• Let’s protect our economic health, too • Development could enhance Hanalei Bay • Wake up, Kauai, to trouble in Kalalau • Service dogs clarified Let’s protect our economic health, too It may surprise Barbara Morrison, the author of the
• Let’s protect our economic health, too • Development could enhance Hanalei Bay • Wake up, Kauai, to trouble in Kalalau • Service dogs clarified
Let’s protect our economic health, too
It may surprise Barbara Morrison, the author of the letter (TGI, Aug. 15) “Council represents people, not biotech companies,” to know that these biotech companies she appears to hate so much employ people. So, the County Council has to be just as concerned for them as they do for her and people who think like her.
I hope the residents of the westside of the island understand the extreme level of disrespect at work here.
There appear to be people on this island who don’t even care if you have a job. They are doing everything in their power to see to it that your employer ceases to exist as an entity on this island. They don’t even have the common decency to make sure there are alternative jobs in place before engaging in this war.
In my opinion, this is nothing more than a prelude to a land grab. These people see all of this ag land on the westside as potential development to line their pockets. They don’t care about the people of the westside. They don’t care if the westside is economically devastated by their selfishness.
Living in Eleele, I see the “Pro Ag” signs going up on houses on the westside. It’s going to take a lot more than signs to defeat this ugly activist narcissism.
Vote as you will, Mrs. Morrison. I won’t vote for anybody who would kill the economic health of an entire community. I guess it is easier to do if you don’t live there.
Michael Mann
Lihue
Development could enhance Hanalei Bay
My favorite place in Southern California is Montage Resort, which is situated between Newport Beach and Dana Point. It is an idyllic retreat on a coastal buff.
I often stroll along the winding path bordered by an array of plants at the public area set aside by the resort owner, Ohana Real Estate Investors Inc.
This place attracts the local, out of town and even foreign visitors alike, especially when all the plants blossom in vivid colors and unique shapes. Bushes of bougainvillea along the wooden fence add colors to the blue sky reaching the darker blue sea down the cliff.
The clean wooden benches are available at many perfect spots for strollers to enjoy these captivating scenes of the water and sand a bit longer.
The area is a good example of the cooperation between the local community and business entities. On the other hand, Ohana is unique and unlike most corporations. I am glad that Ohana has envisioned the unique Hanalei Plantation Resort and pledges to set aside a public access area that will enhance the exquisite natural beauty of the Hanalei Bay.
While it is difficult to understand the community at large, I can say out of firsthand experience that Ohana is a neighbor that keeps its word to balance the business mandate with the culture and the environment for our local community. For that reason, I fully embrace the proposal and firmly stand behind Ohana for the development of Hanalei Plantation Resort.
Naris Rujanavech, M.D.
Wilcox Hospital
Wake up, Kauai, to trouble in Kalalau
As a visitor to Hawaii for five weeks, I am saddened. In my home area of Toronto, Canada, nature has been all but decimated for as far as the eye can see. Coming to Hawaii, I hoped for great bursts of thriving nature to revive my spirit.
Mostly staying on Maui, with my wife and two children, I came over to Kauai, alone, to hike the Kalalau Trail.
The trail itself, and the landscape are exceptionally beautiful, no doubt. If only it could be experienced in peace, rather than under the all too frequent roar of excessive helicopter traffic.
Further I am deeply disheartened, and disappointed at the state of the beach park. There had to be at least 150 un-permitted campers there (apparently only a couple days after a cleanup), fully crowding out a place I had come to for solitude.
Litter is strewn about everywhere. Exploring one of the farthest West, most remote caves, I found food packaging in the sand. To top it all off, and nearly wipe out any remaining hope I have for humanity, at that far West end of the beach, hundreds of bees, lying in the sand, dead, or dying.
Please Kauai, you’re small enough to see the immediate effect of your actions. Stop feeding your tourists imported cantaloupe and cherish your garden.
Matthew Gilgan
Oakville, Ontario, Canada
Service dogs clarified
As a service dog owner, I agree with Jeannette Miller’s Aug. 4 letter that dogs do not belong in shopping carts, and wish to help clarify a comment she made.
Comfort dogs, emotional support dogs, therapy dogs, or companion dogs are specifically excluded from the definition of a service dog, who are individually trained to perform tasks related to the person’s disability.
Our federal and state laws pertaining to service dogs under ADA (revised 2010) makes this very clear. In addition, two questions may be legally asked: 1) is the animal required because of a disability, and 2) what work or task has the animal been trained to perform?
Rather than use up more valuable space in this newspaper, the exact wording of the law in its entirety can easily be found online under ADA.gov or the Department of Justice’s website. On Kauai, questions can be referred to the county’s ADA coordinator in the Mayor’s office.
Dr. Lucy Miller
Lihue
