• Population control needed • Sexist charter • Living in a fantasy world • Don’t let emotions run wild Population control needed Mitchell Alapa wrote, “We cannot continue to care more about birds and sea creatures more then people. We
• Population control needed • Sexist charter • Living in a
fantasy world • Don’t let emotions run wild
Population control needed
Mitchell Alapa wrote, “We cannot continue to care more about birds and sea creatures more then people. We have to start applying Hawaiian knowledge of handling things.” This is contradictory.
The ancients knew they had to protect their food source by not over-fishing or hunting anything into extinction.
If you’ve been fishing since you were two then you know how extensively the fish populations have declined. You also know how many reef fish are sacrificed to use as sliders for the larger prey.
Many families do survive off fishing and it is for this very reason that we need to protect food sources for future generations.
Again this all boils down to over-population. Get at the cause of this by limiting the amount of development on the island. If you think this is a problem now just wait till the population of the island doubles within the next five to 10 years.
There’s already 5,000 residences approved and under construction in Po‘ipu alone. Conservatively estimating three people per residence results in a 15,000 person addition to the 60,000 population already on island.
Can the island really support fishing for that many more families? Should all these newcomers have the right to fish as well? What will happen when there are 5-10,000 more cars on the road?
With a denser population comes less freedoms and more problems.
Makoto Lane, Pasadena, Calif.
Sexist charter
Gender-based harassment is costing the county residents millions of dollars (“Sending a message,” Letters, Oct. 17).
Suddenly, the county attorney is on the problem like a chicken on a centipede. Unfortunately, the County of Kaua‘i has a long history of devaluing the role of women and creating an environment where a throat-slitting gesture made by a male council chair to a council woman is acceptable body language. It is shorthand for “shut-up” or else.
Sexism, the root of gender-based harassment, is systemic and evident in our Kaua‘i County Charter. The 70-page document refers to “he” 35 times and “his” 47 times with powers and duties defined. “She” is not even mentioned and “her” powers and duties are non-existent.
A recommendation offered to two Charter Review Commissions to make the charter language gender-neutral was dismissed out-of-hand. Although easily done, as has been demonstrated by countless counties and states throughout the country, this recommendation never made the ballot in Kaua‘i County.
The message being sent by the current charter language is that women don’t matter and should remain invisible because the powers, actions, and duties are for “he”-men only.
Though some women ignore the insult and succeed in spite of historic sexism, why should sexism be memorialized in our county charter? The lame disclaimer stating that the use of “he” refers to both genders is not an adequate solution to a sexist charter that is far from an aspirational read for young women hoping to contribute to the community through government service.
Ed Coll and Carol Bain, Puhi
Living in a fantasy world
As a new college graduate, I attended a network marketing meeting. To generate enthusiasm, the presenter mentioned that a stack of one million dollar bills is as high as the 550-foot Washington Monument. Wrong!
According to the Bureau of Printing and Engraving, a dollar bill is 0.11 millimeters thick. A million dollars is about 361 feet high, or about ten times higher than the three-story building height limit on Kaua‘i.
The Bike Path costs $50 million, a stack of dollar bills over 3 miles high. A squadron of 20 F/A-22 fighter jets for the Hawai‘i Air National Guard is $2.8 billion, a stack almost 200 miles high. The Honolulu Light Rail system is about $4 billion, or 273 miles high. A strong case for all of these projects has been made, and the money has been appropriated.
Hawai‘i has a balanced budget built into the State Constitution since 1978. The federal government does not, and borrows money to make up for budget deficits. The national debt owed to all creditors at the end of fiscal 2008 was $10 trillion. Stack of dollar bills 683,508 miles high. (The moon is only 250,000 miles from Earth.)
Government is expensive. A lot of people are suddenly whining about the national debt, but are unwilling to increase taxes to pay it down, or decreasing the expenses that led us to it. Instead, these political novices promote reducing taxes even more.
I’ve been working full-time since I was 14. I can’t live in their fantasy world.
Emmette Honjiyo, Lihu‘e
Don’t let emotions run wild
The KIF football game last Saturday was a great, exciting game from beginning down to the final seconds.
Both teams played with determination and their hearts and both sides made a great game. Both these teams deserve a standing ovation for putting themselves all out there.
Then immediately after the game as emotion ran high for there could only be one official “winner.” People throwing things, people fighting. More disconcerting as a log into Facebook there were not only students but adults threatening the winning school and team.
I feel that football is a competition that involves our children. We want them to win but more importantly should want them to have fun, make memories and above all make a bond with their team that will forever be family.
Thank you, KPD, for being there directing traffic so we could all get home more quickly and safely. Thank you to both Kapa‘a and Kaua‘i high school football teams for giving your heart and soul to that game.
Triana Bergonia, Lihu‘e
