Honolua area cleanup set

Saturday, Sept. 17, is Get the Drift and Bag It. This is a worldwide effort to gather and eliminate marine debris.

Out beyond Honolua, there is plenty of marine debris (especially out at Keawalua, the corral). We will also have a dumpster at the Honolua Baseyard, so there will be plenty to do.

We will be meeting at Honolua Stream Bridge (by the port-a-potties) at 9 a.m. This event is sponsored by the Save Honolua Coalition, and everyone is invited!

We will be wrapping up by about noon, in time to go to Lost Art’s memorial at Fleming Beach. Hope to see you there!

LES POTTS, Napili

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Timeshare owners face unfair taxes

(The following letter was sent to the mayor and members of the Maui County Council.)

We wish to register our total disapproval of the unfair burden assessed on timeshares on the island, which we are advised is 64 percent higher than hotels, 113 percent higher than industrial and 530 percent higher than the homeowner classification.

To persons such as my wife and I, who have been coming to Maui virtually every year since the 1970s and who have been timeshare owners since the 1990s, this is an extremely unfriendly aloha and an unfair way to treat those who love and support Maui.

The leadership would do well to remember that the Aloha Spirit is more than a word of greeting or farewell. It means mutual regard and affection and extends warmth in caring with no obligation in return. “Aloha” is the essence of relationships, in which each person is important to every other person for collective existence.

The leadership could ask themselves whether their unfair actions serve to promote aloha to Maui’s visitor industry or cause it to back away!

JOHN & MARCIA OLIVER, White Rock, BC, Canada

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State should investigate pollution at Honokahua Bay

(The following letter was sent to the state Department of Health.)

My name is Patrick Silva, and my son is in 11th grade at Maui Prep. On Tuesday, 8/16/16, Maui Prep had a school event at Honokahua Bay that involved swimming into the ocean. On that same day, there was a brown water event at Honokahua Bay.

The moderate river flow only lasted about two hours; only Mokupea Stream had water. The Honokahua side was bone dry, and locally in the preceding 48 hours, we had less than a tenth-of-an-inch of rain. At the top of Pu’u Kukui, there had been only .2 inches of rainfall, but Mokupea doesn’t even reach up that high.

Right when the river started to flow brown, we had about 50 kids from Maui Preparatory Academy doing a swim test for their school year swimming in this brown water.

I believe this is a blatant Clean Water Act violation, and I am concerned about the health and safety of my child, the public, the streams, the reef and marine life, as well as the impact this type of event could have on our economy.

Please investigate and hold those accountable for dumping their dirty water in our streams. Mahalo and aloha.

PATRICK A. SILVA, West Maui

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West Maui needs a second access

Last week, I took a friend to Kahului Airport to pick up a rental car. The drive from the Alamo Rent A Car location back to Kaanapali took 70 minutes. Average speed was 5-12 mph. There was no accident, no fire, no nothing – just good old bumper-to-bumper traffic. True, flights arrive at the same time, and rental cars leave their pick up place at the same time, but hey, Maui – we want tourists to have a good first impression of Maui. I live here, and I was not a happy camper dealing with this.

IT IS TIME FOR A TUNNEL or some second means of getting to the other side and back. The answer may be a new road parallel to Highway 30, so that when completed we can have two roads to the airport. New planned construction on Maui exceeds 1,000 new units starting soon. Add the Westin’s 497 timeshare units, and a real mess is at hand.

BRIAN EGAN, Egan Realty and Consulting Inc.

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Gill playing an important role

Writing articles for the paper is sometimes challenging. There are so many pieces to an article. I try not to make mistakes or overlook people; but, as many of your know, I am not perfect.

In my article, “Residents concerned about highway seawalls planned north and south of Olowalu,” I neglected to acknowledge the pivotal role Mariah Gill, Lahainaluna High School graduate, is playing in this campaign to save our shoreline.

The West Side is lucky to have her knowledge, expertise, and organizing skills on our side.

Mahalo, Mariah – we all owe you a debt of gratitude.

LOUISE ROCKETT, Napili

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Judge hits the brakes on flawed Obama policy

A federal judge last week hit the brakes on a controversial attempt by the Obama Administration to pressure schools nationwide to blur the lines between boys and girls.

U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor issued a preliminary injunction in favor of Texas and numerous other states challenging the policy. The ruling means that the federal government cannot withdraw funding from the states while the lawsuit moves forward because they resist the administration’s reinterpretation of Title IX.

Brad Dacus, the founder and president of Pacific Justice Institute, commented, “This ruling is a terrific early win for states, schools, students and parents who have been fighting for common sense, safety and privacy. The court recognized that the Obama Administration overreached by attempting to rewrite federal law. This ruling is a game-changer by halting the momentum of the transgender lobby and allowing everyone to take a deep breath so sanity can prevail.”

The Texas ruling follows the Supreme Court’s move to halt a controversial decision by the Virginia-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. The Fourth Circuit had approved the administration’s rewrite of Title IX.

Pacific Justice Institute began warning parents several years ago about the coming deluge of problems arising from gender confusion in the public schools. PJI continues to battle California’s first-in-the-nation transgender school bill, AB 1266, in court.

PACIFIC JUSTICE INSTITUTE

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Hospital a reality due to Joe Pluta’s efforts

The groundbreaking for the long-awaited, much-needed West Maui Hospital was held on Aug. 15. It was not only an historic occasion but also a glorious one for our small, isolated community.

Na Kupuna o Maui and West Maui owes so much to the tireless efforts of Joe Pluta. He is our hero. Through his steadfast determination, he surmounted all obstacles, never wavering, with his eye always on the goal – to make our small community safer.

Mahalo, Joe! We all owe you a debt of gratitude.

AUNTY PATTY NISHIYAMA, Na Kupuna O Maui

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Good reasons to flip the Senate

The U.S. Senate is up for grabs. Republicans hold 54 seats, but 34 Senate races could change that. If the Democrats pick up five net (they will likely lose at least one, in Nevada), they regain the Senate.

I’d offer reasons to make sure Republicans lose the Senate.

A Republican Senate blocked a hearing for Merrick Garland, one of the most obstructionist, obdurate acts of political dirty trickery in memory.

The Republicans have quashed all attempts to stop the mass shootings in the U.S., even including denying guns to terror suspects (who later went on to indeed commit acts of terror).

A Democratic Senate would finally finish the long overdue job of ratifying the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (assuming a President Clinton would sign), the single easiest and verifiable way to stop nuclear proliferation.

A Republican Senate will exacerbate foreign policy blunders that keep America plummeting in world opinion. Even when Obama and Clinton have been irresponsibly hawkish, the Republicans bellow their condemnation for not being warlike enough.

In New Hampshire, Illinois, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Florida and Ohio, the races are relatively close (well, not quite so much currently in Wisconsin, where a resurgent Russ Feingold is 11 points up on Trump-loving Ron Johnson), and in every one, the Republican incumbent held all the most problematic, retro positions possible.

Really, isn’t it time for the U.S. Senate to stop denying climate chaos, to start getting a clue about keeping guns out of the hands of terrorists, to quit opposing clean and renewable energy, and to play fair with our other branches?

Only by replacing Republicans will that happen; 2016 is the year to do it.

TOM H. HASTINGS, PeaceVoice