• Take heed • Our villages • Cruelty not culture Take heed Dynamics preventing thorough treatment of a county manager proposal (“County manager proposal dormant, but not dead,” The Garden Island, March 27) to ballot within the Kaua‘i County Charter
• Take heed • Our villages • Cruelty not culture
Take heed
Dynamics preventing thorough treatment of a county manager proposal (“County manager proposal dormant, but not dead,” The Garden Island, March 27) to ballot within the Kaua‘i County Charter Review Commission include the following:
1) Commissioners are recruited then selected only by the mayor.
2) Office of Boards and Commissions (where commission agendas are crafted), the chief management and administrative mechanism for CRC is headed by John Isobe, mayoral appointee and Mayor Carvalho’s campaign officer.
3) Sole legal advice provided to CRC comes by way of Al Castillo, County Attorney, Mayor Carvalho’s appointee.
The aforementioned is thus inherently politicized.
Without a more independent and impartial CRC it is clear the people will see no ballot proposals from this body that challenge mayoral power.
None.
However, under this scheme, the converse is real.
In what appears a downright power-grab-by-proxy already prematurely works on CRC agendas. Two proposals, for example, grant the mayor new powers to hire and fire our police and fire chiefs, circumventing current respective commissions’ authority only if corresponding “home rule” legislation passes at the state level. But that didn’t stop the commission from putting it, all too hungrily, on their March agenda anyway.
In regard to mayoral powers and CRC independence, respectively, does the current political climate within and around the CRC allow this body to effectively and impartially examine the Charter and ultimately create a better local democratic republic?
The answer is clear which leaves for some, like county manager advocates, the avenue of public referendum, Article XXII of our charter.
But take heed. Goodness forbid the administration’s CRC be nefarious enough to actually target ARTICLE XXII for protectionist intents and purposes.
Rolf Bieber, Kapa‘a
Our villages
Thank you, Sen. Gary Hooser, for your letter of appeal to our leaders, (“Conscience, courage, and community,” The Garden Island, March 25). This letter struck a chord with me.
As I see it, some less than honorable conduct swirls about to fresh changes, and that which has led up to a number of recent policy changes. This leaves me wondering, “What is becoming of some of our basic social values? What has become of some of our leaders that a winning at any price takes charge?” This price of winning comes at the price to our communities, in various ways, and often in a “domino effect” made difficult to halt.
I have returned to the States after having spent several years working closely with Maori tribes of New Zealand, and Yup’ik tribes of Alaska. Although there were a number of serious challenges for these tribes, there was a sense of integrity to the weighty responsibility of leadership. Decisions were made by tribal leaders based on robust correctness, in community gatherings, and void of politicized gaming and entitlement.
It was well understood the possible effects of policy making on the community members. The communities, although often remote and far from any eye of observation or scrutiny, were held together by tribal leaders and community members, alike, with values likened to democracy, liberty and freedom we as Americans are to be afforded — these values rooted in the tribal societies.
However, I, a community member and citizen of Hawai‘i, stand today having lost confidence that I may exercise my rights in my own U.S. courtrooms, without retribution. A win at any cost? Not at the expense of my rights. Abraham Lincoln would write, “Be sure to put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.” So I have done.
Sen. Hooser, I hope our leaders take heed to your call to correctness; this is their duty. It is time that all feet are placed in the right place and planted firmly by those who serve our own “villages.”
Deborah A. Morel, Kapa’a
Cruelty not culture
Causing needless pain and suffering is not culture. It is cruelty.
This is the legacy of people who, in spite of science enlightening them about animals feeling physical and emotional pain, insist on their right to benefit from animal blood and suffering.
If you believe that God created all the creatures on this earth then why does this treatment of His creations not seem like a direct insult to Him? Why would one assume to have the right to mistreat His creations?
This shameful practice of cockfighting is illegal in all 50 states and a felony in 39. Somehow this doesn’t sound like a proud moment for Hawai‘i to declare that people here have a heritage of cruelty and can’t evolve past it. Just because a practice is old does not necessarily mean it is right or even acceptable.
At one time the United States allowed slavery, lacked child abuse laws, and refused women the vote. Most states have realized that cruelty is not a practice to be retained and admired.
Sue Scott, Wailua
