• LA more peaceful than Kaua‘i and its roosters • Mahalo and aloha • Arsenic in Kilauea LA more peaceful than Kaua‘i and its roosters I didn’t expect my recent vacation in “Paradise” to be like checking into a nearby
• LA more peaceful than Kaua‘i and its roosters • Mahalo and
aloha • Arsenic in Kilauea
LA more peaceful than Kaua‘i and its roosters
I didn’t expect my recent vacation in “Paradise” to be like checking into a nearby barnyard, with roosters strutting around outside my bedroom screeching at 100 decibels. It was good to get back home for some peace and quiet. A vacation in downtown LA would have been more peaceful.
Evidently many islanders get used to the intrusive noise. However, it must still be a significant stressor to everyone who deserves relaxation and sound sleep.
The impact of the problem is obvious when reading Trip Advisor reviews. Rather than discussing noisy hotels, many are just choosing hotels in the other islands.
Resort managers try to trap the birds to release them inland, but others soon take their place. It isn’t very nice, anyway, for the unfortunate people who suddenly find 20 more roosters dumped near their backyards.
Some people object to a cull because visually the birds are quite beautiful. Why then are they still eating chicken? Are they so isolated from reality that they think the chickens in Kaua‘i’s 300 eateries are manufactured from soy protein? A cull would be performed far more humanely than the treatment these poor birds have had.
Roosters screeching messages to their “friends” five miles away, like people bellowing into their mobiles, is similarly distressing to the other birds on the island. The native Kauaian wildlife must also think that the human government is lazy and lacks leadership. By doing nothing, the politicians are choosing to be chicken-friendly rather than environment-friendly. To be consistent, maybe they should ban imports of tons of dead chicken for sale at $1.19 per lb.
The solution is to cull the chickens and replace them with equally beautiful native birds which contribute toward the island harmony. What a splendid use of the hotel tax this would be, and what an investment in the future of Kaua‘i. Assuming any of your politicians has the vision to deal with the problem, would anyone want to return to the situation that now exists?
The alternative vision is that the island becomes a kind of Foster Farms in the Pacific: full of cock-a-doodle-do instead of aloha. The tourist offices on the other islands will be delighted.
Fewer tourists mean fewer profits. Meanwhile, Kauaians are struggling with their businesses, and 20 percent already need food assistance.
But, after all, this is rooster country, and they are a part of the culture. They are so delightful, especially with their chicks, and need to be treated with compassion. Only nasty people want to cull them. Let’s feed them our bread crumbs in Princeville Park.
The problem is leadership — politicians who are too chicken to do their job.
When the taxpayer cost of an effective cull has doubled, when a huge amount of business has been permanently lost to neighboring islands, when house values have fallen much further, and when your estimable newspaper is known as the Barnyard Island News, who will be to blame?
Philip Stevens, Canada
Mahalo and aloha
Aloha can mean a lot of different things. In the past two weeks the definition has expanded considerably for us after losing everything but each other in the recent Kalaheo fire.
Aloha to us means courage, community, selflessness, charity, acceptance and most importantly love for your fellow man and this amazing island we call home.
We are writing this letter to express our deepest gratitude and appreciation to our families who have been so supportive even though they are far away, and to all our neighbors who put their life in danger to help contain the fire, to KFD for extinguishing it, and to all those who helped with all the generous donations.
Finally to all the random acts of kindness that have warmed our hearts in ways we cannot express, many mahalos and aloha.
Shannon and Enzo Amitrano, Lawa‘i
Arsenic in Kilauea
Arsenic found “discovered” at Kilauea 40 years after the mill closed down should be a rallying call for action island-wide.
Where else might arsenic, asbestos, and other contaminants be lurking in our midst? Are there other sites left unchecked?
The landfill in Kekaha was unlined when it was originally built. The use of pesticides and herbicides (past and present) has gone unabated and there is no record or account of the extent to which our water resources may have been impacted.
What about residue in our soil? Is there any way of finding out whether our food chain is being affected? Who should be held responsible for such inequities?
There needs to be a groundswell of consciousness and concern about these things.
The Kaua‘i Bee Association urged our legislators to re-introduce a bill to enact a Registry of Pesticides to begin a process of accountability. Whether it makes it through the legislative process is uncertain.
Clearly, the demand for clarification, accountability, and enforcement in the ways in which these issues and concerns are addressed requires our due diligence. We owe it to ourselves and to future generations.
It is unconscionable to allow the lack of appropriate policies in place to continue.
“Together, we can!” Doesn’t this slogan ring with a degree of familiarity? Should we “borrow” it, in this case, as that rallying call to action?
Jose Bulatao, Jr., Kekaha
