• Hoping for return of lost ring • Thanks for freeing stuck car • Development won’t win • Dairy a risky proposition Hoping for return of lost ring Kauai has become a beautiful home away from home for my family over the past few
• Hoping for return of lost ring • Thanks for freeing stuck car • Development won’t win • Dairy a risky proposition
Hoping for return of lost ring
Kauai has become a beautiful home away from home for my family over the past few years. My husband is a California-based emergency medicine doctor who also works in the ER at KVMH and Mahelona Medical Center whenever we are on the island.
Last week, while swimming at Hanalei Bay, I lost my engagement and wedding ring. Even after hiring a detection service to search high and low for the precious one-of-a-kind items that mean the world to me, nothing was found. I now sit wondering if my beloved rings are in someone else’s possession and if they are, if that person might — hopefully — be inclined to return them to their rightful owner. It is heartbreaking to lose something you love so dearly … but I am left with some measure of hope that this wonderful island, and its gracious people, might lead me back to them.
Kate Tripp
Soquel, California
Thanks for freeing stuck car
My husband and I are so grateful for two angels who helped pull our car out of soft sand at Nukolii Beach on Wednesday, Feb. 25. A young woman who works in two restaurants and, with her sister, owns a photography business, tried without success to pull our rental car to firmer ground. A man came along with a pickup truck (loaded with what appeared to be construction or finishing materials) and pulled our rental car back to firm ground. Both refused any compensation, just smiled and said, “This is Kauai.”
So we promised to “pay it forward.” Neither angel pointed out that we shouldn’t have even been there in a vehicle not equipped for soft sand driving. I’m not sure which was more gracious: refusing compensation with a smile or not telling us how stupid we were.
Sliv Carlson
Woodland, Minnesota
Development won’t win
Concerning the story by Chris D’Angelo (TGI, Feb.17), “A fresh perspective.”
The way I read this story it seems Michelle Swartman, spokesperson for Ohana Real Estate Investors, is saying they have hired the Discovery Land Company to take a look at their site in order to come up with an alternative project. After public meetings on Ohana’s proposal, it also seems what they initially intended to design and build has met so much opposition from protesters (6,000+) and therefore because of Discovery Land Company’s track record they feel they will be what’s needed to push this project through.
With interest I went and checked out the website of this high-end developer only to see there is nothing different about what they build and is pretty much the same old thing we see in all high-end developments all over the country. Most of what I viewed was nothing more than “look at what we can build for a lot of money and maintenance costs.”
I must honestly say that if Ohana Real Estate Investors and their new partner, Discovery Land Company, think that they are going to design and build anything that we see on Discovery’s website and then try to convince 6,000 protesters of their project for the ridge area, they will have a very costly rude awakening.
“It’s not so much about what they design and build, it’s most about how they plan to meet the needs of being compatible in that extremely unique environment.”
www.haleponokauai.com
Steve Martin
Wailua
Dairy a risky proposition
As a frequent visitor to Kauai and the Koloa/Poipu area, we urge the citizens of this beautiful island to really ask the tough questions. We are former natives of Wisconsin, our families have roots there and some are still involved in the dairy business.
We have witnessed firsthand the inception of these huge, futuristic “modern-agriculture” practices to rural communities. This is not advanced thinking, as Susan Fukumoto so aptly stated at the Koloa meeting last Thursday evening.
First, there are thousands and thousands of gallons of waste that has to be dealt with on a daily basis! Where will it go? Will it be spread over unoccupied land in the guise of “fertilizer?” In your back yard? Shipped as sea cargo for the ocean?
Second is the smell. Trust us — our parents still live in their 145-year-old farmhouse and it’s unbearable when the wind shifts to the northeast. Instead of a valuable property that could be sold at a comfortable profit in their golden years, now it doesn’t have a prayer on the real estate market.
These are only two of many, many issues. Kauai would be the loser in this proposal.
Ken and Laurie Hartwig
Mayville, Wisconsin
