Rhoda Libre

LIHU’E – Rhoda Libre loved traveling as a young woman on cultural and

entertainment tours in the U.S. mainland, China, Japan, Canada and the South

Pacific.

But it took being away from Kaua’i for 10 years for her to realize

the best place for her was home.

Today, Libre, a first-time Kaua’i County

Council candidate and a 38-year-old mother of two children, feels compelled to

protect the island’s rural, family-oriented lifestyle, guard its traditions and

explore new ways to make it a better place for the future.

Reaching that

goal starts with government helping to preserve the past, Libre

said.

“People should remember and enhance the old ways,” she said. “They

were good.”

In a fast-paced and changing world, Libre said she draws

strength and wisdom from her 97-year-old grandmother.

Libre is the

daughter of West Kaua’i plantation workers and is proud of her roots.

“There is that plantation mentality—honesty and truth,” she said.

She

said she is running for a council seat because she wants to be a “new voice”

for people who have not been heard.

She said she “can contribute to the

council and enhance it. I have no axe to grind with the council. I can work

with them.”

Libre said these are priority issues with her:

* Better

planning. “The tourists are telling me that they would like to see what Kaua’i

used to be, and there is bad planning (related to development) here,” she

said.

*Women issues and public safety. “Safety is one of the topics that is

lacking consideration on our council,” she said.

Libre has been fighting

crime in the best ways she knows how – the media. Since 1993, she has worked on

community education programs, including those related to crime

prevention.

Libre also said she has worked with the police to set up a

system offering information on sex offenders.

An independent program

producer with Ho’ike television, she said she has invited local law enforcement

officials to appear on shows to educate the public on crime prevention.

Management of the solid-waste problem. “The council talks about money and

development, and I am pretty tired of hearing it,” Libre said. “They pretty

much ignore the problem of solid waste.”

* Better use of the skills of

senior citizens. “We need more things for our seniors, who along with our

children, need to feel they are part of the community,” Libre said. “We are not

using our national resources and treasures.”

* More programs to protect the

environment.

Founder of the Kaua’i Westside Watershed Council, she said

she has worked to keep streams clean and to protect stream life.

The group

will prepare a video to educate government and the public about water resources

in West Kaua’i, she said.

Libre runs Hoi’ke’s “High Profile,” a community

informational program. She also is a student at Kaua’i Community College,

working toward a degree in genetical botany, and she has worked on projects at

the National Tropical Botanical Gardens.

Libre is a former Miss Kaua’i

Filipino 1981 and a martial arts practitioner.

Staff writer Lester

Chang can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) and

lchang@pulitzer.net