Take a moment and a look around
Kaua‘i has its share of problems and suffering, but for those of us who can drive around a bit, the trees that are now in bloom give our hearts a warm lift and our faces a smile.
Dr. Monty Downs, Kapa‘a
No resort on Coco Palms site
I agree with Noreen Dougherty.
We need the state and/or the county to buy this piece of property. If they are not willing to step up to the plate, it would be wonderful if Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg would buy this property and give it to a nonprofit for our Hawaiian community to run.
We can’t let the Coco Palms property go back to being a resort.
Vikki Secretario, Lihu‘e
Enough rental cars already
I can’t remember what was the day TGI printed, “Major rental car agency added one hundred more vehicles to their fleet.”(Something to that affect). That means 100 more vehicles on the highways on this little island. Soon our free movement in our vehicles to travel from point A to point B will come to a slow crawl traveling on this island.
Why can’t the tourists be like the old days and travel on a tour bus? Car rentals should be only for those who’s traveling from the mainland/inter -inland/other countries doing business.
Stop the madness and don’t permit rental vehicle agencies to purchase more vehicle to their fleet!
Howard Tolbe, ‘Ele‘ele
Anti-vax people putting themselves at risk
Get smart and get vaccinated! On Kaua‘i, COVID cases are up to 34 as of Thursday, July 9, and climbing. Many of the cases are unvaccinated residents, and one of them is on a ventilator at Straub.
I have tried to speak with anti-vax friends and been met with statements like “the government is trying to kill us with the vaccine” or “the government is taking away our freedoms” or “big pharma is trying to kill us,” etc. COVID is killing people, not the government or vaccines!
We have vaccines that work and can save people from dying of COVID, and we need to avoid fearful belief systems and protect ourselves and our families. Statistics are now showing that in places like the state of Maryland in June, 100% of deaths from COVID were unvaccinated residents.
“Virtually all COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths in the United States are now occurring among unvaccinated individuals,” White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Jeff Zients said at a press briefing. He said “cases will continue to rise, especially among unvaccinated people, particularly as the delta variant takes hold in the U.S.”
It is imperative that our Kaua‘i ‘ohana get the vaccine and stop believing the lies and propaganda being put forth by people on the internet peddling fear and conspiracy theories.
COVID is killing people, not the vaccine! The vaccine is free and available to all residents over the age of 12.
Michaelle Edwards, Princeville
Use tourist tax to give locals cash
On tourism — Ray Domingo in the July 9 editorial was correct with the question — do we want tourists or not?
Well, I think the real question has to do with “how do we make tourism tolerable for all of us?” The editor of Pacific Business News, Kam Napier, has been talking about a resident rebate similar to the Permanent Fund Dividend paid to Alaska residents.
But unlike funding such an effort with oil income as Alaska does, the suggestion is to do so in Hawai‘i based on tourism dollars. His editorial is here: bizjournals.com/pacific/news/2021/06/24/readers-weigh-in-on-tourism-rebates.html
The Legislature has already overridden the governor’s veto on essentially defunding the HTA through TAT and allowing counties to surcharge tourists … and keep the money. With these changes, perhaps looking at an annual rebate to residents would, in my opinion, go a long way in not only making all this tourism more tolerable, but also as a way to continue to lift those out of poverty. The stats on poverty-abatement in Alaska are impressive.
Because of the cost of living, we do worry about “brain drain” somewhat when our kids graduate from high school, go away to college — do they come back to raise a family or give their skills to the local economy? Many states, in addition to Alaska, offer incentives to move to the state, work there, or buy homes: Vermont, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota, Oklahoma, and Ohio — which offers to pay $10,000 of student-loan debt.
So why doesn’t Hawai‘i work to make living here more tolerable and affordable as well? The over-run of tourists is a problem, and that’s without sufficient rental cars. I’m on board with the idea of a tourism-rebate to all full-time residents. As the county builds in its surcharge — maybe give that some thought.
Cheryl Farrell, Koloa
I can see the tourist will be forced to somewhere else. Nobody wants to pay more taxes. Higher prices. Where will they go? Endless. What does Hawai’i have? Relaxation. They want to relax, not work. At a higher price then. Rethink this theory, and you’ll see another 30 million tourist per year. A lot. This should be the goal. More money generated.
The bottom line for risk of complications and death is the ventilator itself damaging the alveolae, these are the vital gas exchangers of excreted Carbon Dioxide for inhaled Oxygen. The ventilator pressure on the alveolae breaks them like microscopic balloons.
The other factor ignored is how many pre-existing degenerative diseases the patient has, for example, obesity or overweight, and heart, stroke, and high blood pressure, or even cancer or alzheimer’s; and how many poisonous prescription drugs are they taking, and how many decades have their doctors been poisoning them for with those toxic prescription drugs.
Many prescription drugs are deadly, see their TV Ads.
You can’t have 4 or more long term (2 to 4 decades) of degenerative diseases, and be taking 8 or more poisonous prescription drugs daily for 20 to 40 years and expect to not be the walking dead, and let’s a mere virus comes along, that when it infects 98% of the people, they do not even have symptoms, but for your diseases, you end up hospitalized and on a lethal ventilator.
You made your bed, and now you must lie in it. Sadly the bed is a death bed, that medical disease care has been slowly and accumulatively burying you in. You, ignorantly allowed your self to get sick, and you naively and gullibly took, or still take, poisonous prescription drugs that do not get people well, and only offer a rest of your shortened lifetime taking symptom hiding toxic and lethal prescription drugs.
It’s about time to face up to the facts, medical disease care has killed all the Covid victims. Every one of them had 1 or more or 4 or 5 long term degenerative diseases taking toxic organ destroying (think liver and kidneys) prescription drugs for those 20 to 40 years, and were under the care of medical disease care and its hospitals, and no one is willing to admit they killed the patient by slow death by their dealing prescription drugs and offering no other alternative.
It’s like saying, after 30 to 40 years of taking daily poisonous prescription drugs; and a mosquito came along, and bites the patient on the butt, and you blame the mosquito for the patient’s death,
The virus only kills medical patients actively taking their prescription drugs and under the care of doctors for the last 29 to 40 years.
While they have you mask hiding your face losing adequate oxygen with every breath; they are masking what is really killing the patient it’s not the Covid, it’s the medical disease prescription drug care.
Medical disease care, a system seeing worse and worse disease numbers and deaths year after year, with many of the drugs causing cancer because the drugs are made from petrochemicals.
And now the multiple vaccines are killing any age people.
And the Johnson and Johnson vaccine company is being sued for $ billions hiding the fact that their medications for females have been causing several different cancers.
But look up and see the Fools Rushing in Where Wise Men and Women Fear to Tread, taking experimental gene altering, so called, vaccines, that are not even vaccines, but mere drug cocktails. And after vaccination, the people still get infected by the Covid virus, how’s that, an the people they still believe.
In the old days people feared the unknown, now they crave the unknown vaccine mechanisms and serious and lethal and unknown
side effects.
If you die or are injured by the vaccine, you cannot even suit the drug companies, giving them the freedom to put whatever they want Into these stabs and jabs.
Get educated and take care of yourself, you live longer, active , and healthier.
Good one! You nearly had me believing you were serious. Nice satire LOL.
Dear Cheryl,
I’m a life-long Iowa resident who, with my wife, have been visiting Kauai for more than 20 years. It was a total surprise to me that you would include Iowa in your list of states that pay people $10,000 to move here. That is patently UNTRUE! What is true, is that certain communities in Iowa offer incentives for people to build new homes in the community. For example, Newton, Iowa offers a $10,000 incentive to build a new home there. They do so because their community is still attempting to recover financially from the loss several years ago of Maytag, their primary employer.
A consortium of builders and realtors offers a program here in Des Moines that provides a 2% rebate on the purchase of a new home. To receive $10K under this program, the home needs to be valued at $500K minimum–quite a nice house for this part of the country, and financially out of reach for many incomes .
I can’t speak for the other states that you list in your letter, but can only say making this generalized statement with regard to Iowa is untrue and misleading, and before I’d be incentivized by your letter to move to one of them, I’d do some serious due diligence.
What is universally true about these programs, however, is that like all giveaways, they are funded by OPM or other people’s money! And if there’s a problem in your suggestion, that would be it.
Cheryl, um, like, you could just move if you are unhappy with everything on this island. It is called the “Paradise Tax” to live here. If you don’t want to pay 30% more for everything, then move to where it is more affordable for you. Planet Earth is a big place. Have you actually lived and worked some other place on the planet? We are in the middle of the Pacific Ocean….these islands produce nothing. Tourism is all we have.
Another “something for us wanters at your expense” idea I see. Tourists do need to help fund infrastructure maintenance for roads, water systems, and more through taxes on the resources they consume. As a regular tourist, this makes sense to me. Just giving a “wanter” what they “want” for nothing in return is a poor return on investment. This is a good example of how today’s society promotes being a victim rather than being a contributor to good. Very sad.
Thank you Michelle! Well said! 99.7% of current hospitalized COVID patients in the US are non vaccinated. The COVID vaccination greatly reduces severity of COVID. Yes there’s a risk you could catch COVID even if vaccinated but the severity of symptoms are much less. Very low risk of being hospitalized. The non vaccinated are perpetuating variants of Covid to continue. For the sake of Kauai, this community please get vaccinated!
Vikki, the Zuck doesn’t care about the community and is more interested spending his money moving the world toward a two tiered feudalist system. To him you are rabble which wastes the Earth’s resources. Those who are useful will be fed using insect protein, while as an elite he will dine on the finest beef.
Kauai has proven that the amount of rental cars means NOTHING since the moment rental cars were in a shortage residents simply rented their cars. Let the rental agencies provide their services and the price will return to normal and everyone can rent a car when needed at a normal price. Then the residents might be able to afford a used vehicle again if needed
Michaelle; Nice sentiment but don’t waste your breath. Let anti-vaxxers be. If they catch Covid, so be it; that is the risk they take and they made their choice. However, we should not wait around for them to suddenly change their minds before we lift all restrictions and return to normal. We should not wait for the unachievable 70% vaccination rate before allowing business to open back up to full capacity and get rid of this mask mandate. Why wait for something that will never happen? That seems stupid. Most other states have done away with all Covid restrictions. We should do the same and not coddle those who don’t want to get vaccinated.
Yes Howard…the rental company’s also need to stop renting 4 wheel Jeep’s, etc., the tourists think they can 4 wheel anywhere…I had one enter my pasture and and tore it up , Karma: he got so stuck it cost him $1200 to get towed out…too many entitled idiots…..
Cheryl Farrell has provided some well thought out points on over-tourism in the form of cash back to residents. But it’s not about money for many of us.
While I sit in gridlocked traffic will any cash back reduce my stress? When I try to go for a swim and parking is full how will cash to me help?
When I find an open picnic table at the park for a couple of us, put a our items down and return minutes later to find a group sharing it with us, with teenagers throwing a football inches away and no one telling them to move to the clearing, how much is money going to help?
Allowing the counties to tax accommodations 3% will not even cover the wear and tear from the multitudes of visitors that we permit by allowing tourism to continue as our #1 industry.’ Hawaii we have a problem. It’s not just Kauai, it’s every island.
1. Smile & appreciate that you’re still above-ground. Just don’t drive around to see the blooms if you can help it. See response #3.
2. Coco Palms should be a cultural Hawaiian heritage site in perpetuity. New owners should donate for tax-write off to an established, well-run non-profit who can protect it for future generations until mother nature takes over.
3. Agree with rental car assessment. The road madness is out of control & not simply b/c there’s no extra lane from by-pass to Kuamoo.
4. Get vaccinated to help contain any future variants. It’s your duty as a citizen of Earth. This is not a political issue.
5. Perhaps some people should move to Alaska for their extra money. Any extra funds our county gets should go to homeowners on limited-fixed incomes to assist them in converting their cesspool to septic before we’re all swimming in effluent from the less-than affluent.
petrina.kauai@gmail.com I absolutely agree with Michaelle. It is tragic that far too many of our residents believe unfounded theories about Covid-19 not being a real threat as a virus (i.e. no more serious than the flu) and about the vaccine not being safe. I hope they will wake up now before we have any more loss of life as our little island.
Face it! Todays level of Tourism has outgrown Hawaii. The INCONVENIENCES that it creates for the residents that live here vastly outweigh the benefits that it provides.
“COVID is killing people, not the vaccine!”
Michaelle…you need to dig a little deeper. The VAERS website data begs to differ with your statement. The number of deaths associated with the vaccines in Europe is even more staggering…some 15,000 as of a couple of weeks ago…check out Endura Vigillance.
Check it out for yourself:
The U.S. CDC released more data today in their Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), a U.S. Government funded database that tracks injuries and deaths caused by vaccines, and they added more than 2000 deaths following COVID-19 shots over what they reported last week.
Last week they were reporting 6,985 deaths, and this week that number jumped up to 9,048.
This is by far the largest increase of recorded deaths in one week since they started reporting deaths following COVID-19 shots.
Colin McCleod
Colin, thanks for providing some real statistics. Unfortunately most people tend to be the proverbial “ostrich burying it’s head in the sand” or “ignorance is bliss” mentality, either because they are too lazy to research properly or because they lack the resources to ascertain the truth. In either case the end result will give birth to a new saying; “ignorance is fatal”. As for the VAERS system, it has been conservatively estimated that it captures less than 10% of the actual number. Remove your head from the sand people and observe with better eyes.
Fascinating that an essentially unapproved vaccine can be administered to people without the benefit of a medical exam, a drug given to someone without a condition or disease.
You mean like the small pox vaccine which eradicated that horrible disease?
Howard Tolbe: the hotel is too slow. Nothing to do but inside the lobby. They might want to go hiking off Kalalau lookout for fun. Like really adventuresome. I for one wouldn’t want to be in the lobby whole day waiting for a luau to happen. Plus getting a nice breather is a must. Being at the shopping center shopping for my black biker jacket to wear at nights would do wonders to blend in.
Mr Edwards! Vaccinations are a choice, you are doing the same to the unvaccinated by classifying us as freaks and horrible people. It is my body my choice. And no one should be forced into doing anything. Do you know that vaccinated people are spreading the virus!!!, You better have a good reason why our government is pushing these vaccines on all of us. Offering large amounts of money prizes even drugs??? Wake up! Not everyone can take these vaccines it may harm them….do your research, and people need to stop this craziness!
I question the validity of Covid numbers. Seasonal flu has flat lined , because it is called Covid. The PCR test was never meant by to be used for diagnosis. This “vaccine ” changes your DNA and is EXPERIMENTAL.
There are many health professionals that have come forward giving testimony to serious , vaccine injury and death. All for a virus that you have over 99% chance of surviving . There are page after page of adverse reactions on the vaccine websites. If you want to get the jab , it’s your right but do not make us that don’t want to mandated.
You are incorrect. Please do your research with solid medical resources. The non vaxxed are perpetuating covid variants. Are you a medical doctor? Read the facts regarding the rise of healthy young adults with zero pre existing conditions, are non vaccinated and being hospitalized with the dealers covid variant.
Commonsense, please read the facts regarding the rise of healthy young adults with zero pre existing conditions, ARE vaccinated, and then develop inflamed hearts and now Gere-Barr Disease being found in the J&J recipients. Remember, this is an experimental “vaccine” with no prior animal testing, which has always been mandated when a new vaccine was being developed. You ARE the animal test group and the long term effects have yet to be determined. And what, prey tell, is a “dealers covid variant”?
Oops, that should be “pray tell”, though I suspect a Freudian slip may have occurred.
C.F. — Your “resident tourist tax rebate” comes to you already via roads, infrastructure, and whatever various services obtain from everyone who pays taxes. Do you honestly think the politicians who represent us would for a minute consider gifting the people with funds which they could otherwise use to spend on things like a palatial county court house with lots of comfy offices, a pricey sealed fortress of a police station, a main street (think Rice) curbs-to-nowhere project that ruined traffic flow for 2 years, or I don’t know, maybe a raise or two for themselves such as they gave each other during the darkest days of the pandemic even as many of the folks they represent lost their incomes and livelihoods? Do you? If so I have a sixties-style resort in Wailua to sell you. Elvis slept there once.
Agreed james…maybe if they used a phrase like “jean altering” early on it would tip us off quicker!