Letters for Monday, December 23, 2013

• Name the people who spray pesticides • Firm rules needed on walking dogs • Smart meters should save residents money • Time to quiet barking dogs

Name the people who spray pesticides

TGI, the next time a private individual misuses insecticide to the extent that it makes people sick or a school has to be closed, identify him — state his name and the street he lives on; hold his actions up to public view.

Then ask him: Did you favor Bill 2491? Do you think it should apply to careless people like you who don’t know what you’re doing?

Craig Callaway, Medford, Ore., former Kauaian

Firm rules needed on walking dogs

Recently, on a Saturday, I took a small dog (I was taking care of her for two weeks) to Pine Trees to run on the beach. I had not taken her out of the car yet (I’m not familiar where it is OK to walk a dog in Hanalei but was told Pine Trees was OK) when a county ranger told me that I could not walk her there and could face a $500 fine and a court date. However, he said I could walk her to the left of the pier on the beach.

Perfect. I went there and found several others walking their dogs.

I mentioned the incident to a friend who expressed surprise that I was told it was OK to walk the dog at the pier. She had been told she could not and if caught doing so, would get a $500 fine and a court date. To clear this up, we called DLNR who said they only have jurisdiction to the shoreline and to call the state. We called the state who said to call the county.

The woman at the county office asked a ranger who confirmed that walking to the left of the pier on the sand was OK. I then asked what the policy was regarding the leash. She said “for the leash you‘d have to call the state.”

No one, it seems, wants to be accountable for this simple matter. Sand, grass, leash, no leash, pier, not Pine Trees. It’s exhausting.

Colett Welch, Kapaa

Smart meters should save residents money

Admittedly, I have been sick and not following the smart meter debate as closely as I should but I am curious about a couple of things.

KIUC has used the old meters for many years and it is to be assumed that we were charged appropriately to cover the cost of servicing them. If they want to charge people who continue to incur that expense, then it would seem that people who are using the new meters should have realized a commensurate drop in fees. Did this happen?

Also, the simple yes/no decision on the board’s action does not specifically direct them to change it, or more generally, to no longer act in a secretive way to avoid membership scrutiny. Much of the anger over this is not caused by the actual fee but by the board’s attempt to put something over on the membership. I would not go so far as to say that their action was dishonest but it does seem disingenuous.

Please don’t campaign on claims to represent us and then try to hide your activities in back rooms.

Henri Carnal, Kekaha

Time to quiet barking dogs

I am writing to voice my support for the proposed ban on barking dogs. I am definitely in the category of persons who are tired of dogs barking all day long. In fact, I have had to buy an expensive noise machine to drown out the noise.

I am 74, and will not go up to a strange house and knock on the door. I am sure someone will come to the door and turn into a sour mood and slam the door in my face. What good will that do to make him stop abusing his animals? He would probably in some way abuse the animals more to prove to me that it’s “not my business.”

Educating people like that, unimaginable! Why would they want to change? These dogs are nothing more than work animals and if one of them dies of starvation or thirst and being unloved there is always another animal to take their place.

I, for one, would give more money to the humane society than I have given in the past so that they would be able to house, love and have food for these animals until some people who love animals come along and take them into their family.

That aside, I have adopted a dog from the humane society and so have my neighbors on both sides. We all feel that they become so grateful to be living in our homes that they give back affection, love and loyalty threefold.

Please take a positive approach by getting these animals out of their cages and into the Kauai Humane Society. This way they have a chance for someone to come along and bring them into a home that loves and cares for them and makes them ohana.

Thank you for publishing my feelings on this subject.

I thank the County Council for undertaking this difficult subject.

Gail Rosen, Lihue