Your pet, your responsibility When you take an animal into your home as your pet, you have assumed responsibility for the care and protection of that animal. Nobody else assumed that responsibility. It is not the job of your neighbors
Your pet, your responsibility
When you take an animal into your home as your pet, you have assumed responsibility for the care and protection of that animal. Nobody else assumed that responsibility. It is not the job of your neighbors — who may not even know that you have a pet — to make sure that your animal is safe.
Your pets are not at liberty to roam the neighborhood freely. If you can’t keep them contained within the boundaries of your property, then you either need to keep them in your house, in a fenced in and enclosed area, or not have them at all.
The people at the Humane Society have become accustomed to my visits. Since fall of 2007, I estimate that I have trapped nearly 40 stray cats on my property. I’ve trapped three in just the last two days. In the first month, I trapped three per week!
These statistics should underscore for everyone just how serious the problem with irresponsible pet owners is. Not a single one of these cats had a tag. Perhaps they had transdermal chips, but there is no way I would have any way of knowing this. Quite a few of them were kittens, which suggests that there are unfixed strays running around.
In addition, people in my neighborhood seem to think that their dogs should be allowed free reign — to chase people walking down the street and to use other people’s yards as their toilet.
This problem needs to be addressed. Now.
I’m sorry that Julie Hayward was not able to save the pet that was run over by the black truck on Hulemalu Road. I hope that she got the license plate number and reported this to the police. While I have sympathy for the owners, their pet should not have been loose. Clearly, something went wrong, and it is not anyone else’s fault unless someone else let the dog loose — purposefully or accidentally. It is your responsibility to keep your pets safe. You simply can not expect everyone else to do that for you.
Michael Mann, Lihu‘e
A Thanksgiving reality
On this Thanksgiving Day, every American should be giving thanks to the opportunity of being able to live in the greatest nation in the history of mankind. Nowhere else in this world does there exist a country guaranteeing human rights, freedoms, liberties, opportunities and resources affording citizens the possibility of success in life as envisioned within each individual person’s mind.
Achieving dreams and goals is not always accomplished not because of a fault of the foundation of America, the Constitution of the United States, but rather due to human shortfalls or failings in focus of commitment, exertion of effort and drive toward successful achievement of intended goals. Success is like a diet. If one is not focused and committed to losing weight, it will not happen and the dieter alone will have to face the consequences: failure of one’s goal.
Unfortunately, everyday life is filled with incidents of failure toward “human shortfalls or failings in focus of commitment, exertion of effort and drive toward successful and honest achievement of intended goals.” This past Thanksgiving Day The Garden Island ran an article entitled “Ka Loko dam breach charges upheld by court,” that said “The Hawai’i Supreme Court upheld the seven manslaughter charges filed against Kaua‘i landowner James Pflueger in connection with the “deaths of 7 people when a dam breached in 2006 on his property.”
Mr. Pflueger’s actions certainly cannot be condoned and apparently he will be taking the full blame for the tragic deaths of these loved ones. However, this “sole blame” condemnation by the Supreme Court may be in error and dishonest. Mr. Pflueger’s illegal actions, which may or may not have led up to the breaching of the Ka Loko dam, were encouraged and supported by Kaua‘i’s local governing body through its elected and appointed officials. Should not they also be included within the decision of the Supreme Court? Should not the blame be truthful?
In an independent state study entitled “The Civil Investigation of March 14, 2006 Breach of Ka Loko Dam,” it was reported and verified that “the engineer involved (with site inspections) was called into the office of the mayor (Mayor Kusaka), questioned and told to ‘stop all actions involving Mr. Pflueger.’” Consequences: No further enforcement action was taken for the next five years. Even the state ended dam inspections statewide prior to the dam breach.
This type of lack of focus and commitment to public official’s “oaths of office” to protect our ruling Constitutions is an insult to the citizens and our total governing systems. There lies America’s problem. This Thanksgiving, begin demanding better office holders who will honor their oath of office and will work for honesty versus deceit.
John Hoff, Lawa‘i
What will we do without federal support?
Now that the Congressional Super Committee imploded with both parties blaming each other as to why compromises could not be met, we here in Hawai‘i will be left without federal support heading our way, which included billions of dollars in such diverse areas impacting Hawai‘i’s agriculture, transportation, education homeland security, defense and housing budgets, to name a few.
Are we prepared for such a multi-dimensional catastrophe that will impact each and everyone of us? What plans are in place, really, for us to be self-reliant and self-sufficient? Who is in charge and how is the public being prepared to cope with these challenges?
It will take more than being able to grow our own food to survive.
Does anyone have any answers to these kinds of concerns?
Jose Bulatao Jr., Kekaha
