Letters for Thursday, October 15, 2020

Nothing is more precious than health

Dear Governor Ige, Josh Green, Derek Kawakami

As a 48-year resident of Kaua‘i, I feel so privileged to live on this beautiful island, Kaua‘i.

Right now we have no active COVID infections and no deaths, because the restrictions and government guidelines have served us well. However, the latest government directive for visitors to have only one test prior to flight and no curfew, feels like the bottom has fallen out of our safety net.

I implore you to think again about the implications of such an act. I understand that your attempt is to get more visitors on island in order to boost a weakened economy. But the cost may be greater than we could imagine.

Would you agree that nothing is more precious than the health of people of Hawai‘i? I suggest that we keep our cautionary approach by having a shorter curfew, plus a second test on Kaua‘i. This is not a game of trial and error. Rather, it is an opportunity to pay attention to knowledgable medical people and to follow reasonable-but-safe guidelines, so our visitors will be welcomed, rather than castigated.

Gabriela Taylor, UC Berkeley, bachelor’s degree in microbiology and immunology, Kapa‘a

Thanks to the Disc Golf Kaua‘i ‘Ohana

I want to thank The Garden Island for publishing the article last week on disc golf on Kaua‘i. However, I would like to clear up a couple things to make it easier for the rest of the community to get more information on disc golf here on the island. Unfortunately, the name of the club was put in incorrectly. It is Disc Golf Kaua‘i ‘Ohana, not the name as it appeared in the paper. So you can go to Disc Golf Kaua‘i ‘Ohana on facebook and get all the latest info.

You can also go to Disc Golf Course Review at dgcoursereview.com/course.php?id=10162 for the Lydgate Park course. As also mentioned is the Weliweli (Park) course in Po‘ipu, whose listing is dgcoursereview.com/course.php?id=8995. You can find maps and photos of each hole so you will be familiar with the course when you get there. As mentioned, both courses are free to the public at all times.

The actual construction of both courses was an arduous task, and the original members of the Disc Golf Kaua‘i ‘Ohana put in days of work to construct the courses. This included countless weekends of brush-clearing, removing invasives, building tee pads and, finally, the installation of the “basket holes” at both courses.

Those members: Ryan Moen, Brian Foster, Jesse Naea, Gabriel Catbagan, Kyle and Nancy Catbagan, Keane Catbagan, Larry Sloan, Anthony and Erica Hessheimer, Ryan Jacobsmeyer, Chris Cole, Kyson Gusukuma, Bart Bottoms, JD Cox and Barret Gonda.

And it is not over yet or ever. Both courses need to be maintained and with constant weed-wacking. Brian Foster has taken the lead on that, and you never know when you go down to play a round you might hear the sound of his weed-wacker clearing on the fairways. Everyone has pitched in with occasional group work days clearing out the weeds.

Disc Golf Kaua‘i ‘Ohana invites everyone to come on down and play. Disc golf is a community sport for the young, old and everyone in between. Solo players, families, come on down. You will throw all your cares to the wind and have a fun time, I’m sure.

Larry LaSota, Wailua