• Stop trashing the beach, Kauai • ‘Happy Camper’ an island treasure • B&Bs affordable, professional, don’t deserve abrupt shutdown Stop trashing the beach, Kauai While visiting Anini recently, a group of tourists sat next to us and a member of the group
• Stop trashing the beach, Kauai • ‘Happy Camper’ an island treasure • B&Bs affordable, professional, don’t deserve abrupt shutdown
Stop trashing the beach, Kauai
While visiting Anini recently, a group of tourists sat next to us and a member of the group returned with a bag of garbage from people camping illegally at the very end of Anini Beach Road (below the Westin).
He was somewhat disgusted by the amount of trash at the scene. I decided to explore that area and was appalled and deeply saddened by what I found. Heaps of trash left behind: from abandoned camps (old tents, chairs, rain flies wrapped around rocks in the intertidal), bottles, cans, plastic, entire suitcases, you name it … fecal waste, it’s all there.
There’s a year’s worth of garbage sitting on the edge of the Anini lagoon just waiting for wind, wave and erosion to pollute our precious ocean and Kauai shoreline. What is wrong with these people?
I can’t imagine someone who lives/grew up here would treat the aina as such but, whoever you are, tourist or local alike, you come, you camp illegally (while there is an incredible campground less than half a mile down the road) and you trash the place. Where is the love and respect for this beautiful island?
Few places in the world are as special as Kauai and I hope you can find that place in your heart to clean up the mess you make and the mess others have made before you.
For that matter, how about the next time the county goes and clears out those campers, then make them clean up that entire area.
For the love of Anini (Hanakoa, Kalalau, etc.) pack out your trash!
Elise Lockton
Princeville
‘Happy Camper’ an island treasure
Wherever I travel, I like to read the local paper each morning. Having enjoyed three previous visits to Kauai, I usually read The Garden Island online two or three times a week.
As we come to the end of our fourth trip, I want you to know how much I enjoy Dennis Fujimoto’s “Happy Camper” column. We find many sources for national, international and even local news, but his writing lets us know how the aloha spirit of your wonderful paradise is reaching the community every day. He always brings a smile to my heart, not just my face.
Mahalo nui loa for giving us this glimpse into the lives of the people who make Kauai such a special place.
Bill Bestpitch
Roanoke, Virginia
B&Bs affordable, professional, don’t deserve abrupt shutdown
My wife and I have spent from two to three months each of the past eight years vacationing on Kauai. We love Kauai and read your newspaper online when not there. We see it as a second home. We live in Atlanta. Reading (Saturday, TGI) about the “shutdown” of B&Bs and homestays was shocking. We are, in fact, currently planning next year’s trip.
Now we are at a loss as to what to expect. It is inconceivable that the commission would have the shortsightedness to shut down ongoing businesses without considering the effect on the tourists planning to come to Kauai in the near future left holding the bag. To say nothing about the 300-plus small business people who suddenly “lose their jobs.”
We can understand the desire to have permitting and checks on these small businesses, but do not understand why these “laws” have not been enforced for 20 years and now within two weeks, actions resulting in utter chaos must be taken. We have stayed frequently at Marjorie’s Kauai Inn and other places on the list of shutdowns, and these have been totally professional establishments. We enjoy the opportunity to stay apart from the tourist destinations to see the real Kauai.
Kauai has been unique in this opportunity compared to other islands in affordable accommodations. Closing an establishment such as Marjorie’s, which for 20 years has been a jewel for visitors to Kauai and has provided many thousand of dollars of sales tax revenues to the coffers of Kauai, makes no sense from any viewpoint. These actions are bureaucratic and un-American.
I understand some actions should be taken to create an orderly process for permitting and organizing these businesses. But the first step is clarifying and/or promulgating appropriate regulations and then enforcing them.
I would hope your newspaper takes the lead as a corporate citizen in a public outcry to reverse these actions for the sake of Kauai tourism and the small businessmen who make this country run.
Gary Hodel, U.S. Army, Retired
Atlanta
