•The crisis is now
•It’s not the bag’s fault
•Spend tax dollars wisely on employee training
• Walk in their shoes before complaining
The crisis is now
State Sen. Gary Hooser’s idea to use the hurricane fund to keep our children in school is a good one.
The fund was created after Hurricane Iniki because insurance companies refused to give us hurricane insurance. That situation changed a long time ago. Hurricane insurance is now readily available.
Granted it would be a good thing to have $180 million sitting there to use in case there is another hurricane but we have a crisis right now, and, again, there would be no such fund to protect us in case of another hurricane if hurricane insurance hadn’t become unavailable after Iniki.
So let’s use some of this money to stop this ridiculous idea of reducing the number of days our already under educated children receive.
Let’s put our children at the top of our priority list, where they should be. Contact your representatives and senators and the governor and tell them to do this. And, for once, can we leave politics out of it? Regardless of what party you belong to or what candidate you support, this is a good idea.
Bruce Savage, Kalaheo
It’s not the bag’s fault
Having picked up thousands of plastic bags during my life in clean-up efforts I can understand the intention of the plastic bag ban. However, on all those bags I have never found little legs or even a little brain.
The point is that the bags don’t have a mind of their own. They don’t choose to be in the rivers, lakes, oceans or on shorelines. They would just as well like to be recycled or otherwise disposed of properly.
So, who is responsible for plastic bags being where they are least wanted? The answer is quite simple — people. Yes, people do it; the bags don’t do it. It’s the same with plastic water bottles, beer cans and bottles, Styrofoam containers, etc.
So, County Council, you’d better get to work at banning all those things too. But wait, maybe we should target the real cause of the matter — people who throw away all that stuff on pristine beaches, beautiful waterways, in the ocean and all those places except recycling bins.
I don’t know for sure but I suspect it’s a small minority of people who don’t have the respect, knowledge or education or who are just plain lazy who are the real culprits.
I would sure like to see some stiffer littering laws and enforcement of current laws to try to get those people to wise up or else go someplace else.
Randy Roe, Wailua
Spend tax dollars wisely on employee training
My goal is to raise the publics awareness on a provision that should be implemented on Kaua‘i. Did you know that police officers can get their training here on Kaua‘i, work for a short time and move to another county or even state and we paid for his training?
Did you know that an officer in training, before his graduation, can put in his resume for a different department, and we paid for his training?
The county spends time and money in educating and training new police officers. Each department has allocated money for training. It makes sense to make sure officers give us a specific amount of time (years employed) before they can transfer and or move away and use their education to better their careers at the county’s expense.
The county should implement a provision that would require police officers to work for a specific amount of time before they could move or transfer. I suggest if an officer decided to transfer into a different department, then the new department pay for his training. If an officer decided to move, before a specific amount of time, then he would have to pay back the county for his training.
Provisions like this are used by the military as well as other counties in the United States. Our tax dollars need to be spent carefully during these hard economic times. Please join me in asking our officials to make this provision.
Susan Brinks, Lihu‘e
Walk in their shoes before complaining
Mahalo, mahalo, mahalo for the tree trimmers and paving road crew on the North Shore.
Yes, there is a wait in traffic but seeing the diseased tree stumps being hauled away in the flatbed trucks makes me appreciate the wait time in traffic because I don’t have to fear for my life as I travel through the North Shore tree tunnel.
This past week, temperatures were hot and the road crew and policemen working this shift are in extreme hot conditions. Please appreciate their determination to get this work done in a timely manner given the amount of traffic on the North Shore. We won’t have to dodge major pot holes anymore.
Please be patient, listen to music, bring something to read, thank God that you live in a beautiful place. At least you’re probably in your air-conditioned car while these workers are in the hot Hawaiian heat. Walk in their shoes before you complain!
Elaine Foster, Princeville
