•A Christmas miracle
•Should we entrust our health to Obamacare?
•Kaua‘i Teen Court update
A Christmas miracle
We hear about it all the time. Small-time petty thieves make their living off of breaking into cars, homes, businesses with little or no consequences. This story has an unexpected ending and has restored my faith in the fact that good will always prevail over bad.
A dear friend of ours recently decided to take a very expensive vacation to Hawai‘i. They chose Kaua‘i as their destination because of our beaches and hiking trails. This family of six endured much to get here.
First, their flight out of Oregon was canceled and then re-booked the following day. This cost them money, but still they came. The flight they boarded the next day in San Francisco was forced to return to the airport after 45 minutes in the air due to a hydraulic leak. One can only imagine having four children scared out of their wits because they thought they might crash into the ocean.
Still this family got back on another plane after all this and flew onto Kaua‘i. Arriving almost two days behind schedule, they settled into the North Shore house they had rented for their week stay, and although weary from the journey they made plans for their first day on Kaua‘i.
They decided to drive to the end of the road at Ke‘e Beach and hike the famous Kalalau Trail. Because they have young children they only hiked for several hours and returned to the beach to spend the remainder of the day swimming, sunning and relaxing. It was apparent to them upon reaching their rented van that the back window was broken.
Yes, the van had been broken into and our friend’s wallet was gone with all of its contents. Money, credit cards, drivers license, everything. Aloha and welcome to Kaua‘i! Most will agree that we should not leave our possessions in our vehicles, but opportunity does not give these punks the right to violate us in such a manner.
In lieu of their misfortune our friends committed themselves to having still the best vacation possible. They were all together and nobody got hurt. We are grateful for this, they told us.
Two days later they received a very unexpected phone call. It was from a car rental agency in Lihu‘e saying they had found the stolen wallet inside a rental car that had been returned. What makes this story incredible was that everything was in the wallet. How the wallet ended up in that car is a part of the story we will never know the answer to.
The good people who did the right thing upon finding the wallet is what aloha is all about. Because of these very special citizens our friends have experienced a Christmas miracle here on Kaua‘i, and their vacation just got a whole lot better.
Dave Rullo, Hanalei
Should we entrust our health to Obamacare?
Nat Hentoff worries us about the impending doom of federal rationing of health care should the Health Care Reform Act pass the Senate (Media Voices, Dec. 18). He also worries us about loss of availability of new technology.
Yet this is what we now have: For-profit rationing of care and technology by the private insurance companies that cover most Americans and make coverage unavailable to many of the rest.
We also have Americans traveling to countries with universal health care to receive care they can’t receive here; and at prices that make the trip worth the effort.
The fact is, federally funded and managed Medicare is the least restrictive health program in the U.S. — far less restrictive than private insurance.
But here is something else for Hawaiians to consider: Were it not for Medicare, I, and many others like me, probably would not be able to afford to travel to this lovely state every year. Expanding coverage and lowering insurance costs for consumers will help our travel economy.
So, the question is not “Should we entrust our health to Obamacare” but “Why would we possibly want to continue to entrust our health to the restrictive profit-based system we now have?”
Lawrence A. Danto, MD, Northstar-Truckee, Calif.
Kaua‘i Teen Court update
Hale ‘Opio Kaua‘i is very grateful for the response from the Kaua‘i community to our need to raise money to support Kaua‘i Teen Court.
We have until Dec. 31 to raise funds to match the challenge grant from Grove Farm Foundation, who is offering to match up to $5,000 of donations received from individuals and families for Kaua‘i Teen Court.
As part of our effort, we recently mailed 428 letters to families whose youth successfully completed our youth court since 2007. These families know first-hand the positive benefit their youth experienced from being part of this process. These parents are also the ones who come up to our staff in the grocery stores, thanking them for the positive change their youth made after being part of Kaua‘i Teen Court. We started the Community Campaign to match Grove Farm’s offer because we knew these families would want to help us keep alive a youth court on Kaua‘i for firs- time youth offenders in the future.
Everyone makes mistakes and kids make impulsive “kid mistakes.” Participating in Kaua‘i Teen Court means a youth offender has the opportunity to admit their crime to a jury of their peers, who then select appropriate sentencing requirements. Volunteer youth and per diem judges give their time so youth offenders can participate in Kaua‘i Teen Court. When the offender completes their sentencing tasks, they will not have a juvenile record. They earn a second chance. Many sentences given to offenders include classes in anger management, victim impact, and substance use/abuse, along with apology letters and restitution for damage caused to a victim. Kaua‘i Teen Court participants learn skills to make better choices for their future. Mahalo, Kaua‘i, for helping us support our youth.
Mary Navarro Hale ‘Opio Kaua‘i, executive director
