Is North Shore shuttle in future?
I would like to thank JoAnn Yukimura and John G. Rita Sr. for their opposing views on Ms. Yukimura’s handling of our hurricane resources during Hurricane Iniki. It has been my experience when statements are this far apart, the truth is somewhere in the middle.
I am not writing to critique this issue, just as I don’t want to talk about scandals at KPD during the mid-nineties or the sorry state of our county parks during Lenny Rapozo’s tenure as parks director. I also am not going to write about why Derek Kamakani is publicly in favor of the ill-advised proposed dairy in Mahaulepu or why Mel Rapozo acts like a bully sometimes and JoAnn tends to micromanage. These are all questions I would like to know the answer to, but I leave it up to the candidates for mayor to respond.
What I would like to know is what plans the current count leaders have for rebuilding the North Shore area north of Hanalei. Are they going to restrict the unmanageable flow of traffic in and out of Ke‘e Beach and work on a shuttle system so that we all, tourists and residents alike, can once again enjoy all the beauty our island has to offer?
Now is the time to show leadership, and I for one will be watching closely.
Allan B. White, Hanapepe
An open letter to Big Island Mayor Harry Kim
Hundreds of people have been evacuated from the danger of lava and gases.
There are also hundreds of pets who may be either stranded in their homes with fire and lava close by, or dumped off on the Hawaii Humane Society, which will have no choice but to kill them quickly because they are not organized for large intakes of animals.
Dick Green of the ASPCA has contacted KARES and Aloha Animal Advocates and animal-welfare organizations. Hundreds of thousands of dollars of supplies and people power can be deployed.
But the Hawaii Humane Society is resisting any help, even though it is urgently needed. How many animals will die because of this, because the HIHS is unwilling to work alongside the ASPCA?
The ASPCA can deploy people and supplies to care for all of the animals caught in this natural disaster. They can handle pets and livestock.
All it would take for this to happen is for Mayor Harry Kim to accept their offer. Mayor Kim can be reached at Harry.Kim@hawaiicounty.gov or at the mayor’s office: 961-8211.
And you could also contact Talmage Magno at civildefense@hawaiicounty.gov.
Imagine being stuck in a house surrounded by lava and no one coming to help you.
This is happening right now.
Dennis Chaquette, Keaau, Hawaii
The NFL draft and the real world of jobs
The most exciting event of the professional football off-season is the NFL draft. the 2018 NFL draft recently took place at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
I was excited for this draft since my favorite team the Buffalo Bills had two first-round picks! I was going crazy because there was a quarterback named Rosen with the first initial of J. for Josh that the Bills were said to be interested in.
Imagine my favorite team drafting a quarterback named Rosen! Oy! I never bought a football jersey before, however this would be the jersey of jerseys for me! My dream did not transpire, my team drafted another Josh, another great quarterback from Wyoming by the name of Josh Allen.
The draft is fascinating to watch. The team that had the worst win-loss record the previous season gets to draft first and hopefully gets a great player to increase their odds of doing better, from there teams can trade up or down for positions or players, which makes for a fun watch if your an NFL junkie.
If the real world of commerce was like the NFL, the high school with the worst academic record would get the chance to draft the best teachers, and be able to improve from then on.Teachers who graduated at the top of their classes and those whom had great student-teacher referrals and references would be allowed higher salaries. Great teachers would have agents that would negotiate multi-mullion-dollar contracts for them.
All professions should be given the same hype and thrill as the NFL. It would be exciting for a McDonald’s manager draft competing for a huge contract on TV! Fathom resident doctors competing in a draft, or the best medical student being drafted to a needy hospital?
The real world of academics and vocations needs to follow suit in the footsteps of the NFL draft. Only then will teachers and others be paid what they are truly worth.
James “Kimo” Rosen, Kapaa
Mr White, any chance of having mayoral candidates express their past transgressions is as likely as snow falling In Kekaha! And the talk about the misuse of resources during and after Hurricane Iniki is simply more political subterfuge, hyperbole, and outright misinformation and nothingness more. One of the proudest moments Kauai ever had was standing up to the challenges facing it in the aftermath of Iniki! Despite everything being wiped out on the island the people and the county government were resilient and took the challenges head on and accomplished the huge task brilliantly. Indeed it was Yukimura’s finest hour. No one can take that away from her.
I know that none of us wants to take anything away from your opinion of Joanns finest hour. , It was my sole proprietor business “emergency call center” that allowed civil defense to move from their bunkers, over to my office in the Wada Building Rice St. that had ten working telephones. Civil defense communication had been rendered Useless. Central Answering Services worked soley in the background 25-years two storms, never receiving our 15-minutes of fame. (Live voice 24-7-365). In this setting the door remained open and folks were pictured out the door, down the stairs, and half around the block awaiting their turn to call worried relatives; national guard, eventually lihue airport resembled military outpost every service was represented. Per my dad, i had a special usaf delivery Generator, got to play high maka that i was ‘somebody’. Anyway back to rice street, Hawaiian tel in 36 hours had a telephone bank in city liquor hideaway bar parking lot! Technology had not yet kicked in, Central had voice pagers to cover the KMG and independent physicians on-call. Hawtel only had the classic beepers
Consider My name 2018 Mayor candidate Debra Kekaualua
Wow, Debra, so it was actually YOU who saved the island. Gosh, this completely changes my opinion of you. You’re my hero! You really DO deserve to be mayor!
Wait a minute . . . . WAIT A MINUTE! What am I saying?!!
Just kidding.
Well . . . . THAT sure made my day, Kimo. You are, indeed, a practiced purveyor of breathtaking inanity. Now why would the poobahs at TGI even think that the reading public would want to be subjected to such twaddle? I can only surmise that the entire editorial staff was overcome by vog.
There does not appear to be any sense of job responsibility between the county and the state department. Where do you draw the line. The county handles all waste disposal duties and other cleaning duties related to keeping the island green. Since it is declared a natural disaster, it is no longer the county’s job to clean those necessary roads and parks on the north shore. Everyone is helping out. Can they actually hold the county responsible for the functions it should intend to operate or carry forth, now that it is a disaster area? Definitely not. National guard has stepped into the north shore to help out. An interesting thing is, if the county there too, is the county of any use then now that the north shore was declared a natural disaster? Maybe. Not a lot to discuss. Just do it. Clear it out. This is State funds too they are dealing with. CIP. A portion of funds set aside for such duties when needed. Every year. State budget.
mAhalo Allen for the one letter that makes sense against a letter to Hawaii island mayor Kim or the NFL. I too have been observant of all that Allen wrote about, and my many reasons for drawing out candidate papers towards 2018 political races, as Kauaʻi Mayor. A lot of Kauaians see how money is the bigger of the problems. Weve now got billionaires in our hood and together the politics will continue to make our island fit for DOI tribal antics via Kualii and Danner, while all the others refuse to return what is Justice, not the u.s.a. way that has WE THE People scrambling to Claim. We have one remaining slave driver, “own” and thousands that do not know why they pay an insurance Title guarantee when signing off on homeowner. Yes, you or your bank owns your house, but NO one “own” Aina, NO one!
Let’s see, how do I get all my poorly thought out. bumper sticker level biases out there without having to
reveal the lack of evidence, logic or reason that led to them? I know, I’ll just make a list of things I don’t want to write in depth about! Nudge, nudge, wink, wink!
“Now why would the poobahs at TGI even think that the reading public would want to be subjected to such twaddle?”
I love the word “twaddle,” and it is definitely apropos in this situation!
One really has to have a special kind of contempt for teachers to suggest that their jobs be determined by something as crass as an NFL-style draft. I really don’t understand why so many people have such a difficult time understanding the concept–teaching is a PROFESSION. Teachers need to be paid and treated like they are PROFESSIONALS. Do that and then you can rightfully hold them maximally accountable for performance.
“Professional” sports is most certainly not a paradigm we need to be modelling education on. “Professional” athletes get paid far too much for what they do, and the extreme levels of pay are evident by the ridiculous extreme expenditures “pro” athletes frequently make.
First I read Kimo Rosen’s LTE; then I read Debra K’s Comments; and then I understood why some visitors arrive on Kauai thinking it’s an Amusement Park.
Kimo makes you larger
and Debra makes you small,
But the stoned advice they give you
Don’t do anything at all,
Go ask Pele
When she’s ready for a brawl.
Let’s have another one,
Just like the other one.