• Beach access • Vandalism Beach access Captain Thomas Connelly, commander of the Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility, is working with the Kaua‘i community to make the best of a situation that the terrorist attacks of 9/11 have left him
• Beach access
• Vandalism
Beach access
Captain Thomas Connelly, commander of the Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility, is working with the Kaua‘i community to make the best of a situation that the terrorist attacks of 9/11 have left him with.
He needs to keep PMRF secure, while providing recreation time for local surfers and anglers.
This week the beaches at areas known as Major’s Bay and Family Housing are being opened to registered outsiders every day of the week, barring the occasional military exercise when the entire base must be closed down.
The back and forth between the community and the captain on this issue is a good example of how a beach access problem can be resolved. There is a need for compromise in such situations, but in the end hundreds of surfers and fishermen will enjoy these Westside beaches each month.
Beach access to other areas of the island isn’t as open as it was 10 or 20 years ago. In most cases, access is being restricted rather than opened wider, or opened at all.
Watch for action on this issue within the community over the next year or so. Unlike other states, our Hawai‘i constitution guarantees open access to beaches. That’s a right worth working for to make sure it is implemented for today and for future generations.
Once lost, rights of way to beaches are hard to regain or reopen. A look at why some beaches are extremely hard to get to will be forthcoming in reports from The Garden Island.
Vandalism
Over the weekend vandals desecrated the Lihue Cemetery. The cemetery is where the remains of the kama‘aina Rice family are buried, and some the family’s historic headstones were broken in two. Dozens of flower vases from a Japanese cemetery also located on the grounds were destroyed, too.
One imagines young punks loaded on booze or “ice” rampaging through the cemetery for the thrill of destroying a cemetery known for its monumental stone work and peaceful setting. The purpose of the rampage might be just because it was an easy target handy to get to in Lihu‘e.
It is doubtful that the vandalism was racially motivated, as those doing the wrecking apparently didn’t care whose grave they were wrecking.
Actions like these are most likely another sign that our “ice” drug problem is a serious one, and that a generation growing up displaced from the clear-cut moral values of the island’s sugar-plantation communities is perhaps in some cases without values beyond what feels good.
Officials of the Lihue Cemetery Association are offering a $1,000 reward for whoever helps the police arrest and the courts convict those responsible for this outrage.
In addition, The Garden Island promises a front-page photo and report on whoever did this, should they be convicted of the crime.
