• Barking-dogs law needed • The cost of doing business • Agrees it’s time to stand with Israel • Barking dogs a perception problem Barking-dogs law needed Thanks for editorializing about barking dogs. I have lived in a lovely Kalaheo
• Barking-dogs law needed • The cost of doing business • Agrees it’s time to stand with Israel • Barking dogs a perception problem
Barking-dogs law needed
Thanks for editorializing about barking dogs. I have lived in a lovely Kalaheo neighborhood for 14 years. When I first moved here, there was one neighbor with two great Danes.
Today there are 18 — yes 18 — dogs in the yards of every property that surrounds my home and along the short cul de sac that I live on. In other words, within earshot. It is horrible. They bark at all hours of the day and night; alone and in a howling cacophony of ear-splitting growls and barks.
I have tried calling the humane society (totally ineffective as there is no dog-bark laws on Kaua‘i) and the KPD. I was even visited by an officer when a neighbor complained that I was harassing them by complaining about their dogs barking!! The situation is truly out of control. I grew up around dogs — good dogs that were trained and behaved. These local animals are only reflections of the behavior of their owners — ignorance, inconsiderateness, neglect and apathy. Dogs have become the latest Kaua‘i lawn ornaments. In my opinion, this is animal abuse and cruelty to the highest degree. Dogs bark because they are frightened or need some type of care. My neighbor’s dogs rarely get walked and are left at home in the yard without any human contact every working day, some evenings and on many weekends. Please tell me what I need to do to get some anti-barking laws on the books.
Sheila Heathcote Paine, Kalaheo
The cost of doing business
In regard to the June 15 letter on Haiti farmers refusing free GMO (genetically-modified organisms) seeds from Monsanto (“GMO seeds aren’t better?”). The farmers refuse the seed because they know that Monsanto owns the patent on those seeds, so while Monsanto may be giving free seeds this year, next year they will not.
It is a two-faced attempt to dominate food production on Haiti disguised as a charitable act.
You see, since Monsanto owns the patent on the seeds, the farmers may not use the seeds from those crops to create their own seed bank. To do so would be a patent infringement much like ripping a free copy of the Windows operating system on your computer.
The difference between Microsoft and Monsanto is that with Monsanto we are talking about food. People starve when they cannot afford the license to use the seeds. Once the farmers use Monsanto’s seeds they will not be able to use any other type of seed or they risk being sued by Monsanto when the inevitable cross-pollination of seed varieties occurs.
Monsanto has a reputation for being very aggressive about this. In effect Monsanto will own that market and dominate the food economy of Haiti as they already do in other parts of the world. Monsanto is a business and is under no obligation to give away seeds to farmers who cannot afford them, and would quite literally rather see people starve than release their patents.
That’s just the cost of doing business.
Kurt Rutter, Kapa‘a
Agrees it’s time to stand with Israel
Thank you Julian Kess (“Time to stand with Israel,” June 10). It definitely IS time to stand up for our number-one ally in the Mideast. The “peace activist” boats are a ruse for smuggling in weapons to Gaza from Syria, Turkey and Iran. This is the perfect ploy for developing media attention from a liberal media which continuously views the Palestinians as victims. Even the Egyptians have a blockade in and out of Gaza. When the Israelis left Gaza they left behind millions of dollars worth of valuable equipment, incredible greenhouses etc. The Palestinians totally destroyed everything that was left behind. There can be no peace until Hamas gives up the concept of the total destruction of Israel. They are doing their best to make that happen. What would we do if a country lobbed rockets onto our shores and shipped in suicide bombers, give them free access to our country? The Israelis need to defend themselves. Our “progressive” administration is making a big mistake. I believe the American people will decide if they are right in how they are handling the Mideast mess. We will see what happens in the next election.
Bob Bartolo, Kapa‘a
Barking dogs a perception problem
Part of the problem is that everyone’s perception of a barking dog and what we can tolerate maybe different. I have dogs that are trained and taken care of but they do bark at strangers and strange cars in our cul de sac, they bark when my neighbor’s cat sits on my wall, my cars or my roof, I go out every time no matter what time it is and it’s always the cat or a stranger. I do know that my house is safe from my car being vandalized, my house being robbed, a stranger climbing in through a window naked or my family being hurt. My dogs exercise all day out in my backyard and I put them away in a kennel at night in my garage yet they still hear what they need, to alert me of anything. If animals are a nuisance 24/7 I can see passing a law but what happens when it’s only some people’s personal tolerance? I understand every situation is different but if things are changed because of the “rotten apples” how will that affect the others? Just wondering for a compromising solution. Our neighborhood has had complaints of barking dogs, kids crying from day care and recently my teenager’s playing football in front of our house at 3:00 in the afternoon is apparently intolerable. Before anyone says there are parks around where I live, yes there are with other kids tagging buildings, smoking and drinking. It’s off limits for my kids.
Triana Bergonia, Puhi
