• Enforce TVR laws • ‘They are protected for this very reason’ • Board shorts and Brazilian bikinis • Care for our ‘aina Enforce TVR laws We lived in a condo in Princeville for our first year on Kaua‘i. One
• Enforce TVR laws • ‘They are protected for this very reason’ • Board shorts and Brazilian bikinis • Care for our ‘aina
Enforce TVR laws
We lived in a condo in Princeville for our first year on Kaua‘i. One reason we moved away is the constant ruckus of tourists going in and out of condos, and their belief that they were in a party hotel every night. While I know many condos in the community are legal TVRs, I also know many are operating illegally. So I understand when neighbors of illegal TVRs complain. It’s not just a matter of use of property, it’s a nuisance issue.
With the revelations of http://kauaieclectic.blogspot.com/, it is clear the issue is beyond annoyance now. Illegal buildings, unpermitted modifications, dangerous conditions are all proven, yet the Planning Department has clearly done nothing. What is it they are waiting for? Why do they delay any enforcement on TVRs?
Since Planning Director Mike Dahilig won’t provide adequate answers for the public, it is time for the County Council to perform one of their important duties — oversight — with an investigation of the Planning Department.
Chuck Lasker
Kalaheo
‘They are protected for this very reason’
Monk seals are not foes — I was surprised to see the letter from Timothy Oga on May 8 stating his views of the Hawaiian monk seals.
Of course all of us, including his ancestors came to Kaua‘i from other places. That is a fact. To threaten to kill and eat a monk seal because it is not from here and eats fish from the ocean is quite disturbing. They are protected for this very reason.
Look into the mirror and see who is looking back at you.
John Robinson
Kalaheo
Board shorts and Brazilian bikinis
I read with humor Kimo Rosen’s letter, “What’s news anymore?”
Kimo asks as to why an NBA player, making public he is gay, hits the front cover of Sports Illustrated. Recently, there was abounding news of supermodel Heidi Klum on holiday in O’ahu.
Spotlighted was, “The real Baywatch-2 Haute Chicks,” and “Add ‘lifeguard’ to the 39-year-old’s long list of jobs, which include supermodel …”
Stories and photos spoke to a “dramatic” Hawai‘i beach rescue by bikini clad Heidi Klum — Klum and her bodyguard boyfriend rescuing Klum’s two nannies and family member from what was described as a treacherous riptide. Being a free diver, and having rescued a handful of folks on holiday enjoying the ocean, the story caught my attention.
In photos, the two nannies are being helped from the sandy edges of the water. In another, in this “dramatic rescue,” Heidi Klum is holding a young family member’s hand with her left hand, and holding the “arm” of her sunglasses with her right hand … both survived the rescue.
Fame, fortune, and Brazilian bikinis. In the more than 15 ocean rescues I have witnessed or been a part of, we doing the fetching weren’t clad in bikinis, but usually board shorts. If lucky, we accessorized with floatation devices, not sunglasses.
These rescues never hit the newspaper or TV. Maybe if my friends and I wear a Brazilian bikini and pair of Gucci sunglasses — poised for the next ocean rescue, we will make our way to the cover of Sports Illustrated.
Deborah Morel
Honolulu
Care for our ‘aina
For over 1,000 years the Hawaiians took care of their ocean environment. They studied the flow of water from the mountains to the sea. They studied the movements of the fish and rotated fishing to allow the reefs to stay healthy. They had Kahunas (experts) who understood the relationship between the land and the sea.
They understood that altering a creek or river would effect the reefs and could cause the sea urchin (wana) or the corals (koa) to die. They knew how to protect the wetlands, as they cleaned the flood waters before they entered the bays.
Seventy-nine percent of Hawai‘i is the ocean and it gives us over 50 percent of the very air we breath. It also gives us much of the food we eat and attracts tourist to help support our economy, but our current politicians spend next to no money trying to keep our sea healthy!
Our Mayor (Kaua’i) and Governor spend more money on flowers to hang over their shoulders for pretty pictures, then they do to study our dying reefs and marine life! Just view their pretty pictures everyday in the news!
Myself and other scientists have documented the worst coral disease in Kaua‘i for over two years and have contacted our county and state government many times to ask for help in studying this disease, but our emails and phone requests have fallen on deaf ears.
The people of Hawai‘i who love the sea and see its value need to elect new representatives who will care for, study and protect the 79 percent of Hawai‘i that gives us life itself.
The current politicians spend millions of dollars of taxpayers money building sidewalks, buying land that they do not use, building in the wetlands and buying flowers to look pretty for the news, but they won’t spend a dime to study or protect the sea here in Kaua’i.
We need a change to happen, and we need it fast! We do not have time to waste.
Terry Lilley
Marine biologist
Hanalei
