Musings: Random Observations

Last night it was all about the moon, a little crescent, at first white in a pink-stained sky, then growing golden, exposing the whole it held as it slipped lower, becoming a celestial scoop of ice cream.

In the morning, out before dawn, Makalii a fuzzy cluster headed toward Waialeale, Orion almost overhead, and then I turned to see bright and sparkling Venus, peeking up over the treetops, heralding the approach of the sun.

Just about that time I thought, gee, I haven’t seen Farmer Jerry in a while, and then some headlights swung around the curve and there he was, fresh back from Honolulu, as he so often seems to be. He was talking about the quality of the produce in Chinatown – the really fresh, crisp stuff that they grow on Oahu and bring in from all the other islands.

And we talked of how here, unless you have the time and stamina to brave the sunshine markets, or know someone who grows, you’re hard-pressed to find any local fruits and veggies. It sure ain’t in the grocery stores; it’s even scarce in the health food stores. What’s wrong with this picture?

Frankly, it’s a lot easier these days to buy locally grown cannabis than a sunrise papaya. In fact, a friend told me there’s currently a glut of da crip because so many people have gotten the medical marijuana card and are growing their own. It’s put a damper on weed sales, especially imports.

That reminds me of my radio show the other day, when we were talking about California’s failed bid to legalize marijuana. A reader had asked me to question Council members about whether they’d support an initiative to stop “green harvest,” so I quizzed Mel Rapozo, who had expressed an interest in the Public Safety Committee. He punted to the mayor, saying he administers the federal grants that support it, but then Councilman Jay Furfaro noted that the Council does have to approve the budget and its expenditures.

So sounds like both the mayor and Council would need to be lobbied hard to put an end to the intrusive flyovers. Hmmmm. It might just be easier to get a medical marijuana card. People always find a way around a repressive system.

Another friend, a Hawaiian born and raised on the North Shore, was telling me how depressed he was by what’s happened to the Kalalau trail – the beginning part, to Hanakapiai, that just went through a million-dollar face lift administered by Thomas Noyes, aka Mr. Path, and the Kauai Action and Planning Alliance, which has its fingers in so many cash-filled pies. He said they took the approach of “we don’t know when we might get money again, so let’s go gangbusters” and cut down mature ohia and hala trees, pushed rocks over the pali and opened the trail up wide.

“It’s like a fucking freeway now,” he said. “And they actually made it more dangerous because now there’s nothing along the trail to hang on to when it rains and gets slippery.” He said the ultimate irony was seeing a sign at Hanakapiai advising people to care for Hawaii’s natural resources. It was posted on the stump of a hala tree that was recently cut down.

I was talking to another friend, a political observer, who was telling me about the reorganization at the Lege and how our own Ron Kouchi had sided with Sen. Shan Tsutsui to deny Big Island Sen. Russell Kokubun leadership. “I was kind of surprised, because you know, Russell, he’s an environmentalist, he’s always supported farming,” my friend said. It doesn’t surprise me. The only thing green about Ron is the color of his campaign signs and the money in his wallet.

Finally, I found it amusing that Councilman Tim Bynum blamed his zoning problems on a vendetta by Councilman Mel Rapozo and Prosecutor Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho — as if they’re his only enemies in the county. And used to be folks would get upset if the planning department failed to go after a Councilman. Now we’ve got people crying that they’re being too hard on poor old Tim....