• Learn how to drive
• Outstanding care
• No boardwalk on beach
• Keep it in your lane
• Furloughs hurt
students most
Learn how to drive
I read Francine M. Grace’s letter with interest and am so glad The Garden Island published it.
Re-instating a written test would educate a lot of bad drivers on Kaua‘i who are inadvertently breaking the law. My biggest complaint are the drivers who think they have the right of way to make a left hand turn (as fast as they can) in front of oncoming traffic turning right. This happens almost daily at the Coco Palms stop light when I am trying to drive up to the Homesteads!
I’ve barely missed several of them. The frightening thing is they really think they are right and frequently honk at me, flip me off, or yell! Hey, I’ve got an idea — park a police officer or two down there and ticket them — the county could use the revenue and the police could educate the public.
Laurian Parducci, Kapa‘a
Outstanding care
While visiting our daughter and granddaughter from South Africa, my husband Roy became ill.
After a visit with Dr. Thomas Capelli, he referred us to Wilcox Memorial Hospital. Once in the emergency room, my husband was attended to by Dr. Thomas Hemmingway and staff. Through his dedication to patient care, my husband’s life was saved.
From the ambulance staff to the Hawai‘i Air Ambulance crew, and then to Straub Hospital, we received the best possible treatment. A special thank you to Dr. Wesley Kai and staff on the 3rd floor at Straub.
We are now able to enjoy the rest of our vacation. Words are inadequate to describe our appreciation and gratitude to all these wonderful people who helped make this possible.
Peggy Browning
South Africa
Chevy and Tamra Martin
Kilauea
No boardwalk on beach
The Kaua‘i Group of the Hawai‘i Chapter Sierra Club supports the concept of a bicycle path; however, placing a boardwalk on Wailua Beach and making it a high transit corridor would be both culturally and environmentally inappropriate.
We believe it is of paramount importance to respect Native Hawaiian rights by protecting the cultural and historical significance of Wailua Beach and preserving it as a natural, undeveloped beach.
The omission of an archaeological inventory survey and cultural impact assessment for the Wailua corridor led to a false finding of “no significant impact” in the Environmental Assessment and is a major reason for the continued controversy over placement of the path.
The recent letter from the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs recommending that the bicycle path “stay off of and away from the sacred sands of Wailua, and that any such project occur in a more mauka alignment, towards an existing cane haul road” leaves no doubt that locating a boardwalk on Wailua Beach would disregard the deep concerns of the host culture.
The Sierra Club has always advocated for preserving beaches in their natural state, but here there is an additional, overarching concern: Native Hawaiian rights. We stand with the Native Hawaiian groups on this issue and we call on our county government to respect Native Hawaiian concerns by implementing OHA’s recommendations.
Anna Chavez, Victor Cloutier, Judy Dalton, Caren Diamond, Marge Freeman, Carl Imparato, Rayne Regush, Jimmy Trujillo
Sierra Club’s Kaua‘i Group executive committee
Keep it in your lane
In response to Francine Grace’s letter to the editor in Tuesday’s newspaper, I agree with everything that she has said except one item.
Ms. Grace states that if she is being tailgated, she eases off the accelerator and slows down. Does she know that this is illegal? Does she know that if more than five cars are behind her, she must move over even if she is at the speed limit?
I suggest that if someone wants by you so bad, move over when safe and let them go on their merry way. Guess what, they will be getting the ticket, not you.
Also, whomever is teaching driving, they need to focus on the steering of the car, not aiming it. It was stated that most of the fatal accidents are head on. It is my experience that a lot of drivers don’t know that they are not to put their left-side tire on the yellow line. If a driver comes in the opposite direction, the results can be a head-on collision.
I am constantly on watch for this kind of deadly driver. In the meantime, drive safely.
Robin Voorhies, Kapa‘a
Furloughs hurt
students most
What happened to the abundance of funds the state had just years ago?
Per chance some got spent on the improvements of the harbors to accommodate a private industry, the Superferry ($40 million spent)?
Now with the furloughs of all the public school teachers, we are paying again for our governor’s mis-spending of public funds.
Teachers are suffering with the decrease in pay, and parents will have the possible added expense of a babysitter for their children on furlough days.
But it is the children that will lose the most — 17 days of school. That is almost a whole month of education.
As a side note, has the state been able to collect on all the unpaid taxes they were trying to get from the delinquent taxpayers?
Deborah Erickson, Kilauea
