Pakalas pollution should be investigated
Over the last couple of years, we’ve seen several articles about ocean water pollution at various beaches around the Island. For example, “Waiopili officially polluted” in the March 7 TGI.
These articles explore the possible causes of the high bacterial and other pollutant matter found in water samples. In the above article, it mentioned that the only beach with higher levels of pollution was Pakalas, a popular surfing beach. Why have you not investigated and written about possible causes of pollution at Pakalas?
I tend to read the online version of the Garden Island everyday, and unless I’ve missed it, I don’t think I’ve read anything explaining why Pakalas is so polluted, who is responsible, and what steps the county has taken to protect the health of the multitude of citizens exposed to these harmful waters. Is there some reason why this has not been investigated and/or remedied?
Mike Vallee, Kalaheo
Students doing extraordinary things
I was uplifted and inspired last Friday night when I joined hundreds of kids and their families at Wilcox School’s S.T.E.M. Family Night. S.T.E.M = Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. Can you believe it? Hundreds of kids and their families were excited and having fun over science, technology, engineering and math!
I expected to see a classroom with about 30 or 40 “nerdy” students and their parents and perhaps some experiments or discussions. Instead, I found the cafeteria and the large yard outside filled with parents and kids (ages 6 to 13) milling around food booths and workstations that were actually play stations because the kids were having so much fun!
The students were fully engaged, and the parents were having fun, too. Some kids were wearing white lab coats and gloves like real scientists and were dissecting eyes of cows, touching the brain of a goat and watching real lungs of a pig expand and contract. Others were riding a virtual reality roller coaster, creating chemical reactions, shooting off rockets, coding, learning about electrical circuits and how sweet potatoes grow, and puzzling over problems in the Escape Room where you couldn’t get out unless you solved the problems. No one wanted to go home when the event came to an end.
Kudos to Principal Cory Nakamura, coordinator and teacher extraordinaire Natsumi Yamasato and their amazing team of colleagues and helpers who proved to adults and children alike that S.T.E.M. learning can be fun! It was public school education at its best!
JoAnn Yukimura, County Councilmember
