• Do more with less • Scare tactics or misinformation? • Thank you KPD and Public Works • How Insulting! Do more with less On the matter about overtime payment boosts in the Solid Waste Department of the County of
• Do more with less •
Scare tactics or misinformation? • Thank
you KPD and Public Works • How
Insulting!
Do more with less
On the matter about overtime payment boosts in the Solid Waste Department of the County of Kaua‘i, in plain and simple language, it is time to re-visit the system on who gets paid for what.
Fix the problem.
All entities involved must be a part of the solution. It certainly is not the fault of the worker nor the department. It’s the system that’s gone berserk.
It is no wonder that municipalities at the local level and all of the states in the United States, from sea to shining sea, are broke and scrambling to find ways to get off this spiraling madness of financial deficiencies.
We’re all in the same boat. It is time to get into “hurricane survival mindsets” that we, here on Kaua‘i, accepted as the viable approach to do what we needed to do to cope with the harsh realities at hand: do more with less. Sacrifice. Wait your turn. Share what you have. Waste not. Be self-reliant. Kokua whenever possible. Be appreciative. Don’t add to the misery.
And like the song says, “Don’t worry. Be happy.”
Jose Bulatao, Jr., Kekaha
Scare tactics or misinformation?
In the Sunday’s issue of TGI the writer of the letter “Give us some peace” tells us about why feral chickens are a danger for us. Unfortunately the information sounds scarier than useful.
Spreading disease and parasites. Feral chicken spread no more disease and parasites than any other wild bird. According to the state Department of Health feral chicken don’t pose danger of avian flu.
Botulism die-off: Avian botulism, which causes huge losses in waterfowl in lakes and marshes throughout the world, is most often caused by Clostridium botulinum type C. Types C and D are the more usual causes of botulism in animals but, for reasons that are obscure, rarely if ever affect humans. Type E botulism which may affect people comes from fish, but even this type is destroyed by thorough cooking. The feral chicken are not waterfowl, nor fish. How the die-off would affect us?
Newell’s shearwater: Nests are found at higher elevations in burrows or deep crevices in forests where the birds lay their single egg. Pushed to extremes to avoid predation by pigs and cats, they now nest almost entirely on slopes that exceed 65 degrees.
We have practically no ground-nesting birds left on Kaua‘i. The main predators were cats, dogs, pigs and mostly rats — they killed them all. Trapping feral chicken at the National Wildlife Refuge is justified, but only there and only if rats and cats are trapped too.
Damage to crops including mango and banana: negligible. Rats do much more damage than chicken.
They may be a nuisance for some people, but please don’t start a hysteria against the chicken here. If you don’t like them, catch them and eat them for dinner. Their meat is delicious and healthier than the hormone-grown chicken you can buy in the supermarkets. Green papaya makes it even more tender. You want to help Kaua‘i and its wildlife? Get rid of the rats instead.
As to the visitors who decide not to come back because of the crowing of our roosters, there will be plenty of others who will enjoy the beauty of our island.
We cannot transform our Kaua‘i to the taste of every visitor; too much transformation has already been done.
János Keoni Samu, Kalaheo
Thank you KPD and Public Works
I just want to give praise to where praise is due.
Thank you to the county Public Works Department and the Kaua‘i Police Department.
I live on a dead-end road, and for some reason some people think that gives them the right to discard there their unwanted waste and animal carcasses after a hunt.
They know who they are and they give a bad name and rap to the hunters that do it the right way. I have to say: shame on you. You have no concern for anyone but yourself. No care for the aina or community.
Maybe you just haven’t bet taught right. I had to make a police report, and call Public Works to clean up after the bad apples, for the site is a public access and parking for hikers , tourists and hunters.
Thank you to KPD, which has more important things to be concerned with but still took the time to respond. They will be watching.
To the county: thank you. We know that the tax dollars are spread thin and they have a lot on their plate as well, and their time and our money can be well spent on projects at hand.
George Baldwin, Kapa‘a
How Insulting!
Tax credits to movie production companies in Hawai‘i are lost revenue that must be made up with new taxes on residents, or spending cuts by lawmakers.
While our legislators are lamenting about an $850 million shortfall (at least) in the state budget, they still want to perpetuate and expand the motion picture tax credits.
These credits are a drain on the state treasury. Let’s put residents first for a change.
As a taxpayer, I am insulted that our legislators are so eager to provide such breaks for film companies, but refuse to provide tax relief for residents.
Roberta Griffith, Princeville
