political interests or the departments they are supposed to oversee? They cannot serve two, or three masters.
The office of the mayor grossly abuses its authority by interfering with the Planning Commission, willfully violating the Sunshine Law and failing to respect the Charter’s system of checks and balances.
How is it possible that the mayor, county department heads, and the county’s legal counsel were unaware of the large body of labor law and other statutes we pay settlements for and violated for decades?
The county’s executive and legislative branches are aware of ADA and the EPA, the legal requirements involved in spending state and federal grants, and the portions of best practices and honest services laws they comply with to accomplish their political agendas.
Why would they not have knowledge of, and comply with, the associated bodies of labor and honest services laws we violated for decades and still violate until training is devised and completed and written policies, and likely the Charter, changed?
What other major bodies of law, besides UIPA and HR requirements, are the mayor, council, and county executives ignoring or ignorant of? branch officials $60,000 to $120,000 a year when every single one of them, except the police chief and county prosecutor, either doesn’t understand, or intentionally fails for decades to enforce service, labor and other laws protecting the public, workers’ rights and the public from lawsuits?
Completely aside from the recent civil rights violations settlements, what other patterns of county behavior, such as spending $1,000 a day in wages paying firemen to go fishing on a taxpayer-supplied fishing boat, demonstrate that best practices have not been and are not in place?
Lonnie Sykos, Kapa‘a
