• This is all about lives • Be good stewards of Kalalau Trail • Smart meter fee not fair • Pass the bill, now This is all about lives In a letter to all our Kauai County Council elected representatives to
• This is all about lives • Be good stewards of Kalalau Trail • Smart meter fee not fair • Pass the bill, now
This is all about lives
In a letter to all our Kauai County Council elected representatives to urge their yes vote on Bill 2491, this is what I included.
The mayor’s request to wait two months to make a decision is a total insult to everyone (thousands of Kauai taxpaying residents and voters) who have been paying attention. It has all been documented, so please do not attempt to act surprised and deny the facts behind his request and the empty promises of Gov. Abercrombie.
Kauai residents and visitors cannot and will not stand for any more delays without seriously undermining our county government and the visitor industry. We certainly do not need this kind of attention on Kauai. I already have friends canceling their usual annual trip to Kauai this winter because of what they have been hearing and reading on national news about GMO poisoning on Kauai.
Interestingly, I recently came across the 1999 “E Komo Mai 1960-1979” edition of The Garden Island, and read it cover to cover. Of course they covered the withdrawal of the pineapple and sugar industries, publishing many articles dealing with the elimination of obvious jobs from the fields, mills and canneries. From the reports, there were far more employees displaced than what the chemical companies are currently claiming would occur if the GMO companies “left town.” But, there were no reports of serious unemployment and residents not being able to be retrained into other professions.
Admit it. Hawaii has been sold a bill of goods many years ago with the influx of several poisonous corporations while no one was really paying any attention. Now it is time to call a complete halt to this insidious behavior of trying to save people’s jobs. This is about saving people’s lives!
Marj Dente
Kapaa
Be good stewards of Kalalau Trail
I read Friday’s article titled “Problems on Na Pali” with both sadness and anger. I have been hiking the Kalalau Trail for years and each time I become more saddened by the condition of the trail and the area. I have hiked all over the world and can say the Na Pali Coast stands out as the best of the 30 great treks in the world.
DLNR has a fiduciary duty to be a good steward of the land by protecting this treasure from the illegal camping, which is leading to the breakdown of the ecosystems from untreated human waste and rubbish left by thoughtless people. This trail can accommodate only so many hikers and boaters a year and must be regulated.
Yet the DLNR says they can not protect this heaven on earth due to lack of funds. The solution should not be that difficult if we can get past the bureaucracy. All they would need to do is set up a permanent ranger station at trail’s end with two rangers available 24 hours a day.
This could be paid for by citing all those without permits, which according to the article might be over 100 a day, and by raising the permit fee for non residents. Even if this was not enough to pay for the permanent station, it still must be done to protect this great wilderness for the future.
Steve Latham
Princeville
Smart meter fee not fair
Fairness, like many other things, is in the eye of the beholder. KIUC’s plans to charge folks who don’t want “smart meters” because it would not be “fair” to those who have them is, in my view, completely ludicrous.
Turn it around and ask why folks who don’t want them should pay for the huge costs of buying and installing them for folks who do? Actually, I don’t know anyone who wants one. They are being forced upon us by a board of directors who won’t even allow a so-called co-op to vote on the matter.
Aside from the health risks from microwave radiation and the privacy issues, there’s another: jobs! Personally, I would rather create a job for a meter reader with a proven safe technology (analog meters) than subject myself and family to an unproven radiation emitting technology. In this sense, the argument is much like the GMO and pesticide issue. Nobody knows the long-term effects, so why not err on the side of caution, save the money and keep the old technology?
By the way, there’s an old technology to replace Roundup for effective weed control. It’s free and easily available. It’s called salt water! And there’s an alternative crop to replace GMO jobs lost, if any. It’s one with a huge commercial demand for fiber and oils. It’s called hemp!
It’s grown in Canada and many other places in the world, so why not here?
Michael Wells
Moloaa
Pass the bill, now
Bill 2491 must be passed now. What is there to wait around for? For the council members and/or their relatives to get sick before they wake up and accept what is really happening?
There is so much evidence and with each passing day more people get sick and those already afflicted get sicker. Are the pockets of those who have control in passing this bill not full enough yet? They must bear in mind that greed is a killer. We all need to take a good look at just what is the most important factor in a person’s life — health. Without it, nothing matters.
Our little ones must have the health to experience a full life, not be sitting on the sidelines coughing their life away. Believe me, I know what it is like to cough and not be able to do all that I want to do. I’m glad I climbed the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho, bicycled in Vermount and New Hampshire, cross country skied in Nevada, did the Molokai mule trail down to Kaulapapa, and much more while I was able to. Our little ones must have the chance to enjoy their lives and fulfill their dreams. Concentrate on the real green and forget your greed.
Pass Bill 2491, now!
Lois Catala
Waimea
