Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Musings: Puzzling

I’m a bit under the weather, so Koko and I had only a brief encounter with the natural world this morning. Still, we were out there long enough to watch the sky shift from starry black to violet, make eye contact with a pueo that landed on a telephone wire and enjoy the fragrance of mock orange blossoms wafting on the humid air.

So I’m not complaining, although I see The Garden Island today provides yet another account of a tourist insistent upon voicing his displeasure with Kauai.

It’s a little bit hard to feel sorry for this man, in part because even though he’d heard accounts of thefts at Kipu Falls he still left valuables in his rental car.

And then there’s his annoying way of referencing how much money he and his wedding party allegedly spent on Kauai — he pegs the total at a quarter-million — and the important people who were in attendance — higher ups of big companies like Smith Barney, Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank — as if we could give a rip and that makes any difference in the overall scheme of things.

But Antonio “Tony” Dettori apparently feels his investment ought to have gotten him better service from the cops. He criticizes KPD mightily for failing to launch an APB or identify the alleged suspect based on a snapshot that shows the backside of a shirtless man who looks like thousands of other guys on this island.

“Something is amiss over there,” Dettori said.

“This case does not look good in the uncorrupted local eyes or the family and friends of all my guests; doesn’t bode well for Kaua‘i in general I think,” he said.


Then he gripes that the cops didn’t arrest the man he picked out of a photo lineup, even though the police had nothing to go on but Tony’s claim that the guy looked suspicious, and the second-hand account of unidentified tourists who allegedly saw the man walk away from Dettori’s rental car with something in his hand.

Sorry, Tony, but the law just doesn’t work that way. It doesn’t matter whether you’re visiting on Kauai or back home at Del Mar.

I can understand why visitors — or anyone — get upset when they’re victimized by the smash and dash crew or the boys siphoning gas from cars left at the end of the road. But I'm puzzled as to why this gripe is worthy of front-page coverage, even in The Garden Island.

Still, perhaps it does serve a purpose. When I see the shattered glass in the parking lot of my favorite beach, I often think, wow, are those guys really getting enough stuff to make this ongoing crime spree worthwhile? And now I know yes, thanks to tourists who refuse to heed the warnings, they are.

Speaking of favorite beaches, I’ve got a piece in The Hawaii Independent about a proposal for fencing at Larsen’s Beach that would result in the loss of a beach access there. It’s an interesting story, because it also brings up other longstanding issues, including liability concerns and the county’s often slack approach to recording public easements.

If you’re an advocate of beach access and/or especially like Larsen’s — which I believe is properly known as Ka`aka`aniu (and according to North Shore historian Gary Smith, Larsen’s is a complete misnomer because sugar man L. David Larsen didn’t have anything to do with that beach) — you might want to weigh in on the Conservation District Use permit that rancher Bruce Laymon is seeking to build the fence.

Written comments must be postmarked by Friday and sent to Samuel J. Lemmo, Administrator, Office of Conservation & Coastal Lands, Department of Land & Natural Resources, P. O. Box 621, Honolulu, HI 97809.

I find it puzzling that DLNR doesn’t accept email testimony. I mean, save a tree, get with the 21st Century, facilitate public participation, that sort of thing. Or maybe public participation isn't what the state wants.

And on that note, even though the Kauai-Niihau Island Burial Council is finally set to meet tomorrow after being without a quorum for lo these many months, the really hot topic — Brescia’s burial treatment plan — isn’t on the agenda.

Puzzling, that it's still not being dealt with, as meanwhile, construction continues…..

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Tony" was puzzled by the thefts and the KPD responses because he was expecting first-world type of reaction from the authorities..yeah it's.not mexico, but it's not quite at the level he's obviously used to.

And while easy to damnify them for leaving their crap openly visible in the car, there is still NO excuse for stealing (the stuff or the petrol).

Anonymous said...

hope you feel better. sucks to be sick


"as if we could give a rip"

-- i give a rip, others do also, and with good reason


"But I'm puzzled as to why this gripe is worthy of front-page coverage, even in The Garden Island."

-- b/ (there is a perception that) crime is on the rise (?). b/ in the past people have brought kpd straight-up video of crimes and criminals for which there seemed to be no real response?


"I find it puzzling that DLNR doesn’t accept email testimony."

-- that is fishy. heck even the co council does


"the really hot topic — Brescia’s burial treatment plan — isn’t on the agenda.

Puzzling, that it's still not being dealt with, as meanwhile, construction continues"

--- point taken. one would think that would want to address that ASAP to some extent, even if not conclusively, in their first session. not a good signal


"expecting first-world type of reaction"

-- is it that unrealistic to expect a proper response? if that is the case it speaks volumes; nothing to be proud of for sure


dwps

Anonymous said...

"But I'm puzzled as to why this gripe is worthy of front-page coverage, even in The Garden Island."

"-- b/ (there is a perception that) crime is on the rise (?). b/ in the past people have brought kpd straight-up video of crimes and criminals for which there seemed to be no real response?"

That "perception is from Shaylene our local prosecutor despite the AG stats that say crime is down. Also in the past 3 months TGI appears to have many articles about police doings (mostly by Paul Curtis) with that "most wanted" crapola making minor criminals appear to be major threats to the community. Finally (and I hate to say this about Joan), but it sounds like "blame the victim". I and many locals don't even lock their homes, but if I got ripped off and the police did nothing and someone told me it was my fault for not locking up my house or leaving valuables in my house I would not be a happy camper.
Does common sense dictates setting up a perimeter defense system and hiring armed guards! Isn't that sort of thinking where "gated Communities" come from? Smacks of blaming a woman for being raped because she was out late without a male escort and dressed "seductively".

Anonymous said...

"the really hot topic — Brescia’s burial treatment plan — isn’t on the agenda.

Maybe the new council needs time to warm up...meet together for the first time, learn their rights/duties, etc??

Anonymous said...

"higher ups of big companies like Smith Barney, Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank"


Ah, there's the problem. KPD lacks the sophistication to investigate white collar crime perpetrated by investment bankers. Curse you, KPD!

Anonymous said...

If there was a grant of an easement, the County's failure to record it would not affect its validity. Recordation of the easement puts subsequent purchasers on notice that the easement burdens the property. If the same owner holds title to the property, then the County should record the easement now.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for saying this and something needs to be done about branding people:
"Also in the past 3 months TGI appears to have many articles about police doings (mostly by Paul Curtis) with that "most wanted" crapola making minor criminals appear to be major threats to the community."
Although donʻt agree with rest of your post.

Since P. Curtis canʻt write he has to be sensationalist.


You did nail a problem though and itʻs called Paul Curtis. Bought and paid for and racist racist. Oh but he does a have filipino wife. So whatʻs that say...hmmmm.

P. Curtis canʻt write for ____and shouldnʻt be back on that paper. Heʻs trying to sabotage Eagle and Levine who, until he came back, were doing a pretty good job.

Where is she??? I want Kandyce in my Corner!!!! Bring her back.

I think the three of them youngbloods would be good team.

Ed Coll said...

Joan said "Or maybe public participation isn't what the state wants."

Maybe? For sure! How else can one explain the fact that many gov agencies actually print out a document then scan it back into PDF format AS AN IMAGE if not just to make it difficult for citizens to cut-and-paste the gov info into the citizen testimony. One must resort to optical character recognition (OCR) applications to extract text from an image back into text (or manually re-type it. OCR technology is not perfect so then the citizen must proof read and correct spelling errors introduced by the OCR process. Really NO REASON for this other than make it more difficult and time consuming for citizens to participate in the process. Not excepting email is another example as you point out. Another trick is the use of IDENTICAL forms by different gov agencies/departments with the exception of the forms official alphanumeric designation. Gov agencies will ask the citizen to provide information when such information is already in gov hands in another division/agency/department. Elected Gov officials will also make citizens only submit email through a web based form asking for lots of info instead of using the citizens own email client.

All these techniques are designed to frustrate and reduce the number of citizen interactions with gov and one usually gets a form letter with little of the information requested for their efforts.

Mauibrad said...

Good blog post Joan.

Anonymous said...

Tourist here. Kauai needs to outlaw middle age ponytail bald spot men. north shore OMG - its like a required uniform

Anonymous said...

Kauai is as far away as the aging hippies can get and still be in America.

Everything "loose" in America rolls west.

Anonymous said...

"the AG stats that say crime is down"

-- no kidding. huh..


"KPD lacks the sophistication to investigate white collar crime perpetrated by investment bankers"

-- nice one! (to you too October 22, 2009 12:53 PM)


"Kauai is as far away as the aging hippies can get and still be in America.

Everything "loose" in America rolls west."

-- i suspect there is much truth in what you just said. and at the same time we see that some of the better innovators are ~ "in the west" ...wonder if there is a correlation


dwps

Anonymous said...

the ponytail is the combover for surfers

Anonymous said...

"Kauai is as far away as the aging hippies can get and still be in America"

Goes for all of us, hippie or not.
Hawaii is the edge of western civilization...

Anonymous said...

but I didn't come here to get away from anyone/anything (other than the weather) or be part of a group mindset/community.

Anonymous said...

I came to look at the pretty fishies.

Anonymous said...

The ones from the Phillipines I assume!

Anonymous said...

"I came to look at the pretty fishies."

Actually, that's pretty much it, my wife and I being scuba divers and underwater photographers.

Frankly, if the weather and ocean we enjoy here were in NYC, we'd just as soon moved there.

Anonymous said...

Back on topic: the "KPD" keystone cops... not quite first world, not quite third world either.

Anonymous said...

I like to sit on the bottom of the ocean and take pictures of the pretty fishies. I also like the bubbles that I can make underwater. I know it sounds kind of stupid, bu it's unbelievably fulfilling.

Anonymous said...

A hell of a lot more fulfilling than participating in protests and holding signs and writing my congressman.

Anonymous said...

Yes, it's better to hold court with the fishies. At least they don't judge me or question my tastes. Oooh, there's a pretty one now! Honey, get the camera. Glub blub.