• Backdoor approach • Columnist should check facts, then write • Roosters better than development • Shrimp farm bad for county, ocean • Congratulations Kaua‘i! Backdoor approach Voters in the past voted to limit residential real estate tax increases to
• Backdoor approach • Columnist
should check facts, then write •
Roosters better
than development •
Shrimp farm bad for county,
ocean •
Congratulations Kaua‘i!
Backdoor approach
Voters in the past voted to limit residential real estate tax increases to 2 percent per year. The County Council has just sent out forms with the current tax year assessments for the new refuse collection fees.
These fees are to be added to our real estate taxes. Since refuse collection has always been covered by our real estate taxes and now they are not then the county is really increasing our real estate taxes.
The tax increase is being disguised well by calling it a refuse collection fee but there is no other way to look at it than being a tax increase. This fee added to my tax assessment results in my total tax cost increasing by 16 percent.
Now if the County Council had announced that they were going to increase our taxes by 16 percent there would have been a major uprising but by calling it a new fee for refuse collection they have apparently slid it by the 2 percent limitation with not much backlash.
It just goes to show that no matter what the voters want or vote on a slick politician will find a way around it. Rather than bite the bullet and reel in some of the uncontrolled spending on services and other wasteful areas like we have to they choose to take more money out of our pockets so we will have less discretionary money to spend.
Great for a troubled economy. Probably next they will start to charge us for police or fire protection.
Gene Quint, Kapa‘a
Columnist should check facts, then write
Maybe Nat Hentoff should check his facts (“Creating Palestine on the slit throat of a 3-month-old Jewish baby?” Media Voices, March 26).
The latest report from Israel is that it was a disgruntled Thai worker who was owed money by the Vogel family and he killed them in retribution. Apparently, he was slave labor for them, as is apparently common there.
The report was quickly pushed under the rug as it is really important to get those new 600 settlements built in the West Bank of Gaza but the Israelis have acknowledged that it was not the Palestinians who committed the murder.
So much for accurate reporting by Nat Hentoff, get the facts straight first and then start writing.
Cecelia Kennelly-Waeschle, Kilauea
Roosters better than development
In response to the other visitor who doesn’t like the roosters. I like them because they are part of the natural habitat of Kaua‘i.
Plus, they help me wake up early enough to go body surfin’ before all the crowds arrive.
I’d rather have roosters than all the runaway development happening.
Thank you, Kaua‘i, for being an awesome place to visit.
Gary Saylin, Davis, Calif.
Shrimp farm bad for county, ocean
It appears that our shrimp farm in Kekaha is not so friendly and community oriented after all, what with threatening the County of Kaua‘i and the Department of Health with a contested case hearing over operations of the Kekaha landfill and then again over the conditions of the NPDES discharge permit.
In the very beginning the original shrimp farm planners were warned that the location was bad, with dirt and debris coming from the highway, the airstrip and the dump. Diseases probably also come in with salt spray on windy days. Then there is the wetland sanctuary next door for the endangered Hawaiian birds, plus the occasional seagull which are notorious dump scavengers.
So now the mainland owners of the shrimp farm (Integrated Aquaculture) have extorted $250,000 from the County and have been issued a permit from the Department of Health that allows them to discharge 20 million gallons a day of nutrient and bacteria laden waste water. The shrimp farm was required to test for more pollutants, but very infrequently, and only once a year if they only discharge into the ditch.
The community of Kekaha should carefully watch the operations at the shrimp farm. If you see dead fish or shrimp, smell rotten stuff, or feel slimy shrimp water, then immediately email or call Gary L. Gill, the new Deputy Director for Environmental Health in Honolulu and let him know. His email address is gary.gill@doh.hawaii.gov and his telephone number is 808 586-4424. He will make sure the shrimp farm meets the permit requirements.
Carl J. Berg, Ph.D., Surfrider Foundation, Kaua‘i Chapter
Congratulations Kaua‘i!
Already the effects of the plastic bag ban are showing. Look around you — the roadsides, hedges and fences are free of plastic litter.
It looks great and solves environmental and waste management problems while adding to our standard of living.
Plus, Kaua‘i has adapted to the program with ease — with remarkably few exceptions, everyone has been uncomplaining and happy to cooperate. What this represents is us at our best in respecting the ‘aina.
We can be proud of ourselves for this.
Mahalo to the officials who worked to achieve this improvement in our lives.
Mark Bedford
Anahola
