Mahalo for being honest
For three days, I was asking around certain businesses I shop at if anyone turned in a debit card. I couldn’t sleep until I’ve found it. I was getting paranoid that someone will find it and use it to purchase things or food (some businesses you need not enter a PIN Number) and my account would have been overdrawn, or bills wouldn’t be paid if it got into the wrong hands.
To make a long story short, much mahalo to the Hanapepe PS&D Store Personnel (Richard Arakaki, Sam Dias, and the rest of the crew) for the safekeeping of my debit card.”
Also, mahalo nui loa to the person (don’t know who you are) who found the card and turned it into the PS&D personnel for safekeeping!
There are a lot of honest people around Kaua‘i such as those mentioned above!
Howard Tolbe, ‘Ele‘ele
Getting vaccinated is the RIGHT thing to do
I want to clarify that my Letter to the Editor on Mon. Nov. 8 entitled “Getting vaccinated is your duty” was NOT titled that by me. I did say that getting vaccinated was a “civic” duty.
Getting vaccinated is NOT your duty!
I do not like being told what to do, and, I think, most people are the same.
But getting vaccinated for a worldwide pandemic is the RIGHT thing to do.
Not mandatory.
But the right, decent, responsible, caring, humane thing to do.
I care about my family and friends and community and the human race. So, I got vaccinated.
And I hope you do too, With much Aloha!
Kathleen Johnson, Kalaheo
Eviction Again for the Families of Salt Pond
A pregnant mom with two young children and senior citizens with disabilities were among those who were evicted on July 6 from Salt Pond.
Once the public was allowed into the area, I brought down ice water and banana bread.
Finding out that these families had nowhere to go, I told everyone to come to our home.
They accepted our invitation to come to our hale, which has a large lot with plenty of room for camping, outdoor cooking facility with electricity and water, even a swing set perfect for the keiki. The next morning a porta toilet was ordered and everything came together quite nicely.
Our landlord didn’t see it that way and found us in violation of our landlord-tenant agreement. They sent us a 45-day eviction notice.
The families on our property were born and raised here on Kaua‘i. We challenged in court the true ownership of the land, and the judge ruled against us on the same day we went to trial. The judge ruled in favor of our landlords and we and all the families have been evicted.
Where are we going? We don’t know.
Would we do it all over again? Absolutely!
Mahalo God for all our blessings!
Buna and Marcia Leialoha, Waimea
Lets get COVID under control before the holidays
As of today, Nov. 7, 2021, we have 11 patients in the hospital here on Kaua‘i due to COVID.
I watch the daily response on the County of Kaua‘i Facebook posts where residents continue to make sarcastic comments and obviously are not taking this situation seriously at all.
It is my honest opinion that a vaccination card requirement to get into restaurants, gyms, functions, etc. might really change that attitude and encourage more of them to vaccinate because they certainly are not getting it with the soft sell that has been being dealt out for the past two years. I do not think a negative test requirement will have the same effect unless there is an out of pocket cost.
From our current cases is it clear that our residents are NOT quarantining/testing after traveling nor social distancing or masking after travel whether they are vaccinated or not and there is trouble getting residents to comply with the contact tracing so I think it’s beyond time to up it a notch.
It is my understanding from family in Washington that hospitals are full with COVID cases, same in California, and Hawai‘i usually follows suit. With Gov. Ige talking about opening things up for the holidays what do you think that will mean if we don’t take some stronger action now?
Please let’s get this under control before the holidays. Let’s take care of ourselves, our ‘ohana and our community NOW!
Patrina Blakely, Kapa‘a
Remember, Remember the 5th of November
A wise man once said, “People should not be afraid of their government. Governments should be afraid of their people.” I don’t know about you, but I am tired of being afraid.
My fear of Kaua‘i’s government started 13 months ago, when I returned from a trip to see family and discovered that the Hawai‘i National Guard would be making sure I didn’t leave my house. Yes, I’d agreed to quarantine. But I’d had no idea that would mean uniformed soldiers would walk onto my property uninvited and demand to see my ID nearly every day.
This week, I was treated to another show of strength by the bureaucrats who now run every aspect of our lives. My daughter got an upset stomach at school. She’d eaten junk food from a gas station and had a difficult tummy. I made the mistake of admitting her malady to the staff at her school when I picked her up. Admitting any symptom whatsoever means a child needs to go to the nurse for a COVID screening, before going home and quarantining 10 days or until they get a negative COVID test.
We went home and my child dutifully told her teachers to email her work — and was accused of lying by one teacher who didn’t believe the school would possibly make someone quarantine because they ate some sketchy spam.
Days later, we got in line for a free COVID test, standing in the rain, 6 feet apart, behind the line of other wretched souls who needed a test from the government to go to work or school. When we got to the front of the line, I found yet another uniformed national guardsman, this time performing the COVID test.
I thought about asking her why she, and not a nurse, was performing the test. Maybe I would have offered that she didn’t need to wear a uniform to do a nasal swab. After all, it’s unlikely she’d need to break for the trees, where her camouflage would protect her from enemy fire.
In the end, I was too scared. I’ve been too scared for a while now.
Anyway, I know why the National Guard is giving nasal swabs: likely because all the unvaccinated nurses got fired. If that’s not the reason, then it is simply to scare us. To intimidate us. To make sure we know our place.
It’s been 21 months, and we still cannot go inside the DMV without permission. We can’t go inside any county building. I’ve given up trying. In 21 months, the government has gone from serving us to scaring us, to threatening to take our jobs away, and taking away, at their whim, our children’s right to an education.
Around three people die each day on Kaua‘i. I know, because I’ve started reading the obituaries. You know what? They die of things other than COVID. They die of cancer, heart disease, old age… They die tragically and quietly. None of them has been made immortal by a vaccine. None of us has, either.
November 5th is drawing to a close, and I’m about to serve dinner. But I’m thinking about the famous Gunpowder Plot, and the circumstances that must have precipitated it. I think about how intimidated I felt every time military walked onto my property, how scared I am that my kids are being made sick by their face masks, and how I wince when someone shoves a COVID test up my kid’s nose.
I think of how odd it is that the State of Hawaii decided it had the right to tell me whether or not I could return to my own property. I wonder how many others think the same thing.
Remember, remember the 5th of November. Remember the tyranny of kings, and how Americans decided long ago we would have none of that nonsense. I, for one, am tired of living in fear, and I have to ask, are you are really scared of COVID, or are you scared of what they will do to you if you catch it?
You elected these people to work for you. They are not your kings; they are your servants.
It’s time they started acting like it.
Jennifer Cornforth, Kilauea
What an obscure reference to a little know event from 1605. Me thinks the letter writer is dipping her toes a little too deep into the alt right universe. Is this supposed to be some sort of a dog whistle?
What a silly, ridiculous fairy tale. And the self described heroine and victim appears to be scared of everything except what she legitimately SHOULD be afraid of. Dying from Covid.
Regarding Getting Covid-19 under control- read your letter this morning sitting in my chair in Arlington Washington State. Hospitals here are not (Full Up) with COVID-19 cases
Jennifer- I don’t fear government, I fear people like you. Fortunately, our government (federal and state) are taking good care of us. Once you view COVID as a community/societal problem and not just your personal paranoia, you will be part of the solution and not part of the problem. We’re all in this together and together is how we will defeat the pandemic.
Here in western Wisconsin the Covid rate is very high. My county has 32 positive cases in a population of 7,300 people. Only 47% vaccinated. We may never get many more people vaccinated. So very sad!
Where?? (wipes away tear from right cheek)
Ms. Johnson, your rights of expression are yours to use as you deem but to state that it is the “right” thing to do what you decide for others is a step out of bounds. I have not trusted the integrity of government involvement in my personal health matters from the start of this pandemic. If you are comfortable with their concern for your wellbeing then by all means give them your consent. For myself, I’ll stand on my convictions.
Patrick H Flores, Nampa, Id.
Ms. Cornforth, please remember that those public servants are working for me and everyone else on this island, not just you.
Working 4 days a week, 9 to 4, not including holidays and sometimes the day before and after, lunch hour from 11 to 2, time off for voting and boosters, “goodbye breakfast” for recent retirees, and closed due to inclement weather.
And compensated accordingly. Also, not different than most places. What’s your point?
“Raise you hand if you are paying attention.” My 2018 Mayoral platform.
Buck up, Jennifer Cornforth.
You are starting to sound like those Fox News whiners who think Big Bird is a communist for encouraging children to get vaccinated.
When anyone on my property had to quarantine, the National Guardsmen were very polite and stayed at our gate waiting to speak with the quarantined person. Perhaps you do not have a gate, only a front door. And the National Guard, charged with seeing that a person in quarantine was actually in quarantine knocked at your door? Boo hoo for you.
For those who may not know, The Gunpowder Plot of 1605 was a failed assassination attempt against King James I by blowing up the House of Lords by a group of provincial English Catholics led by Robert Catesby who sought to restore the Catholic monarchy to England after decades of intolerance against Catholics. It failed badly.
What next? Will you defend the rioters who stormed the capital head-hunting for Mike Pence and Nancy Pelosi on January 6 of this year? Get a grip.
Next time bring an umbrella to stand in line if you need a Covid test. And be sure to thanks whoever it is who is charged with administering the test.
In response to Remember the 5th of November by Jennifer Cornforth, you are simply toxic to the PANDENIC at hand. You sound “inconvenienced” by the global health emergency. Doesn’t sound like you would have self quarantined without supervision. Your selfish thoughts and feelings kill people, literally.
Thank You Everyone the Mayor, County Council, doctors, nurses, medical staff, the Health Department staff, the National Guard, airport workers, education employees, grocery store workers, dock workers and all other support personnel for your wealth of common sense and intelligence, your community service, your self sacrifice and keeping all Kauai Residents safe and as healthy as possible during the on-going, worldwide, life threatening, PANDEMIC! With respect, admiration, and gratitude to all of you.
“Your selfish thoughts and feelings kill people, literally.”
Thoughts and feelings literally do not kill people.
Alex Ballwin, and occasionally inflamatory respiratory viruses, kill people, literally.
I know Patrina, we have a sad Covid situation here that will only get worse. Mayor Kawakami was my hero but now is just a pawn for Mufi and Ige (or maybe he just gave up?). It is not only residents ignoring rules but travelers bringing the new strains here and reinfecting us as they travel around the island. Sad, sad, sad!
Leave poor Guy Fawkes out of it!
Jennifer Cornforth- really, such paranoia is neither warranted nor healthy. I am sure by now you will have had your child vaccinated so such events will no longer be necessary. As for the National Guard, I have the opposite reaction: admiration for those who wear the uniform and serve our community.
But November 5th- really, really! For those not familiar with British history, that was the date in 1605 that a group of Catholics planned to blow up the Houses of Parliament and kill the protestant King James 1 and members of Parliament. It is known as Guy Fawkes Day after the low level Catholic operative who was caught with the gunpowder cache the night before the failed attempt. In their quirky way, the British celebrate November 5th by lighting bonfires and burning effigies of poor Guy with elaborate pageantry. It is generally regarded as a celebration of the survival of the King and a symbol of continued British democracy, although some Catholics may beg to differ. Perhaps Ms. Cornforth will now be in favor of January 6th celebrations and can come up with an appropriate name in which the letter F would also figure prominently.
Jennifer, you’re so right! With every passing day government bureaucracies, corporations and even our palm sized digital minders create barriers to living as private citizens. It’s an affront to human dignity. Without a sense of dignity and the ability to think and act freely and imaginatively, we’re just sheep being led to the slaughter of all that is good, true and beautiful. Eradicate fear, live in dignity, practice aloha…
Buna and Marcia Leialoha, How can you blame the land owner? They worked hard to purchase the home and when you rented the home, you should have read the rental agreement, almost all agreements state that only the names on the agreement can reside at the residence. I agree with the Judge, you were wrong!
I’ve lived six and a half decades with viruses. In EVERY case, the doctor(s) said exactly the same thing, “It’s a virus. If it were bacterial, I could treat you for it, but since its viral, you just have to ride it out.” They gave me OTC meds for symptoms and sent me home. Everyone who has had a virus and went to the doctor heard the same thing. Now, there’s a vaccine that keeps people safe from a virus? Seriously? And if that were true, why are all the pro-vaxers still whining? If they’ve taken the COVID-19 vaccine, then they’re safe, right?
You must live in an alternative universe, or have some pretty poor doctors. Ever hear of those minor ailments like polio, smallpox, MMR and a host of others that are caused by a virus? If you were not immunized for those you most likely would not have made it this long. Just saying.
Is this a good time to remember that police and fire department response, the roads on which we drive, air traffic control, food safety, public schools, civil defense, sewage treatment and garbage pickup all involve “government”? Perhaps it is a good time to consider the difference between wants and needs, and between outrageous assaults on liberty and inconvenience during a pandemic.
Let’s go Brandon!
Who is Brandon?
Buna and Marcia – you continually referred to the property you rented as ‘our property’. Kudos for paying rent, but you never had any authority to authorize bums, er ‘homeless’ to live on the Owner’s property.
Glad you were all evicted. Now perhaps the bums can get jobs? Plenty of Help Wanted signs plastered around the island…
Patrina: You seem like you’re very much educated on the issue of the coronavirus. And I agree. We should all take cautionary measures to safeguard ourselves and others we are around too. The concern will x-mas time, when more tourist will be visiting. Can the island sustain this monitoring? I hope they continue to do this check points as New Zealand just had a lockdown. I think they had one. So the Coronavirus is still very much active and real. Vaccinations are becoming more available, but still with a price to pay.
Honestly I think true monitoring is a thing of the past here – we all have to be wary and watch out for ourselves. New Zealand has a fabulous system and hence very few cases I know several residents so I do keep a finger on the pulse there.
Why won’t the Garden Island News post my comments when I support getting the vaccine if it’s safe for you to do so? I suggested that people with questions do research such as looking up the government’s own vaccines health issues database? Do they want us to live in fear, or to have the power of knowledge?
Today a very washed down version – to me – of the Vaccination card/negative test has been introduced for Kaua’i for restaurants and gyms that WANT TO run at 100% and WANT TO monitor it themselves – what does that really mean? It doesn’t really make me feel that secure or safe with that choice????