• Thanks for making it tougher on citizens • Waving signs won’t earn this voter’s support • Talk of eradicating cats not very Kauai-like • Humane society doing its best in difficult situation Thanks for making it tougher on citizens I would like to
• Thanks for making it tougher on citizens • Waving signs won’t earn this voter’s support • Talk of eradicating cats not very Kauai-like • Humane society doing its best in difficult situation
Thanks for making it tougher on citizens
I would like to applaud the Kauai Chamber of Commerce for introducing an amendment requiring four times the number of signatures before a proposed amendment to the County Charter goes before a public vote.
I have been thinking lately how unfortunate it is that the average citizen has such easy access to how our county is run. Seriously … issues that are “life changing” or deemed important should be left to the elite among us. Mr. Shigemoto brought up a great point that requiring four times the number of signatures would eliminate “time and money wasted on legally flawed proposals,” because it is obviously the number of signatures, not the actual proposals, that determines whether a proposal is flawed or not. I think it’s best to give favored corporations a much-needed advantage over the average voter as to oversight. No conflict of interest there! These corporations have proven time and again they only have our best interests in mind, which was blatantly obvious with their “full” disclosure on the amount of pesticides they use. It is unfortunate that those pesky voters do irresponsible things like thoroughly investigate an issue to determine what might be in their best interest and then ask their elected officials to protect them.
I, for one, would like to see a list of these magnanimous corporations who support this proposal so I’ll know who I want to support. And, I just know, that with their proven level of integrity, they will honor the intent of their own proposal by getting the necessary 8,148 signatures.
Kelly Sato
Kilauea
Waving signs won’t earn this voter’s support
In regards to the letter of a few days ago concerning politicians waving along the side of the road, I have vowed to not vote for any candidate I see doing this. I’ve started making the list. If it means nobody gets my vote, then so be it. This is a dangerous and completely pointless practice, and I don’t care if it is a “tradition.” If you want my vote on something, you had better be talking about issues in an intelligent fashion. I don’t care about your smiling face or the smiling faces of your sychophants during my commute. And no, I will not be going “back” anywhere just because I don’t like this practice. Thanks.
Michael Mann
Lihue
Talk of eradicating cats not very Kauai-like
Where’s the Aloha? All this talk of “offing” the island’s feral, lost and abandoned cats is very disturbing. This idea is in no way a solution. There are well-proven programs (trap, neuter, release) to take care of such situations. There are organizations whose whole focus are just on such things (Alley Cat Allies.) One of the most brilliant men of modern times (Albert Einstein) said “If man aspires towards a righteous life, his first act of abstinence is from injury to animals.”
Mahatma Gandi said “You can tell a lot about a society by the way it treats its animals.”
What is the alleged plan of cat eradication saying about Kauai? We’re supposed to be the land of aloha, let’s show some to our cat friends.
Rebecca Gorsline
Kapaa
Humane society doing its best in difficult situation
Is your beagle stubborn? Does he refuse to listen? Scientists can now map the areas of an animal’s brain and see which areas “light up” when engaged in different activities. A beagle has approximately 225 million olfactory receptors compared to a mere 5 million in a human being. And their olfactory lobe is 40 times the size of ours. With that much input, being received and processed by that large of brain area, it’s no wonder he doesn’t respond when he’s on a scent! (In exactly the same way that we may not immediately hear someone speak to us if we are concentrating intently on something,) your beagle may be temporarily, physically incapable of hearing you.
I wonder if something similar happens in a human being when we’re flooded by emotion? Do our brains temporarily short circuit? And how could an abundance of compassion ever be a bad thing? I would argue that compassion ceases to be a virtue if it renders us deaf to the facts, or blind to reality. A person that I admire broke with the humane society after a dog she loved, but could not adopt, was unexpectedly put down. She said, “I just don’t believe homes can’t be found.” But how can one not believe it when KHS has an average of 5,000 animals come in every year? How could she not believe it when she, herself, had tried desperately to find him a home before his time ran out? I think her capacity for compassion makes it impossible to accept that no amount of extra time will balance the reality of these numbers. Sweet, well meaning, Chris. You write from your heart and I know it’s in the right place. But our hearts aren’t where the facts are stored. And denying them won’t make them go away. You stated, “the euthanasia rate has skyrocketed since our new director arrived.” Since that’s not true, I think she deserves an apology as public as the accusation was.
And in your last letter you say, “What KHS fails to mention is their kill program.” When, in fact, the subject of euthanasia is discussed in both the second and the final paragraph of the commentary. Maybe we can’t be fact-based if the subject is heart-felt? Maybe it’s physically impossible, like with our beagle? We should still try. Because it’s grossly unfair to portray the HS staff as anything other than a bunch of dedicated people, doing the best they can, working within the confines of a horrible reality.
Gayla McCarthy
Waimea
