• The future of Coco Palms • Keep Kapa‘a pool • Moral compass off course? The future of Coco Palms It’s heartening that the Coco Palms might be restored as a park for Kauaians, and already there are letters recalling
• The future of Coco Palms • Keep Kapa‘a pool • Moral compass off course?
The future of Coco Palms
It’s heartening that the Coco Palms might be restored as a park for Kauaians, and already there are letters recalling pleasant memories there. Mine also include fishing for opae and Samoan crab in the lagoons, and even the beginnings of that iconic resort.
As some might remember, it didn’t really start with Grace Buscher as many think, though she did very successfully promote its “Hawai‘i Calls” imagery (all that most Mainlanders knew of Hawaiæi back then was from that radio program).
It began earlier, in the late 1940s when a certain individual (name long forgotten) had the radical idea of operating a tourist hotel there — radical because the idea that tourism could ever be economically important on plantation run Kaua‘i was quite ludicrous then.
Under those hundreds of screening and protecting coconut trees were abandoned army barracks that had housed troops during World War II.
They could be converted to hotel cottages! But first the termites had to be eradicated. So partly as a favor, Territorial Kaua‘i entomologist Stephen Au and helper son (me) crawled under those barracks squirting “Paris green” (a now banned copper-arsenic powder) into the infested understructures.
It was part of his duties, there being no commercial termite companies then. So the termites were controlled, but, regardless, that business venture failed — ahead of the times one could say.
Then the Buscher/Guslanders came in and took over the cottages. The rest is Coco Palms history. Over the years, Stephen Au continued to help Grace in pest control at the resort — always gratis. In return, if he and guests dined there, there would not be a check forthcoming after the meal if Grace or the staff recognized him.
Dave Au
San Diego
Keep Kapa‘a pool
This letter is a plea to the community to support keeping the Kapa‘a swimming pool open.
Over the winter, both the women’s and men’s changing/bathrooms were closed due to the walls coming apart. The bathrooms have been replaced with handicapped portable toilets and outdoor showers that are very adequate for the needs of the pool users.
It is doubtful that the mayor, who was previously the head of the Parks and Recreation Department, or the county council wishes to close the pool.
They must, however, look at the changes that have occurred there this last year.
There were more than 80,000 visits to the Kapa‘a pool during 2012. The spectrum of people who use the pool is wide. I have seen families with babies in the pool. I watch my friend, Helen, who is almost 90 years old in the pool daily, come rain or come shine, winter and summer. The pool is used by the high school swim team, summer keiki program, firemen, individuals with disabilities, many who have arthritic joints and those with other medical conditions where being in the water makes them feel better. The Kapa‘a swimming pool is an important part of the lives of many community members.
Please contact Mayor Carvalho office, 241-4900 or mayor@kauai.gov, or the office of Jay Furfaro, jfurfaro@kauai.gov, the council chair to give your support to keeping the pool open.
Judy Shabert
Kilauea
Moral compass off course?
Opponents to proposed new gun regulations claim allowing the government to pass these laws will decay our Second Amendment rights. That’s a lie. It’s pure speculation on their part based on a false premise without a shred of evidence or precedent.
The NRA’s main objective used to be gun safety and organized shooting sports. So much so that NRA membership was required to compete in most major shooting events across the nation. Their focus has moved from sponsoring a great American pastime safely for their members to the political agenda of an outside minority.
These new friends of the NRA (gun manufacturers and conspiracy theorists) have money to burn and know how to spend it on spreading propaganda filled with hate and fear. If only one thing, I wish they’d support tougher penalties for those who fail to secure their guns properly.
Not long ago, I heard a guest on a TV talk show advise, “If your gun is not at your side or in your hands, it should be properly stored.”
Now that’s a common sense idea even the NRA should morally support if it weren’t for their new friends.
I always have a good laugh when I visualize the expression on faces of conspiracy theorists who have organized to overthrow a government that stripped them of their Second Amendment rights. They all show up with their modified semi-automatic assault rifles equipped with hundred round clips one day when two AH-64 Apache helicopters pop up to show them some aloha. Smile! Game over.
On the genetically modified organism controversy:
Don’t you just hate people who talk out the two sides of their mouths at the same time or just plain lie keeping a straight face?
GMO people vehemently claim their products are wonderful while opposing the labeling of food containing their products.
They claim labeling would cost them a lot of money, but that’s a stretch. I’m sure you’ve seen raw tuna in the market labeled “Previously Frozen” or “Fresh.” Does the one labeled “Fresh” cost you and the store more money because of the label? Anyway, I’d like everyone to keep up the pressure on GMO labeling because it’s the right thing to do.
But here’s an idea that would definitely hit their pocket books. Everyone knows that property taxes are much less for land classified “agriculture” than others. If you strengthen the laws in Kaua‘i County so lands classified agriculture can only be used for the production of edible foods, then land used by GMO companies for their experiments will cost them more when re-classified.
The irreparable damage caused by the assault of GMO companies on our people and land should not be our only line of attack.
The insidious nature of their business model for the world’s food supply is morally wrong. We need to run them out of town by attacking them on several fronts at the same time.
Vince Cosner
Lihu‘e
