Letters for Sunday, August 29, 2021

Too much government power

Of course, Gary Hooser would applaud the Kaua‘i County decision to take 25 acres by eminent domain of property in Kilauea from the owners who don’t want to sell (his Wednesday, 8/25 diatribe).

This fits in perfectly with his socialist view of total government control of our lives and property run, of course, by elitists in perpetual power. He goes further to suggest that other properties on his long-running hit list (Grove Farms) be subjected to the same “taking” of property.

But the process of eminent domain was always meant for the sole purpose of projects for the public (i.e., all the people) good. Yet, over the years, governments have found a way to pervert this concept to fit about any situation or project they want.

A road expansion, for example, is good for the public, since we all have use of the road. Seizing people’s homes to build a shopping mall is not, but has happened.

While I realize that affordable housing is something we desperately need, who actually benefits from this action? The contractors who build the houses will make money. The people who buy these “affordable” homes, a small section of our population, will benefit. The banks that hold the mortgages will benefit.

However, I fail to see how “we the people,” the general public, will see any benefit from this eminent-domain action. As such, this action just fails to pass the smell test, and certainly smacks of a constitutional breach of the owners’ rights.

From what research I can find, the owners are a small LLC located in North Dakota. Why didn’t the county take and condemn some of the 700 acres owned in Kilauea by Mark Zuckerberg, or any of the thousands of acres owned by My Kapaa LLC (a foreign entity trust company run by Bette Midler)? I hate to put a political spin on this comparison, but one has to wonder sometimes in this crazy world!

My point is, the use of eminent domain for anything but real “public” projects smacks of massive government intrusion and abuse of power.

There has to be fairness and ownership protection of our property if there is to be security of our rights. The county should either pay the requested price or find another parcel. They had no problem paying market price for a small parcel adjoining black pot beach, and that was much more of a “public good” usage, since we can all use it.

Maybe the county can “condemn and take” Gary Hooser’s home and property for a homeless encampment. Seems like that would fit the county’s definition of “public good” under their new eminent-domain policy.

Barry Dittler, Kapa‘a

Better to build mauka than Kilauea

This is a controversial and difficult subject, but I believe it is a worthy one.

To condemn land in Kilauea and cram new housing in that space as proposed seems to me like a narrow-minded idea. It will add to highway congestion and many other problems yet to be seen.

My suggestion is something I’ve never heard yet here on Kaua‘i.

It seems to me the best solution would be to construct a new highway on “Powerline Drive.” This road would begin near Princeville and end near Kahili Mountain Park.

We would not have to blast tunnels through the mountain like on O‘ahu with the Pali and Likelike. This would be so easy compared to those projects.

There is plenty of land up mauka, lots of room for new housing, electricity is already there, just need to build a couple new side roads to Kapa‘a and Lihu‘e. This would take the pressure off the main highway from Kahili to Lihu‘e to Kapa‘a to Princeville. It would also speed the commute for those who live in Hanalei and beyond to Ha‘ena, as well as commuters to Po‘ipu and the Westside.

There can also be a side turnoff to the college.

This will create a more-direct route to Lihu‘e and Kapa‘a for many commuters.

We would need to keep this small to prevent overdevelopment.

I believe overdevelopment would be a worst-case scenario for this project and for Kaua‘i.

Somebody see the obvious, please. It’s time to develop a road that eases traffic and does not add to it. Time to build housing and roads mauka. Lots of potential for the future up there, lots of land up there.

I also think that to be eligible to purchase land up there, that you need to have lived on Kaua‘i for 10 or 20 years, (yet to be decided, obviously). I’d hate to see all that land get bought up by people planning future development as soon as it became available. I think it should be mostly residential and affordable, NOT a big land-grab development like we’ve seen here for years,

Let’s keep it small and affordable for longtime residents and their families. There need to be controls to keep it reasonable for local people.

No places to buy food? Drive to town to buy food and other necessities. It will be an easy drive on that road.

I’m tired of the same old same old, I don’t trust many people in power. Everyone has their ulterior motives.

Lots of work to make this happen, but I think it’s an obvious need and solution which needs to happen with appropriate controls to prevent any “land grabs.”

So far this is just a rough idea.

Mahalo.

Nicholas Moore, Kilauea

DOE needs to do better for the children

I thought I would send a note about what’s going on with our children on the island. Going on year three of COVID, our Department of Education still has no plan for educating our children sufficiently.

The department’s policy of contact tracing makes sense with students quarantining for 10 days following. However, the school has no plan for online or remote learning whatsoever. They are sending kids home with no remote-learning plan — after 10 days out they are returning to school for one day to turn around and quarantine for 10 more days.

The teacher can’t be bothered to respond with a plan, notes to the principal’s office go without response, and there is no communication coming from the school. Nobody seems to care that our children are growing up illiterate and without the basic life skills necessary for survival.

Help the Department of Education know they need to do better for our kids.

Kirn Reis, Kapa‘a

Effects of vaccine, mask-wearing 2 different things

I keep hearing and reading about getting the vaccine so that others are protected. Is that correct? Isn’t it so that the vaccinated person doesn’t get gravely ill, or end up in the ICU or die?

The vaccinated one can still be infected and can transmit the virus. To stop getting infected and transmitting one wears a mask, social distances, washes your hands and stays away from large gatherings of unmasked people. The effects of the vaccine and mask-wearing and other precautions are two different things.

Mark Perry, Lihu‘e

Yet another pandemic pop quiz

Misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine includes:

• The vaccine contains mRNA, a synthetic rna which enters every cell in the body;

• This creates an ongoing protein spike in every cell, which triggers an immune response;

• This type of vaccine is experimental and has never been done before;

• Long-term effects are unknown;.

• None of the above, that is, containing misinformation.

Local politicians and medical experts urge the public to be vaccinated:

• This is level-headed and sanguine advice;

• I get points for using “sanguine;”

• What the heck does “sanguine” mean?

• None of the above.

Dr. Anthony Fauci:

• Always tells the truth and is accurate in his advice;

• Wears Speedos for high-cliff-diving events;

• Wins most of these events;

• Has signed with Speedo for a multimillion-dollar sponsorship deal;

• None of the above.

For you conspiracy buffs:

• Things are going perfectly as planned for the shadow network of psychopathic freemasons controlling the pandemic;

• Millions of people are being herded to be vaccinated;

• The goal is to vaccinate everybody on the planet;

• The vaccination will eventually kill off millions of people and turn the rest into micro-chipped zombies;

• The definition of “sanguine” is being positive in a bad situation.

OK. Here are the correct answers: last one for each question. No wiggle room this time.

Molly Jones, Kealia