• State should use eminent domain • Bill defenders love science, too • Taxpayers deserve more information • Longer school year a bad idea State should use eminent domain Pfleuger is going to sue the state if the state doesn‘t remove
• State should use eminent domain • Bill defenders love science, too • Taxpayers deserve more information • Longer school year a bad idea
State should use eminent domain
Pfleuger is going to sue the state if the state doesn‘t remove the water that flows into the Kaloko Reservoir.
I think the state is in line, with this kind of threat, to practice eminent domain: the power of (federal, state, and local governments) to take private property for continued public and farmer use, and authorized to exercise functions of public character, following the payment of just compensation to the owner of that property.
DLNR needs to call Pfleuger’s bluff. Maybe research the lineal descendants of Pfleuger’s lands, and all others for that matter, although potentially you will never find a clear title with any of the aina.
Water is the new gold and we the people will see that it is not wasted on Pfleuger or Pierre or other high makamaka that has ruined Kauai, especially Hanalei to Kee and Poipu to Mahaulepu Keoneloa Bay.
No one likes change, especially when it affects our keiki and moopuna in the negative ways that have materialized.
Kauai would do well by initiating a moratorium on new resident/homes or their vehicles, toys, swimming pools, and visitors must show return ticket airfare in order to see the beauty but also the destructions of “change.”
Debra Kekaualua
Kapaa
Bill defenders love science, too
The biggest whine, oh excuse me, complaint against people who were, are, or will be for the concept of 2491, as I am, and not necessarily for the watered down version we seem to be left with, both the bill, and the so-called lame duck EPHIS, which took out the all important issues of economics, environmental justice and cultural impact, is that we are somehow “anti-science.”
That is kinda like saying elephants that don’t want to eat hazelnuts instead of peanuts are somehow, anti-nuts and seeds. In a nutshell, pardon the pun, it essentially means that those of us who support such a concept are somehow ignorant buffoons who belong to the flat Earth society.
So, here is something that I would love to see on Kauai. Entrepreneurs get on the ball with the new alternative fuel, that could be easily done here, requires no large tracts of farmland and no pesticides, the process is entirely natural, and can create a fuel many times more efficient than ethanol. It is a second generation biofuel, which means an alternative to growing a crop to harvest for its creation. It is called butanol, and is known as an “algae fuel.” There is no better environment for algae then Kauai, that is for certain. We have a yearlong growing season for that.
A team of chemical engineers at the University of Arkansas has developed a method for converting common algae into butanol, a renewable fuel that can be used in existing combustible engines.
So, the next time you hear someone moaning about how ignorant 2491 supporters are because they are anti-science, remind them that 2491 supporters support good science that is sustainable, like butanol production. Then, when they get a blank look in their eyes, you can begin to expand on the virtues of butanol, like they do about GMO production.
We love it when science can produce things like this, create jobs, and lessen the impact on the environment. So, the next time someone calls a red shirt anti-science, you can truly tell that person, “That is just a load of algae!”
Anne Punohu
Kapaa
Taxpayers deserve more information
The county administration and the council should stop treating the people of Kauai like mushrooms, keeping them in the dark and piling manure on them. There needs to be full disclosure of everything that went on regarding the civil suit filed by Councilman Tim Bynum against the county. As taxpayers, we deserve a public accounting of how county funds were spent and an explanation of the decisions which were made that led to those expenditures.
Linda Estes
Koloa
Longer school year a bad idea
On Jan. 27 an article was published called “Saved by the bell … eventually.” I am writing in response to this article.
Hawaii Sen. David Ige is considering passing a bill to add days to the public school year by two weeks. I go to Island School, a private school so I don’t know the education that public school students get. I personally am against this. I think lengthening the year would be pointless. More weeks added means more pay and benefits for teachers and staff. The government would have to pay for two weeks’ worth of labor for every teacher in all the public schools in Hawaii.
Instead, maybe public schools should increase the quality of the schools education not the quantity. That money could be put into the current year; they could use that money for more courses and more teachers, splitting the kids up into smaller classes for more one on one time.
I propose an experiment that you compare a school that added the extra weeks to the same school when you increase the quality of the classes, and see the difference in the students test scores over the two years. Students who fall behind can take summer courses if they need more time.
This could also be used as an incentive to not stay behind and get good grades. I play sports for Lihue Pop Warner association and Team Lihue Basketball and all my teammates and friends attend Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School and some of them are against this because it takes time away from sports and activities that you can do in the summer.
By reading this letter, I encourage readers to vote against this bill or even Sen. Ige to change his mind and set aside the bill.
Matthew Tamanaha
Lihue
