• Enough is enough • Potential for problems with dairy farm Enough is enough Last year, the council increased the bus fare by 20 percent, a $60 increase on working people who are least able to afford it. Gas taxes were increased by 6 cents a gallon, an
• Enough is enough • Potential for problems with dairy farm
Enough is enough
Last year, the council increased the bus fare by 20 percent, a $60 increase on working people who are least able to afford it. Gas taxes were increased by 6 cents a gallon, an average of $86 more per year per family with two cars. These increases were passed when Kauai Bus was not even asking for the money, with no expansion plans.
Today, I received an email from Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura proposing even more taxes to pay for Kauai Bus expansion.
JoAnn’s marketing headline in The Garden Island last year was, “Expanding the Kauai Bus for the good of all.” JoAnn’s email subject line this year was, “Now is the time to speak up for more and better bus service!”
Has the public outcry over piling new taxes and fees onto the working people of Kauai gone over the council’s heads? Will they continue to campaign against themselves, criticizing their own tax increases, while adding even more taxes and fees? At what point will enough be enough?
This campaign has shown how unhappy Kauai voters are with ever-increasing taxes and fees.
The well is dry. It’s time for the council to find sources of money other than working class wallets or to cut spending, or both.
Chuck Lasker, Kalaheo
Potential for problems with dairy farm
I’m no scientist, but I know that effluence of any kind runs downhill. Spending winters on Kauai and reading TGI daily, it’s hard to ignore the potential devastation of the proposed dairy. The county cannot seem to prevent dead animals and septic tank overflow from pouring down the Wailua after heavy rains. Waste water treatment systems and sewers have failed in Nawiliwili, Hanapepe, and Kapaa/Wailua during repeated deluges. Several sources of runoff are compromising Hanalei Bay.
Now consider that each dairy cow of the proposed 2,000 will put out 123 pounds of manure a day, nearly 250 times the amount of a human. Could the island absorb another half million people and provide for their sewage treatment and disposal, when the county can’t even provide a public toilet in Kilauea?
Suzan Kelsey Brooks, West Des Moines, Iowa
