• Way to go, Kaua‘i! • Saddened by grading Way to go, Kaua‘i! My husband and I are volunteers with the Visitor Aloha Society here on Kaua‘i, and I would like to relate the story of a couple of visitors
• Way to go, Kaua‘i!
• Saddened by grading
Way to go, Kaua‘i!
My husband and I are volunteers with the Visitor Aloha Society here on Kaua‘i, and I would like to relate the story of a couple of visitors from Oregon who were burglarized in their condo while they slept. They lost all their identification, airline tickets, car keys, travelers checks, everything one has on vacation. That was the bad part… now the good part. The husband, who is retired from the military, is a diabetic, and his insulin was stolen also. He was referred to a doctor in Waimea who did a short examination and prescribed insulin at no cost. The pharmacy provided the insulin, also at no cost. Thank you Dr. Relles and the Waimea Health Center. They visited PMRF and explained their plight to someone there and were allowed on base, and by the time they left there, they had been issued military ID, and they hadn’t even asked for it. They went to the police station and got a letter for the airline travel, then went to Hawaiian Airlines and explained their problem and were issued new tickets on the spot. American Express quickly replaced their Travelers checks, they just had to walk to a nearby bank in Kapa‘a, and the checks were waiting for them.
The condo they were staying in replaced the lock or their unit by noon the next day after the burglary, and did all they could to help this couple. They are leaving the island on Friday, and I asked if they would return. The answer was an emphatic “Yes”. While this started out as a very bad thing, the spirit of Kaua‘i came through and made me very proud to live here. Way to go Kaua‘i!
Karen and Bill Clifford
Visitor Aloha Society
Princeville
Saddened by grading
I have been concerned, and, yes, saddened to see the extensive grading going on at the end of Kalihiwai Road and across the highway. I feel sad because it is one more example of the trees and vegetation that give lushness to Kaua‘i being stripped away to make manicured areas for building. But I am also concerned because Puukumu stream runs through our property and the grading appears to be very close to the stream flow.
Where Puukumu finally flows into the ocean is an especially beautiful, rocky spot, and surely the multiple instances of hillsides bordering Puukumu being scraped away this past year has to have had an effect on the water there. Some people have worked diligently after the grubbing to plant vegetation to protect the stream, and I appreciate that. I also am much aware of property rights, but the permit process which is often after the fact should be uniformly enforced with penalties for violations. I think often the county people who are called to inspect a reported violation are caught between a rock and a hard place between the rights of the person owning the property and the loose regulatory practices of the county.
As our elected representatives those practices and their enforcement are in your kuleana.
Mahalo
June Stark
