• Garbage cans not for sharing • Peace and protest • Free bus rides all year? Garbage cans not for sharing Three times until now we have noticed that our garbage can has more than our garbage in it. We fill
• Garbage cans not for sharing • Peace and protest • Free bus rides all year?
Garbage cans not for sharing
Three times until now we have noticed that our garbage can has more than our garbage in it.
We fill the can three-fourths or maybe one-half full the night before pick-up and notice that by the time the truck comes around in the morning, the can is full — sometimes overflowing. No room for the late bag I like to add. We are neatly bundled or bagged — not so the person who adds his garbage into our can.
He or she might not have a can or cans, which is easily fixed. You simply bring your garbage to the dump. You don’t know where it is? Down Kaehulua and take a left turn on Apopop. Just do not expect me to bring my garbage to the dump since we have a can in the designated spot, well marked.
Careful on the way down “Skeleton Road.” There is sometimes an elderly couple collecting what the trucks lose.
Fred Deckwitz, Kapa‘a
Peace and protest
Last Tuesday’s forum at Kapaa Library drew a standing room only crowd to hear international peace activists Dave Webb, Lynda Williams and Bruce Gagnon speak about the growing resistance to U.S. military bases and space-based weapons.
Mr. Gagnon said the Pentagon has test flown a prototype space plane, projected to deploy in 2016, that provides undeterrable first strike capability against China.
The Aegis missile system, being developed here on Kaua‘i at PMRF, is a key elememt in a U.S. first strike capability by shielding against any Chinese response to the U.S. first strike.
Barring unintended consequences, possession of the first strike capability is intended to coerce China and Russia, too, as the missiles are being deployed near the Russian border, as well, to accede to U.S. control of global resource extraction of oil, gas and minerals.
Mr. Gagnon said that Aegis class destroyer ships are built in his home town in Maine at Bath Iron Works, a subsidiary of General Dynamics, owned by the Chicago-based Crown family. The Crown Dynasty, as they are called, has been a financial backer of Barak Obama since 1993.
Mr. Gagnon speculated that the Republican field of presidential candidates is so weak because the Republican establishment approves of Obama. He serves the purpose of demobilizing the Left.
A poignant moment came when moderator Koohan Paik presented a slide show of residents of Gangjeung Village, Jeju Island, South Korea, lying in front of and chaining themselves to bulldozers and being brutalized by riot police sent from Seoul.
Their agricultural land and coral reefs are to be destroyed, and with that their 400-year-old way of life, to make way for an Aegis missile destroyer naval base. If built, the base would pose an existential security threat to China, just 300 miles away.
Mr. Webb and Mr. Gagnon left Kaua‘i and arrived the same day in South Korea, to appeal for equitable and peaceful resource development in the western Pacific, and to express solidarity with Gangjeong villagers who don’t want their pristine environment turned into an ecological nightmare as happened with Pearl Harbor — now a superfund sight.
They appealed to the audience to register their opposition by contacting the South Korean Consulate in Honolulu at consulatehi@mofat.go.kr, or by calling (808) 595-6109.
Kip Goodwin, Kapa‘a
Free bus rides all year?
Christmas in February and March! The County of Kaua‘i is giving out free bus service for the next three weeks to everyone who wishes to use the bus.
What a fantastic idea, encouraging people to use free bus service in lieu of their gas guzzling vehicles. Just tell your friends you hired a driver to chauffeur you around in a $500,000 vehicle.
Hopes are high for an increased ridership, which will help curtail traffic and save fellow residents money on out-of-sight gas prices.
You don’t have to worry about being pulled over by the police — no insurance worries, no worries about flat tires or vehicle maintenance. In fact, you can bring your favorite book and read as your driver takes you to your destination.
County employees can ride the bus free year-round. Lifeguards, policemen, county council people, the county attorney, the mayor, the guys who place the cones on the road, the guys that repair sidewalks, etc., can all ride the bus free by simply flashing their county ID card to the bus driver.
I find it ironic that Kaua‘i county employees can ride the bus year-round for free, but most do not take advantage. How ironic that well-paid county employees can ride for free, but the taxpayers who pay their salaries must pay.
Free bus rides are great for three weeks. However, it is discriminating to give county employees free bus rides all year, while everyone else pays.
Why not continue with free rides full time? The county could sell advertising on the sides of the bus to make up for lost revenues. In fact, the county might even save money by not having to count all the change and single dollar bills which must be an accountant’s nightmare.
The bus can be fun, too. “Is everyone in the bus?” the driver asked before he closed the door. “No,” called out a lady. “Wait until I get my clothes on.” All the passengers in the bus turned toward the door to look at the woman. She got on with a bag full of laundry.
James “Kimo” Rosen, Kapa‘a
