• Forever Kauaian • Uninformed electorate • Don’t hold your breath Forever Kauaian As we leave our marvelous 25-year island life behind, my wife, Sue Dixon, and I want to give a shout out to some of the extraordinary Kauaians who
• Forever Kauaian • Uninformed electorate • Don’t hold your breath
Forever Kauaian
As we leave our marvelous 25-year island life behind, my wife, Sue Dixon, and I want to give a shout out to some of the extraordinary Kauaians who make all our lives better with their aloha, their talents, and their dedication to bolstering our community resilience.
First, we just love Diane Zachary, whose pioneering work to create a highly effective nonprofit network with KPAA is truly exemplary. Her vision and her smile have fueled some remarkable breakthroughs in collaborative community planning efforts, especially with the emerging Keiki-to-Career initiative. We are proud to call this tireless and talented leader a true friend.
Likewise with Beryl Blaich, who is such an extraordinary leader at Malama Maha‘ulepu and in the Kilauea community. Her wit and savvy have brought so much pure joy into many important and difficult community-based initiatives.
Of all the Kauaians who are acting now on our sustainability challenges, none is more exemplary than my best friend, Ken Carlson, whose tactical brilliance has helped us navigate many complex circumstances over the years; whose leadership with Kaua‘i’s 1,000 Friends, KKCR and KNA proved pivotal at many points; and who also grows his own food.
Our favorite farmer, Jerry Ornellas, also gets a well-deserved nod, especially for his “systems thinking” savvy, and also for his new leadership at the Farm Bureau, where he’s helping pull our island into an era of renewed food self-
sufficiency through collaborative management of our ag resources.
One more bright light and beloved friend is super-journalist (retired) Jan TenBruggencate, who just got a much-deserved second term on the KIUC board and is helping bring new leadership as vice chair. These islands benefitted from his stellar reporting on environmental issues for all those decades, and now our island is benefitting from his dedication to help shape a nex-gen utility.
In addition to many others who could be mentioned — especially including the 100-plus island leaders from all sectors who participated in one of my sustainability seminars over the years — we want to underscore our general affection for all things Kauaian.
We love this term as an inclusive metaphor evoking common interests, since it is our combined cultural — especially host culture — heritage and shared geography that makes us Kauaian.
Sue started using this term as newspaper editor in the 90s; I put it in the title of my book; and our good friend Barbara Curl helped get it up on the “Aloha Spirit” signs around the island.
What a concept! And, what a wealth of uniquely Kauaian “social capital,” which will be a key success factor in our island’s transition to sustainability through the years just ahead!
Oh, and, should the coming collapse find us off-island, you can be sure we’ll come dashing back here, because we know there is no place more (potentially) resilient than our Kauaian home.
A hui hou!
Ken Stokes, Kapa‘a
Uninformed electorate
Thanks to the people of our fair islands we have had PLDC repealed with Act 55.
It was not a big surprise to read that Rep. Dee Morikawa “did not really understand HB1133” when she co-introduced the bill back in 2011 along with 22 other state lawmakers. Probably most of those other 22 did not understand it either. And what of all those that voted for it but evidently found no value in it worth fighting for. Was that one of those bills that our representatives decided to pass and read it later as our esteemed Washington Congressmen, under the direction of Nancy Pelosi, did with the Obama Care Bill?
How often does this happen. I think we would be surprised at what our paid elected officials on all levels pass without understanding.
We the people must be more vocal and more involved so that such legislation does not slip by an uninformed public whose taxes pay the salaries and other expenses incurred by all local, state and federal employees.
Doris Jaynes, Kapa‘a
Don’t hold your breath
Can someone shed some light on the apparently looming highway work near the Kalihiwai Bridge?
It seems the temporary guardrail and fencing has been in place for weeks now and we have all (most of us at least) have been driving 25 mph through the zone but it doesn’t seem like any work has been done overnight and there is never anyone there working during the day. Can someone who knows please clarify when the work will begin and how long it will take? Unless of course the railing and fencing is permanent?
Simon Beatty, Princeville
