•Fertile Fridays • We will decide • Thanks for trimming Fertile Fridays I have heard jokes in the community about the Furlough Fridays turning into Fertile Fridays for the teens and preteens. With so many teens home alone for 17
•Fertile Fridays
• We will decide
• Thanks for trimming
Fertile Fridays
I have heard jokes in the community about the Furlough Fridays turning into Fertile Fridays for the teens and preteens. With so many teens home alone for 17 Fridays, this may become a reality.
Statistically, a teen mom is in poverty for an average of 10 years, and only 20 percent of teen fathers stay to help raise the baby. This can have disastrous effects for our state and our communities.
Parents, please bring up the subject tonight, find out if your teen has had reproductive health in school yet. If not, there is lots of information on the Web. You can look at the Web sites together, or borrow a book from the library.
Look at the Web sites for sexually transmitted diseases too, since some of the sexually transmitted diseases can be spread just by kissing. The latest statistics from the Center for Disease Control in Washington states that one in four American teenagers has an STD.
Studies have shown a large percentage of teen sexual activity occurs from 3 to 5 p.m. when teens are home alone and parents are still at work. The majority of teens say that their parents influence their decisions about sex, love and relationships more than anyone else. So it is vital that parents discuss these issues, and their feelings about them with their kids.
Since research shows that our brains are not fully developed until we are 25 years old, our teens need our help in decision making and risk reduction. Talk to your kids tonight, they’re worth it.
Sammee Albano, RN, Lihu‘e
We will decide
It’s very interesting to note differing people’s opinions on issues facing our small and incredibly delicate island. There are those arguing for and against the mayor/manager systems, with the results of either argument being slightly foggy in the minds of most.
I guess the real question we should be asking is what major issues are really important to Kaua‘i and which type of system would better handle them? Therein lies the disconnect.
There are two different paths of thought and perceived need on Kaua‘i and both will eventually lead to the destruction or limitation of the other.
One is favoring economic growth, easily acquired housing for all, gentleman farms, identifying only “important” ag land and reclassifying the rest for easier development, expanding business ventures, and the increased population which is necessary to pay for it all.
The other path is that Kaua‘i’s natural beauty has to be protected in every way at the expense of the former. I guarantee you we can’t have both over an extended period of time because one path will eventually destroy, or severely limit, the other.
Is the protection and preservation of our beaches, ag land, open spaces and unique natural beauty the highest priority of whichever governance we choose? Isn’t the only thing Kaua‘i has to sell, and that no place on earth can easily compete with, is her beauty? When that’s gone, it’s gone! Will Kaua‘i eventually enter the phase of her existence as a cute little suburb of Honolulu, ferry and all?
Very few of us want Kaua‘i to become a suberb of Honolulu, but we do want a fat paycheck and cheap house for the uneducated and mega mansion for the rich in the short term, right? We want jobs for all and construction projects proliferating to supply them, right?
So which system of government will be able to walk the tightrope of differing thoughts and do what’s best for Kaua‘i’s future? Which system would have a tendency to more favor one of these paths of thought and which the other? That is for you to decide.
Thank you Walter Lewis for your wonderful analysis. You are a treasure to Kaua‘i and one of the most intelligent individuals I know. Mr. Boranian, I don’t know you, but thank you also for giving the other side of the argument. Many of us will be making up our minds about the mayor/management systems as time goes on.
The one thing I know for sure is that we need to bring it up for a vote. So Charter Review Commission and County Attorney, get it together, quit picking your collective noses and let the people decide! That is your job.
Gordon Oswald, Kapa‘a
Thanks for trimming
A big mahalo to all of the people involved in the tree trimming along the highway. The delays have been pretty minimal considering the amount of work being done and certainly worth it for our new feeling of safety while driving under the albizia trees.
Michelle Carroll, Kilauea
