• Vote on issues, not personalities • Dogs need to be kept under control Vote on issues, not personalities In an article regarding the Hanabusa/Schatz primary contest, former state lawmaker Kanoho is quoted as saying “I like both of them … I
• Vote on issues, not personalities • Dogs need to be kept under control
Vote on issues, not personalities
In an article regarding the Hanabusa/Schatz primary contest, former state lawmaker Kanoho is quoted as saying “I like both of them … I think a lot of people found themselves in that awkward position of liking both candidates and not wanting to offend the other.” If the two candidates’ policies, positions and voting records were considered, it might not have been such a difficult decision. Hanabusa is part of a group that supports the powerful pharmaceutical industry and Wall Street. Schatz is considered more “progressive.”
In TGI Aug. 19, Mike Taylor makes a good case for more information being made available on candidates and their positions on issues. In TGI Aug. 23, Bruce Fehring makes very good points regarding conflict of interest for candidates working for big companies or landowners such as Syngenta and Grove Farm — companies that already have great influence on local government.
In seems that on Kauai, many people vote according to who they like, who they know, or even who is related to whom. For example, on Kauai, Arryl Kaneshiro was a top vote getter in the primary. He is indeed friendly, personable and charming. He is a “local boy” from the south side and a well-known family. He worked on the Koloa Town Plantation Days celebration. But what would his positions and polices be if he were to be elected to the County Council? Mr. Kaneshiro is an executive with Grove Farm, which leased land to the GMO chemical companies as well as to the HDF group which is trying to bring the 2,000 cow dairy to the Mahaulepu Valley.
Mr. Kaneshiro is very likeable and no doubt has many fine qualities, but that does not mean he will be a good member of the County Council. Will Arthur Brun, who is employed by Syngenta, work for all of us or just represent Syngenta and the seed/chemical companies’ interests? Whose interests are represented by Mayor Carvalho, Ross Kagawa or Mel Rapozo?
Vote for those incumbents who have acted to protect us from pesticides and environmental and economic damages and for candidates who say they would do the same. Vote for candidates based on their positions on issues, past actions, proposed solutions and policies, possible conflicts of interest, and their desire to work for the common good for all of Kauai, not just whether someone is likeable, his family is well-known, or he is from a particular part of the island.
Sara DeZerega
Koloa
Dogs need to be kept under control
At 5 p.m. on Saturday as I was returning home from a walk near the Waimea Pier with my two small dogs, a neighbor’s (?) three hunting dogs got out of their (too small) pen and came toward me and my dogs. I was able to distract them enough to pick up my dogs but then they spotted the pet cat across the street and proceeded to chase it down and kill it right before my eyes. I have never witnessed anything so violent in my life and I am still not sleeping well. By the time anyone responded to my screams, the cat was dead.
This is totally unacceptable in a close pedestrian neighborhood like this, next to Lucy Wright Park, where children and visitors gather! Actually, as it has proved in Kekaha, hunting, or too many dogs, not under the owner’s control has brought tragedy to too many people just in the two short years I have been living on Kauai.
Way too many bad dog stories in the paper and nine times out of 10, it is the owner’s abuse that has created the situation. I am aware that people and their dogs are almost as sacred as people and their children, but children can be just as vulnerable as cats when it comes to pack mentality. It could have been a small child that they went after.
Fines and licensing does not seem to do it. Regulations on hunting dogs within subdivisions and small communities, as well as how many, and the living conditions of animals must be improved and protected if we are to stop incidents like this from happening in the future.
I am aware that there have been many questions dealing with this problem and I would like to add my name to the list of residents who have also requested this issue be addressed, and I hope my letter will help achieve this.
Only societies that take care of their children, disadvantaged and animals thrive.
Mary Hayes
Waimea
