Kaanapali beach walk needs to be in better taste

On the quintessential (perfectly typical) beach walk along Kaanapali Beach, the beauty of the scene is rapidly coming to an end.

A beach essay in my book, “Voices of Aloha on Magical Maui,” was inspired by my son, who indicated I should write more about my passion for Maui. The essay (available at www.normbezane.com) took as its theme a stroll down the beautiful path from beginning to end: hibiscus and spidery white lilies, bare-chested Hawaiians surfing, majestic swans at the Hyatt, 35 while-toweled lounges forming a pleasant pattern overlooking the ocean, killer views of whales from Starbucks, surf teachers wearing luminescent orange shirts, a Chinese stone warrior on guard, new arrivals marching along wearing crimson leis and the all-encompassing views of the deep blue sea.

A friend recently noted that the long beach path – a great place for a morning walk with once uninterrupted views of Lanai and Molokai – was a key reason for his purchase of a nearby condo, where is now a permanent resident.

Alas, the beauty of the quintessential beach path – plagued by commercialism – is fast disappearing.

Fifteen feet tall, 15 feet wide heavy steel structures house huge cabanas that block the view. Worse-for-wear surfboards are stacked in unsightly racks. Some 50 brown chaise lounges in three stacks eight feet tall clutter the view.

A white tent for a surfing school is held up by four industrial pails with ugly writing on them facing the path

And then there is the ultimate in bad taste: a new 15-foot-tall plastic pineapple for picture taking at the entrance of the boutique shopping center. The center that once celebrated whales with a whaling museum, and even a whaling boat was opened by a visionary entrepreneur who loved the mammoths of the sea. One wonders if its name is about to be changed to Pineapple Village.

Bad taste is often on display. Personally, I think that unsightly or inappropriate clutter is an affront to the culture and our hosts (Hawaiians) and their respect for the land.

Enough complaining. Perhaps there is an answer. I, for one, would like to see the Kaanapali Beach Resort Association police and put in some common sense ground rules to bring back the wonderful vistas the path once offered before rampant commercialization.

NORM BEZANE, Kaanapali

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Solving Maui’s cat problem

There is only one proven solution to solving Maui’s cat problem: TNRM -(Trap, Neuter, Return, Manage). This humane strategy has been an effective solution in over 500 major cities worldwide.

Because of the near perfect yearround weather, the lack of predators and the ample resources here on Maui, we will always have cats.

When we kill or remove cats from where they were found, they will be quickly replaced by new, unfixed cats that will struggle to survive in a phenomenon known as the Vacuum Effect. This tragic cycle is forever perpetuated when this new group is replaced by yet another group of sickly, struggling cats and kittens.

Fortunately, cats are territorial and somewhat social to humans. By trapping, sterilizing and feeding a healthy cat colony, they will in turn protect their territory by helping to prevent more cats from moving into the area. By fixing your pet cat, you will stop their breeding cycle and reduce the number of unwanted kittens for years to come. This benefits us all!

With a strong community effort, together we can solve this crisis once and for all and help make Maui a paradise for both people and cats alike.

Cat lovers, cat haters and cats all want the same thing: less cats. TNRM is the only way to get there. For more information or ways you can help, please visit SaveMauiCats.org.

MICHAEL WILLINSKY, Lahaina

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How the Lahaina News was founded, Part III

While Kelsey had made Lahaina News more liberal left and radical than The Maui News, it was in the “middle” compared to the extreme new left Maui Times.

While Kelsey and I consistently were anti-development and attacked the real estate businesses over-developing Maui in editorials, competitors prospered financially more than my Maui Times, because their advertising base was those real estate companies. There was also little bad news in it by the 1990s, and what there was dealt with environmental dangers and damage.

The Lahaina News also covered local school sports and amateur surf contests. We covered the monster wave swells that badly injured local surfers and killed a few on Oahu, those who surfed and windsurfed in Hurricane Iniki, and Maui surf stars impacted by drug and alcohol abuse. We also covered contests on the world stage, radical new surfboard designs from Maui, the huge sailboarding fad here, and the “Surf Wars” between haoles and “black shorts” hui locals.

Soon another alternative newspaper appeared, The Maui Reporter, and it failed quickly due to a lack of ad income from competition with the others.

In the mid-1980s, I converted the Maui Times into The Lahaina Times, and it prospered until 1987, when I suddenly shut it down while it was making a good profit! By then I was editor and publisher of Maui Sailboarder International Magazine, at the peak of the huge Maui windsurfing fad, and had no time for The Lahaina Times!

By 1988, I had 13 employees, a 100-page slick magazine with lots of color photos, and made $1,000 myself after paying off the employees, printers and other expenses. The magazine was thick enough to also include jokes, cartoons, wild characters and amazing Maui true tales, like we did in the newspapers.

Note that my Maui Times, The Lahaina Times, and The Maui Moon had been printed on more expensive, classier white bond paper instead of the usual newsprint that weathers into crumbling yellow and brown. I have issues published in the early 1970s that did not crumble, darken or lose their bright colors and dark white.

The Lahaina News has been around for 40 years, while The Maui Sun, Maui Reporter, The Maui Moon and others had gone out of business. There is a need for a down-to-earth newspaper for all counties and states, to give the public “fair and balanced news” and a choice of whatever they prefer.

STEVE OMAR