• Grateful for emergency response • Three months later • Understands discrimination • Troubled by information • Reasons for the anger • Dog privileges may be pulled Grateful for emergency response Two mornings ago, about 5:45 a.m., we heard a
• Grateful for emergency response
• Three months later
• Understands discrimination
• Troubled by information
• Reasons for the anger
• Dog privileges may be pulled
Grateful for emergency response
Two mornings ago, about 5:45 a.m., we heard a loud moan outside our condo window and looked out to see a man lying beside a pickup truck in the condo parking lot. We called 911 and very quickly — within a few minutes — police had arrived. They rapidly assessed the situation and within a few more minutes, paramedics had arrived. The man was paralyzed from the waist down and could not speak.
Within 20 to 25 minutes of the time we called 911, the paramedics were on their way to Wilcox Hospital.
The man had had a stroke; Wilcox flew him by air ambulance on to Honolulu, where a blood clot was removed from his brain. He is alive, has recovered partial use of one leg, and can speak, though his speech is slurry.
He is 38 years old with a wife and two children.
One often hears on Kaua‘i negative things about the police. But our experience was very positive, and we — my wife and I — wanted to praise all who were involved in this incident. It is very likely, it seems to us, that whatever recovery this man has, it is the direct result of people — police, paramedics, Wilcox Hospital doctors — doing their job effectively and efficiently.
We are grateful for such service.
- Everett Hullum
Princeville
Three months later
It is a little more than three months since the tragic breaching of the Ka Loko Dam, and it is only days since those of us affected received the devastating news that no funds from the United States Government will be forthcoming to help us in our recovery.
It is very disturbing to think this may be the end result of three months of time, energy, meetings and money already expended by those of us affected, and the government agencies that have been working with us.
Sitting here looking at the huge piles of trees with tons of debris hanging in their branches, huge dead trees lying where beautiful forests once were, all rotting as weeds take over, I am constantly reminded of the disaster of March 14. Pieces of buildings, cars, tools, clothing, all visible throughout the debris piles. Rodents are now nesting and the health of our environment is in the balance. Those in power do not seem to care about this very visible scar which residents and tourists alike see daily as they drive across Wailapa Stream. Is this what we want for the beautiful Garden Island? The message to our elected officials was clear. Wailapa Stream needs your help. Why will they not listen?
- Robert Wolaver and Michelle Carroll Wailapa Stream
Kilauea
Understands discrimination
There’s been a lot said recently about homosexuality. I just want to share some things about a trait that I was born with. It’s discriminated against in schools, manufactured products, in many cultures and in many religions. I’ve been a life-long victim of various degrees of this discrimination from my childhood to this day, and while small steps have been taken to address this blatant prejudice, those of us with this inborn, genetic trait continue to be treated as second-class citizens.
My trait? I’m left-handed!
Troubled by information
I find some information in the article by Jeff Demma of the Kauai AIDS Project troubling. If he is trying to explain that homosexuals are not the sole cause of spreading aids he failed. In the fourth paragraph of his article he state that homosexuality and promiscuity are not the causes of spreading AIDS. This is untrue. Promiscuity among both homosexuals and heterosexuals is one of the primary causes of spreading AIDS. I don’t blame homosexuals as the main group responsible for spreading AIDS, though I seem to recall AIDS was first discovered in the U.S. among homosexual men. His article is misleading and not correct.
Reasons for the anger
In response to something’s wrong with the world today:
Perhaps the anger seen in the two keiki and directed at the visiting kayakers on Kamehameha Day was because some of the youth of the island have finally gotten sick of being spoonfed the idea that all they have, and ever will have, to offer the world is a smile (maybe sincere, maybe not) and their “aloha spirit.”
Perhaps they feel there should be something more to their life — that life should hold some degree of promise — but all of the rhetoric they get from their “wiser elders” suggests they will be trapped in a life of servitude and scraping just to get by because those elders can’t let go of the past long enough to give them REAL guidance for how to make it in the world.
Perhaps they are fed up with being categorized as “haole” first rather than a person deserving of just as much respect as some locals demand they get in trite bumper stickers.
Perhaps they are tired of living among warmongers, or have simply decided that warmongering and belligerence must be how one gets their way because that is what adults do.
I don’t know why those children behaved as they did, but I can certainly posit some ideas.
Dog privileges may be pulled
I would like to thank the hard-working groundskeepers and other employees of Kukuiolono Golf Course and Park for all their efforts to keep make this park a beautiful and comfortable place to golf and walk either alone or with a dog on a leash.
My dog and I use this lovely place twice a day for exercise and to restore a tranquil spirit. What is becoming a problem is a lot of other dog owners are leaving their poop all over the place. This is a health problem, not just an inconvenience. All that is required to maintain our privilege to use this great place is to pick up after our animals.
I have heard that our privilege will SOON be removed from us if this does not change. So this letter is a plea for help as this can be easily remedied if we take responsibility for our animals. Mahalo for your consideration.