Musings: All Over the Place

It was more morning than night when Koko and I walked today, although Venus and the waning crescent moon still reigned over the sky.

Since it was lighter than usual, I got to see things I usually don’t, like the golf ball-sized toadstools growing alongside the road. A pink cloud released a sheet of gray rain over in the vicinity of the airport, and a rainbow arched out of the clouds atop Wailaleale.

Yesterday I saw a lot of rainbows — about six, if I recall correctly — on my way to and from Kalihiwai, where the surf was giant, but sloppy, prompting lookey-lous to double-line the road at the bend on the river side, making it dangerously hard to get by, much to the annoyance of people who down live there, some of whom I’d gone to visit.

They informed me that the bones of three persons — one of them in a casket — and a horse had been dug up as the ground was excavated for two septic tanks so a second house can be built on the site closest to the ocean. And for a cool $2 million, it can yours.

Great. Now we’ve moved beyond excavating ancient burials and are digging up modern ones, too. While we’re on that topic, I have a story in the current issue of Haleakala Times that merges the controversy over the excavation of burials at the Whole Foods site on Oahu with the concern over the natural foods giant coming to Maui. I couldn’t help noticing that the ad running right next to my story on the website was for the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua, where 900 skeletons were uncovered in 1988.

The PR person for Whole Foods finally responded to my inquiry yesterday, a mere 15 days after I made it and the day after the story was published. I’m still waiting to hear back from the Department of Land Natural Resources public information officer on an inquiry I made last week for a story on a Kauai biofuel project that came out in yesterday’s Honolulu Weekly. (I’ll post the link when it comes on line next week.)

If a public corporation wants to blow off the media, it has the right, but I have a problem with first, being unable to speak directly to state officials who make decisions that affect the public and second, waiting for the PIO to ask the question for me, and not getting a timely response.

Do you ever get the feeling folks just don’t want to answer your questions, or even hear what you have to say? That’s the only explanation I can derive for scheduling a public hearing on proposed revisions to the state Water Resource Protection Plan for 6 tomorrow night in Lihue.

Now how many people want to attend a hearing on a Friday night? And it just so happens to coincide with the parade of lights down Rice Street, when all the roads leading to the meeting site at the civic center will be closed. Let’s hope they put more thought and planning into the revisions themselves, which I will try to read and synthesize for tomorrow’s post.

I’d meant to do that this morning, but experienced bloggus interruptus when I had to zip up to Kilauea again to pick up my health food order. I’m part of a buying club, which helps keep prices way down, and the monthly stockpile came in today.

Saw two more rainbows on the way there, and Crack 14 must be goin’ off because the highway was packed with cars. I wonder how much longer the surfers will be able to get in there, with that fancy new house going up alongside the old cane road. But that’s one good thing about surfers. They push the access issue.

Which reminds me of the next question that Superferry security watchdog Karen Anderson plans to pose: “Dear Superferry, I want to bring a car full of fireworks for my New Year's camping trip, plus tiki torch fluid, cans of lighter fluid, two 20 gallon propane tanks and some hunting rifles. What kinds of fireworks are allowed on board and in what quantity? Also, is it okay to store the fireworks next to the lighter fluid in my trunk?”

Awright. You go, grrrl!

And while we’re on the topic of Superferry security. I got another email directing me to this blog, and this link, which contained this nugget: “Large passenger ferries, such as the ones that carry citizens between Manhattan and Staten Island, New York, pose the greatest risk of terrorism in maritime transportation, the U.S. Coast Guard and Department of Homeland Security warn.

“According to a Coast Guard study, large ferries received the highest risk assessment score among 80 maritime terrorist scenarios, tying with a ship carrying hazardous cargo near an urban area. DHS has also issued a bulletin warning that terrorists are scouting U.S. ferry systems for possible attack.”

But hey, no worries. We’ve got the “Unified Command” keeping us, and the Superferry, safe from the “terrorists” — you know, da guys paddling surfboards and outrigger canoes at Nawiliwili and Kahului harbors.