Letters for Wednesday, October 8, 2014

• Poipu speed trap bad for tourism • Big ag doing more harm than good • Community hospital a real lifesaver

Poipu speed trap bad for tourism

There is a clear speed trap on the Poipu bypass and I assume most locals know about it, but as a longtime repeat tourist you don’t find out until caught, as I was. I don’t believe in speed traps and there are plenty of places on the island where going over 25 mph would be dangerous, but the Poipu bypass with solid cement walls on both sides is not one of them. I can do almost nothing about it, but you or your local businesses can and should.

It discourages tourists, if it’s clearly just a trap. I’ll pay the fine, but canceled one of my activities. I urge others who have this problem to do the same. In my case, it was Captain Andy who didn’t get the business. Hopefully, there will be others who lose business. Maybe, you can get together to get it changed. I’m sure there are better places for the police to encourage driving slower, but may have to work harder to give tickets. My officer said he could pretty much stay there all day long and write tickets.

Thanks for your attention.

Don Mclean

Indio, California

Big ag doing more harm than good

Government, it seems, will always pander to big ag. This is especially true for the dairy industry. I heard one farmer say, “Government subsidies are more important than the cows.” The only solution seems to be to enlighten people of the harm to our environment and to ourselves by using too much milk. Big ag puts lots of money into the coffers of politicians and it pays off in spades. In return, politicians make big ag the biggest welfare class in the nation. Big ag feeds the fallacy that, somehow, theirs is the more holy way of making a living. After all, they feed us.

The fact is, they are in their profession for the same reason as the rest of us. We’re all trying to make a living. The harm to the Earth caused by dairies and feedlots is very real. One part of that harm is the fumes from manure and urine. Methane is many times more harmful than CO2 as a trapping greenhouse gas. Added to this is the harm done to the land and people by the acidification of the air, water and soil. Hydrogen sulfide combines with the water in the air and soil to create sulfuric acid. Now, that’s mean stuff! We can’t go on like this. A day of reckoning is coming. We don’t have to stop using milk; just use it for drinking. I can’t tell any difference between milk and substitutes in prepared foods. Can you? A small price to pay!

Carlos White

Princeville

Community hospital a real lifesaver

Many thanks to the KVMH emergency room and ICU staff for their professional and knowledgeable care when I was admitted as a stroke victim. A few weeks ago, while driving to Waimea, my right arm went numb. My son quickly took me to the KVMH emergency room, where the staff promptly assessed and began to treat my condition. I was fortunate to live close to a facility that took immediate measures to reduce my chances of further stroke damage. This occurred in spite of the fact that there was a code in another room.

The coordinated efforts by Dr. Gregorios in the ER and Dr. Lewan, the hospitalist, admitting clerks, ER nurses, laboratory and imaging services soon revealed that there was indeed blockage of my carotid artery. I was admitted to the ICU, where Dr. Lewan and nurses continued to observe me and treat me, while the clerk arranged for an air ambulance flight to Queens Medical Center. Hurricane Iselle was threatening the Hawaiian Islands so they wanted me moved quickly to a facility where I would be cared for by a vascular surgeon. In the meantime, the KVMH staff made sure all the services would be covered by my insurance, and my transition from KVMH by air ambulance to Queens would go smoothy. There was never an interruption in medical care from the ER admission to my bed in Queens.

I feel so fortunate that on West Kauai, we have this wonderful community hospital!

James Denny

Kekaha