• Kauai a place for flowers, not manure • Health system costs hard to justify • Neighborhood not what it used to be • ‘Eco-terrorist’ headline was inaccurate • Government actions affect all of us
Kauai a place for flowers, not manure
As a frequent visitor to Kauai over the last 30 years, I found it very disturbing to find out on my last visit, two weeks ago, that Kauai is considering a large dairy cow operation on the south end of the island.
As someone who lives near a small town that has a large dairy, I can’t tell you how disturbing this idea is. The small town near me has had major problems with ground water, lake and stream pollution, not to mention the stench produced by hundreds of dairy cows and their manure!
Please, visitors and residents of Kauai, speak out against this proposal! Silence equals acceptance, so speak up now! Who wants to visit a place where you smell cow manure instead of tropical flowers? Not many, I would guess. Let Kauai remain the paradise it is now. I’m sure jobs/revenue can be found in areas that won’t cause this kind of damage to your beautiful landscape.
Pam Schmidt
Selah, Wash.
Health system costs hard to justify
What ethical, economic or political considerations justify spending over $20 million in registering just over 7,000 people in the health system and then expecting to spend $49 million more through 2017?
Rudy Sina
Lihue
Neighborhood not what it used to be
I am saddened to learn from Tuesday’s headline that my “Good Neighbors” now think of me as an eco-terrorist. What is happening to the neighborhood?
Patrick Gegen
Kalaheo
‘Eco-terrorist’ headline was inaccurate
I am not taking sides in this letter for or against Bill 2491, but I was very disappointed with the inaccurate headline of the April 22 The Garden Island. It was clearly a case of “yellow journalism.” After reading the article, it became clear that Paul Alston had not called the backers of 2491 “eco-terrorists,” as indicated by the headline. He said that, “No legitimate objective will be realized by the forced public disclosures under the ordinance, only the illegitimate targeting of GMO crops by vandals and eco-terrorists.”
Although one can argue with the content of that assertion, it clearly does not accuse all those who are backers of 2491 of being eco-terrorists. The headline was something I would anticipate hearing as a tease on euphemistically labeled “news” channels like FOX News and MSNBC, not The Garden Island.
There is enough discord on this island without the otherwise fine, local newspaper stooping to such tactics to sell papers.
Jonathan McRoberts
Kilauea
Government actions affect all of us
On April 22 (TGI), there was a cartoon denigrating patriotism, civil rights, and supporting Big Government in it’s trampling of them. Please research the facts behind the Bundy Ranch debacle. It involves Harry Reid and his son’s financial dealings, water rights, bullying the Bundy family into selling other real estate, contracts with Chinese solar energy companies who want to develop that part of the desert, the willful killing of 750 desert tortoises, the slaughter of cattle by stampeding them to death, denying them water and separating nursing calves from their mothers.
There were government snipers targeting unarmed civilians, death threats against unarmed citizens with their hands in the air over their heads, tasing of an old man in a wheelchair, abrogation of Constitutional rights by establishing “free speech zones,” and the list goes on. It is highly likely that the only reason there wasn’t another Waco or Ruby Ridge-style assault was the presence of so many witnesses and so many cameras.
If nothing else, please think about how you will react when Big Government sends the troops to take land which has been used by your family for over a century, destroy your property and threaten your life.
What happens to any of us, happens to all of us.
Robert Schulke
San Francisco and Kauai visitor
