• Great response • Stay on track • Tired of one-sided views • On Kimo and Kapaa • Be wary of Coco plans • Kauai’s toxic legacy Great response I am sure I speak for the great people of Powerhouse Road
• Great response • Stay on track • Tired of one-sided views • On Kimo and Kapaa • Be wary of Coco plans • Kauai’s toxic legacy
Great response
I am sure I speak for the great people of Powerhouse Road when I express enormous thanks and aloha to the men and women who responded to the “Albezia Disaster” in Wainiha. Absolute first-class disaster response. Our electricity was back on by morning due to their hard work and commitment to our community. Kudos and Mucho Mahalo to all responders. We are so appreciative.
DeeDee Ventura
Hanalei
Stay on track
I am urging the County Council to limit their deliberations and public testimony to only the contents of Bill 2491. It is not about the value or danger of GMO foods. It is not a bill about economic development in the county. It is not about our local farming of food for the island.
It is all about health, safety and pollution. Years ago acid rain from coal burning in the Midwest traveled to New England, destroying the maple trees. Once in the air, ground or water, dangerous chemicals cannot be contained. They are in the air moving across the island. They move through the soil into the water table and into the ocean. We breathe, drink and eat their presence.
We cannot rely on government standards when the data for chemical safety is supplied by the same international corporations that manufacture them. Remember tobacco? European standards are more trustworthy than American, which are always compromised by corporate interests.
It is not enough for these companies to tell us they protect their workers. We the people have a right to know what may be harmful and what protections we need for all of us. Bill 2491 attempts to address this.
Frederick Wells
Kapaa
Tired of one-sided views
I am tired of seeing proponents supporting Bill 2491 writing narrow-mind or lame-brained letters. They seemed to be mostly from the East/North side of Kauai with some exceptions, and they are so one-sided with “educational blinders” on.
They demand transparency by the big agri businesses and research anti-GMO articles, but they are too lazy to research any/all pesticide complaints/investigations done on these companies in Hawaii.
Why are they and Hooser so adamant about knowing information that could possibly be requested from the State/Federal Department of Agriculture, who are the regulators of pesticide use?
The pro-Bill 2491 folks are so concerned with big bad agri businesses that they don’t notice that someone in their neighborhood could innocently and improperly be using pesticides for their yards/gardens. Have they all tested their soil for residual pesticides, since most if not all lots may have been sugar or pineapple fields in the past?
Probably the only truly “organic” produce are grown in sterile media/potting mix never touching Kauai soil/dirt.
Masaru Shirai
Lihue
On Kimo and Kapaa
Kimo, Kapaa is beautiful. You must live in Kapaa because it is cheaper to live there than other cities.
With your remarks about Kapaa’s beauty (TGI, Sept. 4) as opposed to Kapaa being just a good personality, your language portrays your inner self. You see with your eyes and can see no deeper. You really shown your true self, which will be obvious to all in your future letters to the editor.
Jane Taylor
Kapaa
Be wary of Coco plans
The only reason Chad Waters and his group of investors want to rebuild the Coco Palms Resort “the way it was” before we had laws to protect the public from dangerous building codes is because they won’t have to build it up above the flood zone, and thereby save a ton of money. Anyone in the federal, state, and county government who supports this insanity should be fired and banned for life from serving the public.
John Wyatt
Kapaa
Kauai’s toxic legacy
I’m for Bill 2491, with amendments for strict enforcement, and a moratorium on spraying during the EIS period.
Although Democracy is practically dead on national and state levels, it is still breathing locally. Because of Gary Hooser’s vision and leadership, with support from Tim Bynum, citizens have a voice in government on this vital issue.
With two of our councilmen taking a righteous stand, and none of our state representatives being visible at all, it’s painfully obvious that we have an uphill battle before us. If they had done their homework, as Gilbert Nobrega suggests in his letter to TGI (8/13/13), passage of this bill should be easy. With the whole world watching and waiting for us to end the chemical death, as so many countries around the world have done, most of our “leaders” are either sitting on a fence, hiding, or tap dancing on egg shells. No guts, no glory.
Kauai’s toxic legacy began many years ago, before the testing of Agent Orange in the 60s, and the scorched earth practices of the plantations. After AO was sprayed here in high concentrations for many years, countless square miles of earth were decimated, along with the lives of millions, including hundreds of thousands of U.S. military and their families, and an untold number here on Kauai.
Knowingly, unknowingly, or in denial, the current chemical company workers are the primary victims of the poisoning of our island, just like the Kauai workers who handled and mixed and sprayed AO all over the Wailua Homesteads.
Council members, take a precautionary principled stand. It’s so simple to use the Golden Rule and common sense. That’s what we elected you to do. Be strong and bold in your leadership, and truly represent the health of the People and the Aina.
Fred Dente
Kapaa
