• Navy didn’t really wanty community input • Please help find fishermen from Kauai Navy didn’t really wanty community input The Garden Island newspaper headline said, “Navy seeks input on Pacific training.” It also said “the intent of the meeting is to
• Navy didn’t really wanty community input • Please help find fishermen from Kauai
Navy didn’t really wanty community input
The Garden Island newspaper headline said, “Navy seeks input on Pacific training.” It also said “the intent of the meeting is to identify community concerns.”
This was not my experience.
After signing in, I was directed to follow the arrows on the floor to the various “stations.” The first “station” was a computer presentation, which I experienced as a combination of a well-oiled Madison Avenue ad campaign urging me to buy something that I did not need or want and a slick snake-oil salesman.
I arose from the “presentation” saying to my friend, “Well, now we have heard the commercial using every trick in the book, what’s next?” The experience went downhill from there. They did not want to hear from me. They wanted me to hear from them and agree with them. I know the tactic well.
If I had not been convinced before, the process and content of the experience made it very clear to me that we, the public, should do everything in our power to extend the ban that bans “sonar and explosives on the eastern side of the Big Island and north of Molokai and Maui as well as locations in California.”
Indeed, that ban should be extended for another 10 years, at least, and should include all of the oceans around the Hawaiian islands and the trails our marine mammals use between Alaska and Hawaii.
The “process” and dishonesty of the meeting were even more powerful than the content. Both convinced me that this “testing and training of explosives and sonar” around these islands is a very bad idea if we want to preserve our rich heritage of marine life. We, citizens need to keep alert on this one.
Anne Wilson Schaef, Ph.D., Kilauea
Please help find fishermen from Kauai
Seeking information on two Kauai residents who visited Fernie, BC, Canada in 2004 on a fly fishing excursion with Fernie Wilderness Adventure Company.
My name is Mike Baden and I was fortunate to guide these gentlemen on the rivers and lakes around our local waters in Canada. We fished the world class Elk River for cutthroat trout and made a special trip to Suzanne Lake for trophy rainbow trout. This is where I learned all about something very Hawaiian — “never take a banana on a fishing trip.”
Unfortunately with time passing and a poor memory, both I and the guide company have lost their contact information and for the life of me cannot remember their names (shameful, I know) but do most definitely remember they were simply two great guys I had the pleasure of fishing with. We agreed that should I ever come to Kauai, to look them up to say hello, and as it turns out I will be visiting your piece of paradise in February.
I realize this is a big “shot in the dark” but if you are or know one of these gentlemen my contact is listed below. Mahalo!
Mike Baden, mbaden@wildstonegolf.com, Fernie, B.C.
