Letters for Monday, July 16, 2012
• Bummed over Stevie Wonder concert • Fall in love with the Kaua‘i path • On KIUC, smart meters, deregulation mandate • Read declaration before quoting it • On highway work, Westside sand crisis
Change in online commenting policy
Starting July 1, The Garden Island has changed how it monitors the online commenting portion of thegardenisland.com. All comments will go through an approval process. Not all comments will be approved. Priority will be given to those that are topical, remain within our comment policies and contain the author’s full name and hometown.
We encourage continued use of our online comment feature as well as the Letters to the Editor in our print edition. The Garden Island values reader input and encourages thoughtful debate.
Bummed over Stevie Wonder concert
This is unfortunate. The University of Hawai‘i schedules a “benefit” concert with Stevie Wonder but no one bothers to ask Stevie Wonder if he is available?
So now heads will roll and the FBI will have an investigation and the university is out $200,000 and I am out the non-refundable cost of my Priceline rental car and the $30 change fee on my plane tickets plus whatever the cost difference is if and when I am able to use these tickets within the next year — and the person responsible is put on paid leave? Are you kidding me?
Where is the responsibility? I know I’m not the only one upset about this.
How about instead of paying this guy for creating this mess, give me some of that money. I will not be holding my breath.
If it isn’t clear, I was looking forward to seeing Stevie Wonder.
Allan B. White
Hanapepe
Fall in love with the Kaua‘i path
Ever viewed a sunrise on our gorgeous path at 6:17 a.m.? How about the spectacular sunsets at 7:30 p.m. along the same world-class path by the sea? We view each with hundreds of other friends and islanders and tourists and bikers (both recreational and those fast girls and guys in the pro wear) and dogwalkers and just plain hikers in a safe and fun venue.
Ever been to the mayor’s “Mayorathon Walk”? Hundreds have fun there, too!
Ever been on the countless group walks that many neighbors and friends experience? Try it and you will fall in love with our Kaua‘i path!
So we must ask, there are some that equate usage of the path in dollars and “sense” only. Gosh, there is so much more for our citizenry.
Have you ever tried it? Bet some have never ventured onto this well-maintained walking and riding path to invigorate the soul and spirit (how do we price a happy spirit?).
Hooray for the mayor and the council for taking care of seniors, juniors, the disabled (ever see the special bike riders on the layback bikes, or the wheelchair folks or the babies running their parents in the high speed prams?).
I have spoken to countless tourists from all over the Mainland and they tell me the past five years there is no path like it anywhere.
Let’s see now: what is the cost of this public recreation venue? It is a park and it is a recreation “center” and it is an exercise facility and it is … well you get my drift!
So, let us ask the hard questions about tax dollars for other county budget line items besides parks and pathways and be sure to include the enjoyment and fun factors, and body building factors for all of us. I will bet we come out on top with the beautiful and unique Kaua‘i path.
With aloha and “happy spirits” to all the hikers and bikers and puppies too.
RC Smith
Anahola
On KIUC, smart meters, deregulation mandate
Late last year, Congress passed a mandate for all 50 states to have deregulated energy by 2015. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, “In the electric power industry itself, deregulation is expected to result in intensified price competition, growing price volatility, shorter-term wholesale electricity transactions, and industry consolidation and structural changes. Today, as the electric power industry is moving rapidly toward retail competition, the wholesale electricity market is already reaching full-scale, open competition. The deregulated wholesale market is proving to be highly dynamic; prices tend to be volatile and transactions short term. The electric power industry is undergoing consolidation through mergers and acquisitions and, at the same time, has started unbundling its generation, transmission, and distribution functions from an integrated structure.”
My question is this: if competition of energy providers is about to multiply, why is KIUC investing in smart meters?
Alternatives sources for energy will be even more important with downward pressure on the price of energy from coal, oil and natural gas due to competition. Offers to be a provider are easily found on the Internet.
This deregulation is much the same as the telephone industry deregulation in the 1980s. And that spells “choice” for the consumer.
I hope in the next KIUC Currents issue we will all have an article to read about how KIUC is positioning itself to compete with other providers rather than the touted benefits of a smart meter.
Cheryl Farrell
Koloa
Read declaration before quoting it
Deborah Morel, in her letter “Silent screen” of July 10, notes: “In The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it is written that ‘Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes opinion without interference, (and impart) information and ideas through any media regardless of frontier.”
This is all well and good, but there are two very critical things which Mrs. Morel fails to mention:
1) At no point in the declaration is there an explicit or implicit granting of rights to anonymous speech. Anonymous speech is not ever addressed, thus, it is not granted to anyone by this declaration, and nobody can either expect it or demand it.
2) Article 19 of the declaration states that exercising these rights to freedom of speech carry certain “special duties and responsibilities.” Thus, those rights may “therefore be subject to certain restrictions” when necessary to protect “the rights or reputation of others” or to protect national security, public order, public health or morals.
You can’t stop reading these important documents at the point where it becomes inconvenient for your argument. You must read the entire thing, else you run the risk of grossly misrepresenting what it says.
The Garden Island has done nothing wrong by removing the ability to post anonymous comments. It was a necessary move, because people were not being responsible in exercising their free speech rights.
The Garden Island provides the privilege to all of us to exercise our rights to free speech in their newspaper. For that, we should be thankful.
It is our responsibility to use that privilege wisely. When we don’t, it is The Garden Island’s right, if not their responsibility, to put restrictions on those privileges.
If you believe this is wrong, find a lawyer who will argue your case before a court. You’d just better hope that the judge doesn’t see fit to read the entire Universal Declaration of Human Rights document, because it is very clear in what it says.
Michael Mann
Lihu‘e
On highway work, Westside sand crisis
To TGI letter author Steve McMacken (“Highway robbery,” July 9). Yes, I, too, wondered, why it’s taking so long to get that stretch of Kaumualii Highway finished?
If it was in O‘ahu that area (Kaumualii Highway) would have been done in four months.
Then another thought that makes it upsetting: both ends of that section will exit — to bottle necking — back to two lanes. More so on the west of the highway leaving Puhi. What the heck is our DOT thinking?
It would have been better if they had opened old cane haul roads in that area. At least with the opening of old cane haul roads, Kaua‘i would still remain looking like Kaua‘i. Now with that small stretch of Kaumualii Highway developed it looks like a piece of O‘ahu.
On another note, to TGI letter author Jon Hare (“Westside sand crisis,” July 9). How true it is all that you’ve mentioned.
When I came back home in 1991 it was very nice to see the stretch of sandy beach that went from Kaumualii Highway west in Kekaha all the way down to Polihale. The only sand (they called it sand) I saw while living inland of the Mainland was at Bear Lake, Utah.
My question is, will the stretch of Kaumualii eventually sink into the ocean along with the rock wall?
Or, will there be sinkholes along that stretch of the highway?
Don’t know if it’s an optical illusion, but certain sections of the Kaumualii Highway along that stretch in Kekaha seem to be leaning toward the ocean. Especially near Inters.
Howard Tolbe
‘Ele‘ele
