Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Musings: Moving On

This morning started off lovely, with good energy, until my neighbor’s dogs — two of the same ones that killed my cat last April 4, plus another one he’s since adopted from the shelter — attacked Paele.

It wasn’t pretty, seeing little Paele on the ground, belly up, and those three big dogs mugging him. My neighbor was uselessly issuing verbal commands when I started hitting Kahu — one of the dogs I’d seen with my cat in his mouth — with my umbrella. That caused him to let up long enough for Paele to escape and my neighbor to gain some semblance of control over his pack.

But did my neighbor offer an apology, express concern for Paele, or Koko, who had run off in the affray and was cowering nearby in terror?

Nope, he blamed Paele for “hassling” his dogs. Never mind that both Paele and Koko were leashed, and his dogs were not, and each of his three dogs are a good five to six times the weight of Paele, and I’d warned him that one of his dogs was growling and two of the dogs are proven animal killers.

How do you deal with people like that? Other than report them to the Humane Society, which is what I will do and should have done a year ago, despite the promises they would make sure to keep their dogs controlled, and haven't, which resulted in another neighborhood dog being killed last November and my neighbor having to put down the perperator.

Paele seems to be OK, but I’m still agitated and trembling. And I’m afraid the relationship with my neighbor, which had just begun to thaw, has frozen solid again as I look in earnest for a new place to live. So if anybody has a line on a rental that accepts pets, please email me at eastsidegrrrl at yahoo.com.

Speaking of moving on, Derek Kawakami is resigning from the County Council today and heading off to Honolulu to serve out the rest of Rep. Mina Morita’s term.

I wish him well.

And I really wish the process to choose Mina’s replacement was done in a more fair and open manner. Although District 14 Democratic Party Chair Susan Wilson makes like she’s an expert on the rules and claims that a bogus process that allowed Foster Ducker to interview candidates while seeking the nomination himself is “democracy in action,” there’s a little more to it than that.

It’s true that the Democratic constitution and rules don't give much guidance on situations involving conflicts of interest. However, if an issue is not directly addressed by the party rules, then those same rules and Constitution stipulate that Roberts Rules of Order shall prevail.

And as the relevant section of Roberts states:

It is a general rule that no one can vote on a question in which he has a direct personal or pecuniary interest. Yet this does not prevent a member from voting for himself for any office or other position, as voting for a delegate or for a member of a committee.

A sense of delicacy usually prevents a member from exercising this right of voting in matters affecting himself except where his vote might affect the result.


It seems that Foster lacks not only a moral compass, but a sense of delicacy.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hope Paele gets better, Joan. The attack on your animal friends is assault plain and simple. Please call the cops. Unleashed dogs that do that will do it again.

Anonymous said...

Let me guess, your well minded small animal was attacked by a mixed breed, unrestrained, undereducated animal.
That was the human, right?

That's life on the reseervation!

As a friend on Oahu says It is dangerous out there, don't go beyond the mail box!!

Anonymous said...

what we have here is a failure to communicate.......... which sometimes happens between a "fucking haole" and a "fucking local"

Joan Conrow said...

Actually, it was a white guy with a master's degree. So much for your racist theory.

Anonymous said...

Joan - I'm sorry to hear about the attack on Paele. I'm also sorry that you've had to put up with some horrible situations in your neighborhood. I hope that everything gets resolved peacefully.

I also want to thank you for being such a vigilant 'watchdog' on so many of the unscrupulous activities that take place on Kauai. You're brave & selfless in your pursuit to help preserve the Island. The Japanese cliche' "The nail that sticks out gets hammered" is a truism & I'm sure that you've been viciously attacked for being a watchdog just like Paele was this morning.

I sincerely hope that you & Paele recover from this incident and find the peace & harmony that you both deserve.

Anonymous said...

Sorry if I offended.... but what does does race have to do with local or haole? Local being someone from here, haole being a foreigner.

Regardless, one should not have to put up with that kind of crap. Glad no serious injury occurred.

Also... did I detect a little educational bias in one comment?

signed
a white high school dropout

Anonymous said...

Use more than an umbrella next time. Get yourself some pepper spray. I'd suggest you use it on the neighbor instead of his mutts, but that would be illegal.

Kawakami is a climber. He'll disappoint you soon enough. Hooser couldn't wait to cash in since he couldn't get a promotion. So now we get Kouchi and Kouchi Jr.

Joan Conrow said...

Thanks, 12:06, for your really kind words and to the others who expressed concern.

To 12:42, my earlier response was directed at the comment left at 10:41, which did smack of racism.

I agree that haole is not a racist term.

Anonymous said...

I agree that haole is not a racist term.

April 6, 2011 4:01 PM

however I note it can be/has been used that way.

Anonymous said...

I still don't understand how/why Derek was appointed to replace Mina, when he doesn't meet the required "must live within the district" criteria.

Anonymous said...

So sorry for the pain and suffering that your dog has gone through and yourself too, living to a neighbor whose dogs are like a time bomb waiting to go off.

The Ego of some goes beyond race. They will not take responsibility for their own "crimes" and look to blame others instead.

What is the solution to "lack of responsibility" that plagues the human race?

Dr Shibai

Andy Parx said...

Annon April 7, 2011 5:21 AM

If you have knowlege/hard evidence that Kawakami does not live in the 14th district please contact me at gotwindmills (at)gmail (dot) com

Anonymous said...

"Haole" is racist plain and simple...."If" you had attended Kappa High you would know this as a fact.

Kolea said...

The process for filling vacant elective offices has been handled somewhat differently in each instance. There was an attempt within the State Democratic Party's Central Committee to standardize the process, applying lessons from each occurrence in order to develop the best process for use statewide. Unfortunately, that effort was resisted by some of the county parties.

To be fair, I do not remember the Kauai party organizations as being one which resisted standardization. In fact, they have requested guidance from the state party on a number of occasions to figure their way through the process. In their favor, they publicized the process through the local media outlets. On Oahu, in contrast, the process of nominating replacements for Senator Hanabusa and Rep. Shimabukuro's seats were conducted with conscious avoidance of the local media. As a result, a lot of members in the affected Oahu districts, as well as potential nominees, had little or no opportunity to get involved.

I do not know Susan Wilson or Foster Ducker. But from my distant perspective, I think you are being unfair to them. If the Kauai county party officials asked the State Party for clarification and were advised to NOT ask members to recuse themselves, I think the fault lies with the state party officials and/or with the lack of clarity in the Rules themselves. Wilson can certainly be excused for following guidance from the State party. And if she passed that advice onto Ducker, it is understandable he would not recuse himself.

You may think Robert's provides clear guidance on this. But in reading the passages you cite, and following your link back to the passages in context, I do not see the clarity you do.

"Yet this does not prevent a member from voting for himself for any office or other position, as voting for a delegate or for a member of a committee."

That SEEMS to apply to this situation. Your further cite:

"A sense of delicacy usually prevents a member from exercising this right of voting in matters affecting himself except where his vote might affect the result."

That APPEARS to say a member should make the gesture of not voting on matters in which they have an interest, UNLESS such a recusal would have an actual impact on the outcome.

Surely, with a small district council of 8 people, Ducker's recusal would likely affect the outcome?

Perhaps I am misunderstanding your argument or perhaps I am misreading Robert's, but I think you are being a bit too quick to cast aspersions on the ethics of Wilson and Ducker.

I share your disappointment in the outcome. I was assuming from my perch on Oahu that Kauai would be sending another progressive voice over to our Square Building Near the Palace to help all Hawaii's people. With both Mina and Gary gone, Kauai's representation appears to have regressed rather than progressed.

Kolea said...

Hey Joan?

How come my posts have been deleted a few minutes after posting? I will admit they were lengthy, but they were civil, on-point and well-informed.

If you prefer short, insipid comments, I could do that. But why bother?

Let me know.

Joan Conrow said...

Hi Kolea,
Your comments were not deleted, they were sent to the Spam folder, and I'm not sure why. Anyway, I released one (the other appeared to be a duplicate of the first), and thank you for writing. Although long, your comments are thoughtful.

Anonymous said...

"regressed rather than progressed."

FOR SURE!