• ‘Scrap it!’ • Mahalo for beach clean up kokua • Put a bounty on chickens • KIUC deserves a YES • KIUC should back away from FERC ‘Scrap it!’ Concerning The Garden Island’s front-page headline “Bike path price shocks council,”
• ‘Scrap it!’ • Mahalo for beach clean up kokua
• Put a bounty on chickens • KIUC
deserves a YES • KIUC should back away from
FERC
‘Scrap it!’
Concerning The Garden Island’s front-page headline “Bike path price shocks council,” I have just two words: Scrap it!
We already use too much of federal money. Doesn’t that part already have the bike path through the area? Why should the council members be so shocked? Couldn’t they see for the amount of work — moving the propane tank, parking lot, beautification, grading and pouring 2,000 some odd feet of cement — costs more than $28,000? It’s as plain to see as the noses on their faces.
This deal seems like someone is pulling the wool over someone’s face. Just scrap it and make due with what we have. There are more important and bigger things to take care of in this bad economy — like feeding the hungry.
Howard Tolbe, ‘Ele‘ele
Mahalo for beach clean up kokua
International Surfing Day is celebrated at over 200 locations world-wide. Surfrider Kaua‘i chose to celebrate with a beach clean up and this year and picked Keoneloa (Shipwreck) Beach.
At first glance, the beach appeared to be clean and relatively free of debris. But the 25 volunteers managed to collect 12 large burlap bags full of trash, including derelict fishing nets and ropes, plastic and fast-food containers. If not taken off the beach, an extreme high tide or storm surge could possibly wash this debris out to sea, endangering marine life.
We would like to mahalo: the Grand Hyatt at Po‘ipu for the gift certificate, the Hyatt and The Point at Po‘ipu for the wonderful refreshments, the outreach to their workers and guests and for their enthusiastic crews of beach cleaners.
Mahalo to AV Kaua‘i for the pop-up tent. Mahalo to Home Depot for the new gloves and buckets and to Kaua‘i Coffee for the burlap bags. They will get lots of use.
I shot some HD video footage that may be used in a national documentary called “One Beach” and I will post it when completed.
Surfrider is a worldwide environmental organization. Its mission is to promote clean oceans, lakes, rivers and streams and full access to them. Kaua‘i Surfrider has a new website, surfriderkauai.org, and is always looking for new members and volunteers.
Robert Zelkovsky, Surfrider Foundation
Put a bounty on chickens
I would like to suggest a relatively simple program to deal with the ever increasing population of feral chickens on Kaua‘i. The county should offer a bounty for every rooster (dead or alive) turned in to the county.
For discussion, say $3 a rooster. Keeping the bounty a little on the low side might provide incentive for rooster hunters to be more industrious and capture more roosters so as to supplement their income or even provide them with an income.
Of course, if the bounty is too low, no one will bother to catch the roosters. On the other hand, if the bounty is too high, the county might have to further dip into the county’s budget reserves. The County Council might commission a study to determine the optimum bounty.
Rooster collection stations could be incorporated into the county’s refuse transfer stations (chicken transfer stations). There could be a rooster capturer of the month award and, at the end of the year, a rooster capturer of the year, along with a special award — maybe complimentary chicken dinners at Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Peter Nilsen, Princeville
KIUC deserves a YES
There is no denial that in the current debate involving KIUC’s hydropower proposal, it is admitted that there is a need for the reduction of the cost of electricity, the need to reduce our dependence on oil and a definite need to develop new sources of power for the production of electricity. The issue, boiled down to specifics, is how should KIUC go about doing it?
KIUC, with the approval of its elected Board of Directors, has provided its members with detailed answers to frequently asked questions as to why it chose to utilize the process provided by FERC. No one, so far, has disputed or challenged the data or reasons given in support of its decision.
In any given discussion or debate, opponents to the proposition, necessarily, should provide reasons and data, if available, in support of their opposition and most importantly, an alternative or better method or procedure to replace that selected by KIUC. Sadly, based on what I have heard and seen in print, no reason, data or justifiable alternative has been advanced … only phantom fears.
KIUC, your utility cooperative and elected directors deserve a YES vote on your ballot.
Alfred Laureta, Lihu‘e
KIUC should back away from FERC
KIUC should back completely away from the FERC process. We need to develop hydro and do it sensibly. We will need give and take and balance among various local interests. The key word here is Kaua‘i’s interests, not Hawaiian, and certainly not federal.
Unlike many mainland rivers and waterways, which may flow from state to state or form borders between states, ours are all within Kaua‘i County borders. They do not affect the other islands. We have to abide by state law, but no need for federal bureaucrats to help us manage our own resources.
John Love, Kapa‘a
