• Education strikes • Grove Farm water • Kamalani Bridge conflicts Education strikes It is disturbing to have our educators threaten to go on strikes to get salary increases along with other benefits that they rightfully deserve. More so when
• Education strikes
• Grove Farm water
• Kamalani Bridge conflicts
Education strikes
It is disturbing to have our educators threaten to go on strikes to get salary increases along with other benefits that they rightfully deserve.
More so when the faculty of higher learning is involved — UH and colleges.
To begin with, we should recognize the value of their profession, since they teach and micro-manage the molding of our young ones into future leaders.
We cannot gamble with education and force our youth to gain knowledge by the catch-up method — the world will not wait!
To encourage the teaching profession, we should upgrade the level of their wage scale from the start, and on.
Other benefits of seniority and longevity would be automatic with value.
After years of cost and efforts to get their education, our teachers deserve a higher grading level when they start their classroom activities — they hold the future of America in their hands.
It is a shame when educated negotiators, on both sides, cannot sit down and settle their differences without going to extremes.
Facts and figures should be accurately presented so that all will understand, followed by decisions and sacrifices and limitations.
Our educators are the backbone of our nation — we should value their profession, since they train our future leaders from kindergarten to college to reality!
Parents provide guidance — teachers offer and develop knowledge.
With all this dependency, why are they (teachers) not given the recognition they deserve in the area of compensation as compared to other higher-paying, non-degree fields of work?
Ex: heavy equipment operators — $100,000 per year and more!
No offense.
Yasu Nakamatsu
Kapa‘a
Grove Farm water
After thinking about an article on Grove Farm’s decision to build a surface-water-treatment plant, I thought that something had gone “wrong.”
Too late to blame anyone, but, if the ex-plantation lands’ owner(s) had not let most of the land go to cattle/animal-raising, maybe the irrigation systems would still be flowing with water to seep into the ground and recharge the aquifer/drinking water table.
Seems like most if not all the ditches are gone, so water just runs off into the ocean instead of “irrigating fallow fields” and filtering down.
The fields behind Kalepa Ridge are closed, so can’t see if water is getting to area above Fern Grotto and keeping it green.
Just wished that some real deep thought would be given to land use before things like less water in aquifer pop up in exchange for developments and possibly more stress on Kaua‘i’s infrastructure.
Aloha,
Masaru Shirai
Lihu‘e
Kamalani Bridge conflicts
To all the fishermen, sunbathers, surfers, divers and anyone else who make good use of the beach in front of the Wailua Golf Course — the entrance through Kamalani Kai Bridge is no more.
Their promise to keep the right of way open has been broken.
About a year or so ago, we (the fishermen) were called to Lydgate Park for an informal meeting between the fishermen and the Lydgate “improvers” who wanted to extend Lydgate Park into the boundaries of the golf course.
We finally agreed that a right of way was necessary, and was to be under the so called “Kamalani Kai Bridge.”
Council member Mel Rapozo, who was not in politics at that time, was also at this meeting in support of the fishermen.
Bryan Baptiste, a council member at the time, attended this meeting, and was aware of the agreement.
Knowing this, when asked for volunteers, a lot of fishermen, surfers and beach-goers volunteered their help.
One day, several months later, I told Bryan Baptiste that I hoped that they would keep their word.
His response to me was, “Well, you got what you want, didn’t you?”
Hello, where are you now?
Now that they have gotten their bathrooms, bridge, bike paths and parking lots, they have successfully closed our driving access.
The problem, they say, is safety for kids playing on the bridge.
First of all, it’s poor planning.
They also blame erosion.
The biggest erosion came when they built the Lydgate pond.
Vehicles were running on that beach even before the Marines used it.
If the “Lydgate Improvements” can get millions of dollars from the government, I’m sure they can afford a security guard at the bridge to control traffic.
What these people don’t realize is that we are surrounded by an ocean, and we live on an island.We need water-sports activities.
I can write till I’m blue in the hand.But there is one thing for sure.
Gareth Souza
Kapa‘a
