• KIUC and natural gas • Mahalo for the support • Gone are the old days • More on Jones Act: Where is consistency? • Roadblock can’t block next fireworks show • The Pacific is heading for Coco Palms Change
• KIUC and natural gas • Mahalo for the support • Gone are the old days • More on Jones Act: Where is consistency? • Roadblock can’t block next fireworks show • The Pacific is heading for Coco Palms
Change in online commenting policy
Starting July 1, The Garden Island has changed how it monitors the online commenting portion of thegardenisland.com. All comments will go through an approval process. Not all comments will be approved. Priority will be given to those that are topical, remain within our comment policies and contain the author’s full name and hometown.
We encourage continued use of our online comment feature as well as the Letters to the Editor in our print edition. The Garden Island values reader input and encourages thoughtful debate.
KIUC and natural gas
I note Walter Lewis’ Sunday column (“KIUC, please remember mission”) concerning natural gas as a replacement for fossil fuels now used to generate kilowatts.
My questions are:
Who will pay for the liquid natural gas shipped from the Mainland?
Who will buy the sea-going thermos bottles that deliver natural gas to Kaua‘i?
Who will pay for the upgrades to port facilities at Nawiliwili and Port Allen to store the pressurized gas?
The Kaua‘i electric rate payers? The County of Kaua‘i? The state of Hawai‘i? The tooth fairy?
Bob Ray, Koloa
Mahalo for the support
Last week was an incredible week for Reg and I. Not only were we offered the opportunity by the Kaua‘i Society of Arts to display a room full of our art, but we were reminded of our wealth of friends.
We want to express our thanks to so many people who were there for us. We couldn’t have done it without you! I won’t mention last names, but you know who you are: Kim, Glenda, Siegfried, Ruthie, Jim, Carol Ann with KSA, Laurel and Christine with Vocational Rehab, Steve with Kaua‘i Coffee, Passion Bakery from Kapa‘a, Dennis and Alden with The Garden Island and so many more.
Our neighbors and good friends, like Carolyn, Tim, Maria and Kim, surprised us with leis on opening night. Old friends and neighbors appeared all through the week supporting us. Even our vet, Dr. Haas, showed up. Old neighbors from Na‘au Road, friends from KUAI, where Reg worked, and friends from schools from where I’ve worked.
Yes, we did well with the sales of our art, but what’s more important is the treasures of friends who came in with their smiles. Thank you.
Rebecca and Reggie DeRoos
Kalaheo
Gone are the old days
This could be a wide generalization, but some may agree and others not give a darn. The long-lost “old days” were OK for locals. Plantation mom and pop stores supplied most essentials and backyard gardens supplemented needs. Local meats were available, and, I think, Mainland meats brought in just because.
Then, the transplants came and liked the quiet isle scene. But after settling in, they desired the Mainland prices for goods, and eventually, got their wish for “big box” stores that undercut the moms and pops, and pressured the local markets.
Now, monies in some form go out of state/off Kaua‘i instead of staying mostly in the Kaua‘i economy. More jobs open up with the big stores, but I think a majority go to other transplants willing to work there, which means more population on Kaua‘i.
The “old days” are gone, but making changes to Kaua‘i mostly because transplants want it instead of adapting to Kaua‘i-style living — that may be the crux of the tension between folks nowadays.
This island probably had infrastructure comfortable with up to 55,000, but what is it now on any given day, more than 68,000? With road work to allow more automobiles instead of relieving traffic.
Masa Shirai
Lihu‘e
More on Jones Act: Where is consistency?
Thank you for the historical perspective of the Jones Act. However, if I am going to be put into a group based on my letter regarding the Jones Act, please put me in the right group.
I am not interested in lower cruise rates or union-bashing; and while I may be interested in efficiency in all areas of our economy, that was not the point of my letter.
My objection is to politically motivated decision-making in order to curry favor with a voting bloc. Do you really think maintaining our nation’s security was the basis for denial of a Dutch dredging crew entering the Gulf of Mexico during the oil spill?
I am supportive of any reasonable actions that support the defense of our country. But where is the consistency of policy when the ships we produce rely on fuel that must be imported from OPEC nations, many of which are openly hostile to the U.S.? And when actions to increase domestic sources of fossil fuels are denied based on ensuring support of groups with restrictive environmental ideals?
Al Aragona
Kilauea
Roadblock can’t block next fireworks show
Kudos to PRMF for creating a spectacular evening of entertainment, food, fireworks and aloha for the people of Kaua‘i. It was awesome to sit on the beach under the stars and moon while enjoying my family, the music, fireworks and the camaraderie.
The police department, however, could have put up their roadblock for the late-night celebrants after 11 or 12 rather than use their flashing lights at Waimea Cottages to keep people from moving more than 10 mph until that point. It took 21⁄2 hours to make it back to Kalaheo … thumbs down to them.
Great job, PRMF! No worries because even though the dumb roadblock made for a long evening, we’ll be back again next year!
Carmen Legacy
Kalaheo
The Pacific is heading for Coco Palms
I see the infinite wisdom of our leaders. Clearly they have decided to kill two birds with one stone: by simply allowing the ocean to completely erode Wailua Beach, the sea will do what no one has been able to do in 20 years — demolish Coco Palms once and for all!
Of course, there is the pesky issue of the highway …
Seriously though, Wailua Beach is eroding at an alarming rate. If the county does not act soon, the Pacific Ocean will be washing across Kuhio Highway any day now.
Using Google Earth and historical imagery, I calculated that from 2003 until 2009 the average waterline was approximately 215 feet from the roadway. Imagery from 2010 shows this number had decreased to only 165 feet. And today at high tide, I estimate the water is less than 100 feet from the roadway.
That means that more than half the beach has vanished in just 3 years! If no action is taken this summer, a combination of wind, tides and swells certainly has the potential to send the ocean across the road. What would a hurricane do?
After rebuilding the bridge at the cost of millions, are we now going to sit idly and have the Pacific wash away the parking lots and damage the piers and road? Once that road is flooded or even closed briefly, the entire island suffers.
Fix it now.
John Patterson
Kapa‘a
