• Contribution of seed companies overstated • Support the auditor • Republicans are causing chaos • Another wrong viewpoint Contribution of seed companies overstated The subtitle and opening paragraphs in the Sunday, Sept. 22 Garden Island article entitled “Kauai’s Economic
• Contribution of seed companies overstated • Support the auditor • Republicans are causing chaos • Another wrong viewpoint
Contribution of seed companies overstated
The subtitle and opening paragraphs in the Sunday, Sept. 22 Garden Island article entitled “Kauai’s Economic Comeback” are deceptive and misleading, and are not supported by the information in the rest of the article, let alone the actual facts.
The subtitle lists seed companies second — even ahead of tourism — as a source of jobs and economic recovery on Kauai.
Continued reading of the article reveals that the seed companies employ only a couple of hundred full-time workers on Kauai — a tiny portion of our workforce– compared to thousands employed in other industries, including a thousand on PMRF alone.
And the seed companies — unlike most other local businesses, including other Kauai farmers — do not produce a commodity that is purchased and consumed here on Kauai, so their sales do not benefit the local economy or contribute significantly to its growth.
Because most people do not have time to read an entire newspaper, especially the longer articles, the opening paragraph in a well written, informative and unbiased news article should be an accurate synopsis of the facts contained in the article. As should the headlines, captions and subtitles. I was taught this way back in elementary school. Certainly the professional editors of the Garden Island should be capable of meeting this most basic requirement of effective and responsible journalism.
Jill Friedman
Hanapepe
Support the auditor
Walter Lewis once again hits the bull’s-eye dead center with his analysis of the irregularities in the way our local government is run.
For the benefit of those who read all of Mr. Lewis’ fine “A Better Kauai” articles, he breaks down some of the many “machinations” that prevail in our administration and our council.
All of the issues that Walter illustrates are extremely important and certainly need scrutiny and addressing if we ever expect Kauai to move forward in a favorable way.
But no present issue should be investigated more than the flagrant attempt by the administration and some members of the council to get rid of our Auditor, Ernie Pasion.
We the people have overwhelmingly given our auditor an A plus grade for the six audits he and his fine staff have done.
The most glaring example of a plot being under way to dispose of Mr. Pasion is to examine the budget cuts to all departments for the 2013-2014 fiscal year.
The average cut was about 2.3 percent (some budgets were even raised!) but the auditor took a whooping 32 percent cut from the administration and the council which, in essence would end the operation of the auditors office.
The bottom line was that Mr. Pasion more than did the job he was hired to do but by not adhering to the practices of protecting the interests of the status quo he now must be eliminated.
All you citizens of Kauai who want honest, dedicated and trustworthy people running our government please write, call and email our elected officials and tell them that we cannot afford to lose someone with the qualifications of Ernie Pasion.
Glenn Mickens
Kapaa
Republicans are causing chaos
Something disturbing has been brought to my attention.
There is a misconception being put out by Republicans saying that you have to register for Obamacare by Oct. 1. This is false. Regardless of whether you supported the bill or voted for Obama, there is no such deadline.
However, Republicans have a list of registered Democrats and will be sending you propaganda urging you to register and threatening dire consequences if you don’t.
Don’t be fooled by this blatant disinformation. You might be asking yourself why?
The reason is quite simple, they want to cause chaos, as always.
See, if everyone floods in at once it will cause systems to crash, mass confusion and that is exactly what they want.
There is no deadline and you can register at your convenience. I write this letter to warn you to expect a litany of blatant propaganda that says otherwise.
This will be high-grade propaganda, they may masquerade as the IRS or other agencies and it will be very convincing. Who knows how far these Republicans will go to fool you.
I personally find it despicable. Instead of letting it get me down, I am spreading the word with the hope that it foils their evil plot. They want a collapse so they can point it out and say it failed. Typical Republican mind games.
I, for one, am tired of the elderly and sick being turned away at hospitals due to lack of coverage. Let them register first. Us younger and healthier folks can wait.
Dan O’Flaherty
Kalaheo
Another wrong viewpoint
How nice, another hired gun (Val Giddings guest commentary, TGI, Sept. 22). We the people of Kauai need to be aware of who is the “Guest Commentary” at The Garden Island.
PhD. Val Giddings is wrong when he implies the Rachael Carson backs his form of information. I purchased the book “Silent Springs” and have read it and the reviews. I am here to defend Rachael Carson because she cannot.
I have also read “A Sand Country Almanac” by Aldo Leopold, in which he laments the loss of open space. I have read “Deep Economy” by Bill McKibben, in which he say “sustainable farming” will feed the world.
From the paragraph Giddings writes about in chapter 19, I will refer all of us to the paragraph before his quote. Rachael Carson writes:
“The choice, after all, is ours to make. If, having endured much we have at last asserted our ‘right to know,’ and if, knowing, we have concluded that we are being asked to take senseless and frightening risk, then we should no longer accept the counsel of those who tell us that we must fill our world with poisonous chemicals; we should look about and see what other course is open to us.”
What is “frightening” is that this book was written in 1964, where DDT is the scourge.
PhD. Val Giddings is wrong. We want, no, we have the “right to know,” we are asking for full “disclosure.”
Anthony Aguiar
Kekaha
