• Tents just fine for Tropic Care pros • Some creative ideas that might help Kauai’s leaders Tents just fine for Tropic Care pros In response to Steve Gini Martin’s letter, (TGI June 22) Tropic Care is utilized to not only practice
• Tents just fine for Tropic Care pros • Some creative ideas that might help Kauai’s leaders
Tents just fine for Tropic Care pros
In response to Steve Gini Martin’s letter, (TGI June 22) Tropic Care is utilized to not only practice their craft as medical professionals. It’s also used as training for a humanitarian mission deployment. So to have them stay in a “resort” as you suggested would be completely defeating the purpose of Tropic Care.
You also mention that you would rather see your taxes spent on resort accommodations. Wouldn’t you rather see them utilize the equipment that you’ve already paid for as a tax payer? Tropic Care isn’t that long. I think they’ll be just fine in their “Army” tents as you put it. After all they’re big boys and girls.
Aaron K. Ellegard, Sr., SFC,U.S.Army(Ret), Kalaheo
Some creative ideas that might help Kauai’s leaders
I believe that almost all of our current “we ain’t got a handle on it yet” community problems have risen from that fact that Kauai is not able to make the kind of decisive actions that could create solutions, in other words, we are not yet sovereign onto ourselves. Certain laws from the state of Hawaii and the United States of America have the island leadership in a bind. We are taking baby steps when giant steps are needed.
Examples of how we could creatively change our thinking are:
Traffic: One car owned by one person. You can only drive one at a time anyway.
Cars are our number one invasive alien species, and should be treated as such. We need to severely limit new vehicles arriving on this island. Roads dictate numbers of cars, not the other way around.
Housing: One house owned by one person. You can only live in one at a time anyway.
Housing is a basic right for everyone. Put your investment do-re-me into something else. It cannot be the basis for our banking/real estate wealth quotient, it is ruining the quality of life for most of us. We do want our children to stay, work, and have opportunity to live on Kauai, no?
Cultural Loss: Pandering of our home culture, the Hawaiian culture, needs regulation. We have too many “experience junkies” on island at any one time. We are so busy giving our visitors enjoyable experiences, we are forgetting the natural laws, language, courtesies and wisdom of our home local cultures. Let’s encourage everyone on island that teach the young and interact with visitors, to be Akamai.
Waste: Kupuna taught us “You use it? You take care of what is left over.” Plastic, green waste, construction waste, and recyclables all need to find there best next use, not dumped near one Kauai town, beautiful Kekaha! Managing your waste, it’s a family thing, and should be a required school curriculum: pre-school thru college until we get good at it.
Global Community Membership: We ourselves, the people of Kauai have something to offer to the world community. What could that be? If we watch and listen to what is happening around us and encourage the children along their journey, we may be able to learn it and share it with others in uniquely Kauai ways. The great wisdom of aloha.
Mark Jeffers, Hanapepe
