• Where is the aloha spirit? • Concert was terrific • We can coexist • Dennis, nice picture • Economy driven by three industries Where is the aloha spirit? There is no aloha spirit anymore in our islands. That is
• Where is the aloha spirit? • Concert was terrific • We can coexist • Dennis, nice picture • Economy driven by three industries
Where is the aloha spirit?
There is no aloha spirit anymore in our islands. That is evident in the discussions about Bill 2491.
Fear has spread among many people and has led to many becoming irrational and fearful as a result.
Hawaii can’t afford to have this kind of divisiveness created in the agricultural industry.
Pupukahi i holomua. Unite to move forward, not stand divided. Base laws with evidence, not fear or misinformation.
Hooser needs to remember that he took an oath of office that means he has to be fair and partial, which he apparently forgot.
That is his duty!
Joni Kamiya
Kaneohe
Concert was terrific
An open letter of gratitude to Graham Nash, David Crosby and KKCR:
Dear Graham, David and KKCR:
Your support bill 2491 fundraiser benefit concert put on by KKCR at KCC on Aug. 30 was a music lover’s dream come true!
This is such an important issue for Kauai and your backing by giving us this concert is very much appreciated!
The house was packed and the crowd wild with enthusiasm and gratitude.
Choosing Shayne Fontaine and Mike Cambell to share the stage with their electric guitar wizardry was a perfect complement to the exquisite harmonies accompanied by your brilliant acoustic guitar playing.
I personally have been enjoying your music for as long as you have been publicly playing and continue to be a very grateful fan.
Once again, Jackson Browne came forward to support and benefit our beautiful island of Kauai. Thank you, Jackson!
It was such a pleasure to witness the pleasure you all take in creating and sharing your fantastic music. And astonishingly pleasurable to be in the audience that night as you did!
Thanks to KKCR for organizing this event and pulling it together with such short notice. And to Tony at KCC, who consistently has said yes to benefit Kauai in so many ways!
This was a night many of us shall remember for a long, long time.
In gratitude!
Joan Levy
Kapaa
We can coexist
I was born and raised in sugar and pineapple plantation camps where the workers and their families lived practically eye to eye and nose to nose with the chemicals, pesticides and fertilizers, used to grow some of the best sugar cane and pineapples exported out of Hawaii.
I breathed the air (without relish, of course) when pesticides were being sprayed in surrounding fields; ran and played barefooted in those same fields before and after they had been plowed under to lie fallow, allowing the aina to enrich itself before planting of the next crop; ate the tomatoes and other vegetables and plants and vegetables that grew wild or planted by the workers to supplement their meager diets; drank water from reservoirs filtered at the faucets with tobacco “Durham” bags; ate the opae and o’opu from the same reservoirs and ditches that irrigated the sugar cane fields; and enjoyed the opihi and seaweeds from the ocean shores.
During that period of my lifetime to this day, I must have unknowingly eaten some food containing genetically modified ingredients found in unidentified canned, frozen or packaged food products.
I do drink a lot of coffee and I love our local papayas (two identified GMOs).
Why, after so much “dreaded” exposure experienced by myself and other “plantation kids” of my generation, can a recent study still show that Hawaii leads the nation in having the most people over age 65 living longer?
Sugar and pineapples are no longer what they used to be because of economic conditions … not because of GMOs or chemical and pesticide usage.
But the barren fields which once used to grow sugar and pineapples found new life with the willingness of the GMO industry to fill the slack in our economy.
Bill 2491, upon finding the facts it seeks, should make every effort to attain a positive rather than a negative solution toward helping and promoting the welfare and existence of the GMO industry on Kauai.
The wisdom is there in the council to create a balanced environment of welcome — coexistence for the good of all.
Alfred Laureta
Kapaa
Dennis, nice picture
A word of praise for Dennis Fujimoto’s picture of five little boys playing soccer in Tuesday’s TGI.
He captured all the action, enthusiasm and intensity!
A classic.
Sheila Honeywell
Lihue
Economy driven by three industries
I value the voices on both side of the GMO debate; both have valid concerns. Both sides need to remember: we are all stuck out here together.
On Kauai there are only three true industries: #1 by far is tourism, generating billions of dollars that enter our economy; #2 is the U.S. Military and the PMRF which brings in about $150 million, #3 is the seed industry which generates approximately $40 million. That’s it. There are no other industries here.
The main other way money is made here is by selling off our lands to outsiders.
Aside from a few state and federal jobs, all the other money on this island comes into the economy from tourist, military or seed companies.
You may grow organic kale in Moloaa, but you sell that kale to someone who works at PMRF, for Syngenta or at the Marriott.
So, my point is this — if you are against GMO seed companies, you must want more tourism and more military spending — or you want to make it harder for everyone here to get by. It really is that simple.
I personally would rather not sell off Hanalei River to be developed into multi-million dollar condos and vacation rentals; I would rather not expand the PMRF’s underwater training range and have more Navy SURTASS/LFA sonar affecting marine mammals; I would rather not convert more open space to golf courses — but the island has to make money somehow, and selling organic kale won’t cut it.
John Patterson, PhD
Wailua
