Friday, June 19, 2015

Musings: Welcome to Johannesburg

Is the Hanalei Pier turning into the Kauai version of the Bermuda Triangle, where seemingly strange things happen, but there's no actual verification of events?

To wit is a front-page article in today's The Garden Island, which tells of a harassment offense, allegedly committed on Tuesday by two unidentified perpetrators, and condemned by an anonymous businessman who was himself not a witness.

Though TGI had no actual details on the events surrounding the crime itself, it posted this subhead, emphasis added:

Men charged with harassment for reportedly targeting tourists Tuesday

The newspaper then allowed the businessman to expound at length based on reports he'd reportedly obtained from unnamed persons who supposedly did witness the incident.

Despite the lack of solid information, both TGI and the businessman tied Tuesday's event to another incident at the pier May 30, details about which have been equally sparse and sketchy.

The result?

Both murky incidents have been pegged as race-based, haole-hating, tourist-targeting violent crimes, prompting the unidentified businessman to proclaim that “he is so unsettled by these two incidents that he plans to reach out to other Hanalei business owners to help him fund a private security guard to monitor nighttime activity at the pier.”

Private security guard?

As in a repeat of the wealthy Kauapea Road vacation rental owners who hired a security guard to patrol the public beach and harass people for being naked, camping or doing anything that might possibly offend their high-paying guests?

What's next? A lynching tree at Black Pot?

The businessman is also quoted as saying:

We all know there’s this unrest between the local people and tourists, and everyone kind of brushes it under the rug and says, ‘Oh, we’re not going to talk about it.’

So instead of actual talking about it, or addressing the ever-growing numbers of tourists, the absence of affordable housing, the escalating gentrification of the North Shore and the resulting diaspora, the answer is a private security force to protect white people from the natives?

What's next? A security check point at the bridge?

65 comments:

Anonymous said...

This sounds like the McCarthyism or something like that. there are a few individuals that make statements to generalize the whole. this thing with tgi has been going for decades. bottom line = paper sales. doesn't help with MidWeek and For Kauai. for me is Kauai Eclectic. Hawaii supposed to be visited by tourist for reasons like we supposed to be the "ALOHA" state. We friendly, kind, good natured, helpful, easy going. you can go on and on with this hype. alcohol, drugs in public places is a no no. you like see how tough and strong you are go work. no hang out and make trouble. our parents hoped for the best for us. they say a village makes the people. Hanalei is losing the Village concept. no blame nobody, no mo hila hila. this worse than gmo.

for life said...

You are right it is worst than GMO but to them it isnt they say A'ole GMO but without AG (and the seed companies) we will have much much more of this Hanalei type attitude....They are opposing the New housing development in Kapaa and the Coco Palms BUT without the Ag we will have more and more development...What the heck do they want ????? they are a confused bunch of folks....we never used to have these problems before.....but of course it is all the "Locals" fault.... now they wonder why there is so much anger?????Hmmmm

Manuahi said...

"A security check point at the bridge?"

Absolutely! but we need it at Halfway Bridge to keep the east & north shore idiot transplants away from the west & south shores and our agriculture. Hear that Hooser? Stay the fuk away from our fields and quit trespassing! You are generating more hate for you and your kind than you know.

Anonymous said...

Isn't being naked and camping on the beach generally illegal in Kauai? Yet you criticize someone, (The TVR owner) for enforcing these laws, claiming the TVR owner and his security guard are harrassing those who are breaking the law. On the other hand, you applaud a private land-owner for calling the police on Gary Hooser, who was allegedly trespassing. I don't see how these two situations are that different, but you seem to support the law when the offender is a party you don't lie, yet don't support the law when the enforcer is a party you don't like.

Dawson said...

It's amazing how history keeps repeating. "Problems with our local natives" is one of the recurring themes in the conquest of the American West. It was front page fodder for small town newspaper editors from the 19th century to the 1930s.

The plot of the story is always the same: a white male member of the local business elites, who are invested in gaining economic dominance of a desirable region, plays the racist fear-card, demanding government protection against native violence (typically "young bucks" fueled by alcohol) that threatens our women and children, our livelihood, our town's good name, and so forth.

And people say colonialism is a thing of the past.

Anonymous said...

Everybody is blowing this out of proportion. The NS businessman might be a newbie, but is definitely a blowhard.
Hanalei is a busy town, things happen. Use ta be, Kapaa was off-limits, Waimea was no-go and God Forbid you gat caught in Koloa. Holy Fisticuffs Batman, use ta be that the West Side guys needed a "pass" to go to Lihue. Now Kapaa is a shining star. And Mr NS businessman with the big mouth, Hanalei is also a shining star.
The GI writes about gossip and lets real news go by the way side. Like how the County is taxing people to death, how the County has stopped hundreds of l'il MoM and Pop BnB shoppes. How the County let's the Kekaha Dump grow daily, Drug Rehab is lacking, there are more homeless at the County Building than Lychee on a full tree etc etc.
The real culprits if there is increasing Local/Haole tensions is the County. But since most locals are Hapas, it is hard for tell what one Haole really is...is a hapless subject.
The County by making it so difficult for a builder to build market priced homes is creating tension. Mr Big Bucks can build cause he got kala. Mr Regular Guy Builder knows that after the County puts him thru years of BS, that his ideas of getting house/lot packages at 400K is a dream. As soon as Da Hoos, JoAnn (of Mt Yukimura legacy) and Mason (uh, where am I?) get done with their BS affordable housing ransoms, bikepath extortion and sidewalk backsheesh there ain't no room to get a house in the arms of a regular citizen.
Not to mention a Planning Department that acts on whim, a Water Department that grants water meters as if they were immaculate conceptions and an Engineering Department that wants driveways to be on par with an interstate highways, while the County Roads are a shotgun blast of pukas.
And just think...all these County folks, Tim Big Bucks Bynum included, spend their lives telling us how to live ours...and then we pay them as they reside in super-high pension land. What a joke.
If there is young person's anger on Kauai, it should be directed at the Politicians.
A sad story of trespassing Rice Cooker owning dishonorable takers, who do not uphold their Charge to serve the people..err, maybe they do serve. They serve themselves to our money and as deniers of our dreams.
Still dancing on the rooftop after all these years.

Anonymous said...

The Hanalei businesses should just pay the "local boys" a few bucks a month to keep the peace.

Anonymous said...

It's the people we elect and put into positions that SELL out Kauai. They prositute Kauai and its people out for their GREED and they watch at the people amongst each other and laugh at what they have caused. The Good ol boy and girls are playing CHESS while the people on Kauai only know how to play checkers. Why aren't the people of Kauai pissed at the big land owners for locking the land up instead of creating affordable housing and growing or leasing to grow AG?

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a bullshit incident , facts anyone?

Anonymous said...

4:34. What are you talking about? The big land owners are dying to lease land to farmers who know WTF they're doing not crybaby gimme gimme types.

Anonymous said...

The truth shall set you free unless you are from Kauai and can't handle the truth because you are either looking for a county hand out, begging for one, or already got yours.

Thanks for recognizing the FACTS of the matter. The county has grown from 700-1400 employees in 10 years starting with Kusaka at 700 and now with Sloth at 1400 employees. The county of Kauai is the people's worst enemy. Tax and triple tax the people until they give up and sell their homes and leave so the rich can buy for cheap. The county collect the taxes and collect in donations so the rich can build 5K sq ft to 10K sq ft homes. Look at the listing on the home at Kealia Kai, it's 8500 sq ft, 12 bedrooms, so on. That's a fricking hotel!!!! Who approved of the build? I thought there was a code to limit the size of a build. But you all remember this goes back to the Kusaka bribe and the Kealia Kai blackmail/extortion to get this approval.

You all wonder who is at fault. It's not the rich white, Chinese, Facebook guys that buy property in Kauai. It's the people in position to protect the lands and laws that sell out. It's Kauai's people that Uncle Toms.

Joan Conrow said...

To 1:36.Landowners called cops because Hooser was trespassing on private land. TVR owners hired private guards to harass people on public land. Surely even you can see the difference.

Anonymous said...

I AM beginning to smell, 2 smell BIG Brother, pitting us against, against ONE another, 2 divide and CON- quer, CON-quer and CON-troll, CON- trolling the masses, I feel is their goal, I smell a cur-FEW, WHO iz at da pier?, It's past 10:30, U got NO biz-ness here, Where R your papers?, and knot da rolling kind, this park closes at 10, I am authorized 2 remind, 2 re- mind U of your status, 2 remind you of your place, this ain't about "locals vs haole", this ain't about race, this is about FREE- dum, R ability 2 CON-trol, R piece of the action, subjection is their goal, This is coming from the CON-ty, another form of TAX, shoved down R throats, another monkey on R backs, another false flag, another anomaly, another reason 2 hate, but I disagree, It's all a facade, it's all a show, divide and CON-quer, hatred is their goal, don't buy into it, DO NOT buy their stance, I 4 ONE, do knot buy the facts..... OR did they forgot 2 mention them??????? Anyways..... WE R ALL ONE, and I love you all, local or knot, newbies or 'born here', what difference does it make, for all of our sakes? PEACE LOVE and HARMONY

Anonymous said...

Only to highest bidder Uncle Tom.

Ask how much more money did they pay to take away land from the original leaser to build the green energy plant.

Anonymous said...

Yes, I see the minor differences, but you are overlooking the similarities. In once case the law is being broken on public land, in the other instance its being broken on private land. In either case, the law is being broken. If those on the beach were the guests of the TVR owner, and the police showed up to bust them, would you be claiming the police were harassing those poor TVR guests? No, you would not and that is a "difference" I wish even you could see.

Joan Conrow said...

Now you're missing the other big difference: using police vs private security.

Anonymous said...

What do you expect from TGI? They don't have decent reporters so they rely on heresay and 3rd party accounts to develop stories. And negative stories sell papers. TGI isn't worth the paper it is printed on.

Anonymous said...

@1:36 pm

Isn't harassment just as illegal. But you're okay with that eh!

Anonymous said...

Want to visit the pier for sunset,bring a gun. They'll wet their pants and go crying to their fellow dropouts.

Anonymous said...

3:53, Do us all a favor and stay away from Hanalei. Thanks for making it clear, it is not locals who are causing the frukas.Boy, this issue stinks of lies.

Manuahi said...

I think it stinks more of denial.

Anonymous said...

Despite the horrible reporting by TGI, the end result is the light shining on a pervasive problem on Kauai. Racism. It's root runs deep and must be addressed. Despite the Utopian thinking that Kauai will return to ((insert desired description)), tourists will continue to come to Kauai. The economy absolutely relies on it - like it or hate it. So, the events that occurred recently near the Hanalei pier need to be addressed. More importantly, the underlying issue(s) need to be addressed. In the short-term, provide more police presence. After all, nobody (local, transplant, tourist) likes a belligerent drunk harassing others - especially women, children and others simply minding their own business.

Joan - I understand why you're railing on TGI (and it's deserved) but you're missing an opportunity to address the proverbial elephant in the room that has been swept under the rug for too long. Spitting in a woman's face (irrespective of the level of pigmentation), terrifying young girls and 8th-grade boys is simply unacceptable and should be strongly condemned by all of us. Kudos to Dickie Chang writing a LTE calling out the chest-puffing wimps likely filled with liquid courage. Um, spitting in a woman's face is so manly.

If the tourism goes away, who pays the county union workers? Who pays for the roads? Who pays for the food stamps, housing subsidies, taxpayer-subsidized healthcare, and other welfare programs? If the recent events of Hanalei continue, tourism WILL take a hit.

Anonymous said...

All those GMO protesters should be holding signs warning of the grave dangers facing not just Kauai, but the planet. We're circling the drain (climate change, tons of plastic in our oceans, and on and on) but people are losing it because a few drunks and punks act up. What those local boys should have told those Ohio tourists was "enjoy Hanalei, now stop fucking up our fish with your coal burning power plants".

Anonymous said...

9:15 yes, racism is a pervasive problem in this country and its roots run deep. Genocide of indigenous people, slavery, the Chinese Exclusion Act, the overthrow of the Hawaiian Monarchy, the internment of the Japanese, Jim Crow, and on and on. Address the historical, institutional and deeply rooted racism that made America and then let's talk about the impact that it has had on those who grew up here.

Dawson said...

9:15AM wrote:
"If the tourism goes away, who pays the county union workers? Who pays for the roads? Who pays for the food stamps, housing subsidies, taxpayer-subsidized healthcare, and other welfare programs?"

No one will ever find the answers to those questions as long tourism doesn't go away.

In justifying the tourist industry's domination of Kauai, you're justifying economic slavery.

"If the recent events of Hanalei continue, tourism WILL take a hit."

In other words, the most important lesson for locals is don't piss off your masters -- the tourism industry.

Is an endless continuation of the soul sucking, culture killing, pittance-paying domination of your life by the tourism industry what you want for your children's lives? For your grandchildren's? Your great-grandchildren's?

Anonymous said...

Or are the recent events in Hanalei staged to have people call for more police presence in advance of the development on the hill? Some are salivating over the Hanalei, and "locals" keep if from being remade to their liking.

Anonymous said...

fatal
'He will live forever in our hearts'

Tom LaVenture - The Garden Island | Updated 5 months ago

KAUMAKANI — Friends held a vigil on Monday at the site where a pedestrian was struck and killed by a responding police vehicle on Saturday night.


BUNNY N CLYDE: COME ON GUYS DONT YOU SEE THE WHOLE PICTURE ON WHAT REALLY HAPPENED. AN OFF DUTY OFFICER HIT THE BOY WHICH WAS THE FIRST CAR THEN THE ON DUTY OFFICER CAME AND HIT THE BOY AGAIN AND KILLED THE BOY. COME ON NOW IF THERE WERE PEOPLE STANDING AROUND AND ALL KINE ACTION HAPPENING BECAUSE THE BOY GOT HIT THE COP WOULD OF SEEN IT AND HE SHOULD OF SLOWED DOWN AND BE CAUTIOUS. THERES MORE TO THIS STORY THEN PEOPLE KNOW AND THESE COPS ARE KEEPING IT HUSH HUSH. COME ON THEY OVIOUSLY NEW IT WAS A TOYOTA COROLLA WHY ISNT NO ONE MAKING THE ATTEMPT TO HUNT THIS PERSON DOWN WHO ACTUALLY WAS THE FIRST ONE TO HIT THE BOY. THINK ABOUT IT, THESE COPS ON KAUAI ARE SO DIRTY THAT THEY DO THINGS LIKE THIS AND GET AWAY WITH IT. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH WE NEED TO PUT OUR FOOT DOWN AND EXPOSE THIS DIRTY COPS WHO ARE KILLING INNOCENT YOUNG PEOPLE. ITS JUST LIKE THE YOUNG BOY THE COPS SHOT DOWN NAWILIWILI, EXCEPT THIS INCIDENT THEY DIDNT USE THERE GUN THEY USED THERE CAR. SO SAD AS WHY WE DONT TRUST COPS ANYMORE. OUR HEART GOES OUT TO THAT BOY AND HIS FAMILY. IF YOU NEED A GOOD ATTORNEY WHO SAID HE WILLING TO TAKE THIS CASE CONTACT MYLES BREINER ON OAHU HE WILL GET JUSTICE SERVED

Monday, January 12, 2015, 11:23 pm

Anonymous said...

One of those arrested for harrassment at the Hanelei Pier last Tuesday seems to enjoy his work:

From the April 19, 2012 edition of The Garden Island:

"A nine-count indictment against Daniel Ikaika Hebron-Woodward alleges that on March 19, he committed first-degree burglary, second-degree unauthorized entry in a dwelling, three counts of harassment, two counts of third-degree sexual assault, attempted first-degree sexual assault and first-degree sexual assault"

The article doesn't say whether his actions were provoked by seeing too many tourists that day...

Anonymous said...

To June 20, 10:25 AM:

Tourism, like it or not, is the dominant industry for Hawaii and most other tropical islands. It's not submitting to economic slavery, it's going with the flow. Basketball players shouldn't make more than an inner-city Chicago police officer. They do - it's a fact and it's not going to change. That may be a bad analogy but some things in life are either accepted or... Work within the system to change it. Are you arguing that getting drunk and high on who knows what and then terrorizing women, children and the elderly is an acceptable method to gain a voice?? You are part of the problem if you don't see the problem. Kauai, for better or worse, is a melting pot of many cultures, ethnic backgrounds and voices. Unity is needed - we have enough division and it's tearing at the core of our humanity. There is NEVER justification for spitting in a woman's face - period and regardless of skin tone - especially a woman trying to defend innocent girls and 8th grade boys.

I sincerely hope you are able to grasp that. If not, you're akin to the Ku Klux Klan way of thinking.

Anonymous said...

9 Count 2012 Indictment on the same guy and he is already out?
Tell me he is on probation or parole or something.
What is Kauai law enforcement doing (or not doing).
The jail is full of cats who missed a court date and this guy is out?

Anonymous said...

Economic slavery? Try economic liberation, which is really what tourism has brought to Kauai and a thousand other places. Without tourists and second home owners coming to Kauai, many of the skilled and semi-skilled trades would take bit hits. Restaurant owners and workers, general contractors, plumbers, electricians, property managers and the real estate industry, gardeners, tourism related industries, would all take a hit. Government revenue would go down, and there would be country layoffs in both the public an private sector. . And someone out there thinks that tourism only helps the local maids? Probably half the jobs on Kauai are connected in one way or another to tourism. Think there is a drug and crime problem now? Just wait until unemployement hits 25% or so without tourism

Dawson said...

11:53AM wrote:
"It's not submitting to economic slavery, it's going with the flow."

Sounds like something a North Shore realtor should have on a bumper sticker on their car.

And you can look your kids in the eye and tell them that?

Really?

Anonymous said...

"The article doesn't say whether his actions were provoked by seeing too many tourists that day..."
Sadly very funny.

Oh and those 8th graders with their coal burning plants. They are Ruining Kauai.
It is so ignorant to think punishing people because others in their race/nation did something bad is justified.
The NS hatred is dangerously close to terrorism in many ways.

And the Wainiha boyz is a criminal gang and it should be treated as such.

Anonymous said...

I like many on the island go to that pier for walking, viewing the scenery, fishing, and yeah, jumping off of the pier, photographs, etc...

I have never had an issue, never have been harassed, nor have my Lilly white tow headed children whom I live for..the reason? I have never been to the place after 6:30, when all of the alcohol kicks in and turns local and Halle surfers alike into a bunch of moronic roosters, and the entire place turns into a god forsaken den of testosterone fueled idiocy.

I would bet my entire life savings that alcohol is a factor in 90 percent of all random altercations on all of Kauai's beaches.

So in my view, the problem is public consumption of alcohol on the beaches. Just this week the governor banned smoking on public beaches so they might as well ban open containers of alcohol. It sounds draconian but it will save lives, broken faces, and hurt feelings.

Anonymous said...

This County always sides with the activists.
I heard the County Attorney the other day said "I am Mauna Kea!"

Anonymous said...

Same Old Same Old

June 26, 2013 The Garden Island

LIHUE — Jerrid Keola Ham Young, 21, was sentenced to probation and six months in jail with credit for time served.
“Your victims all have one thing in common. They happen to be there,” said Chief Judge Randal Valenciano.
... The assault occurred at the Hanalei Pier, where he picked a fight ... The victim did not want to fight, and did not want to report the matter to police.

Anonymous said...

7:40 pm What are you even talking about? Uncle Tom? Green energy?

Anonymous said...

12;52, I and almost everyone else I've ever known has had a few too many drinks in our day and have never once spat in a woman's face, beat up 8th graders, or harassed and threatened a father trying to protect his baby. Don't blame it on alcohol, blame it on criminals. The alcohol merely lets the criminal do what he seeks to do, and would probably do even after every tourist left the island.

Anonymous said...

This is the blue print to when back in 2012 a vehicle brought a dead woman's body to her home and left it there for all to see.

The perpetrator(s) were said by asst police chief no to be person(s) of interest or suspects. How did he know? Did he talk to the person(s)? Or did he know the person(s) and was protecting their identity like how the same asst chief protected the identity of the Kauai serial killer. Mind you the Kauai serial has not be caught and over 20 unsolved murders on Kauai sit on dusty shells to be covered up.

Now if this was your kid or a local kid and not a white kid from the states would Kauai be protesting like they do against GMO. The owner of the Toyota corolla should be arrested as well as the cop that ran over the 19 he old kid.

If not then Karma will hunt all you all down.

There need to be a thorough investigation and it should come from the FEDS because KPD are over paid and under educated and trained. Graduating from a non accredited police academy shows that these over paid flash light ticket writers are a waste off tax payers dollars.

Why are they paid 2 or 3 dollar extra an hour to follow proper conduct as a police officer on and off duty? It shows how inept this dept really is.

Anonymous said...

Must be in the POHAKU program because positive opportunities help all Kauai unite.

Anonymous said...

1:31, perhaps you can handle your liquor better than a self described surfer who has a fragile, insecure ego, but the policy of banning open containers in public is practiced in most places.

Hey, if it were up to me, I would ban sufing at the bay so the "pristine" reefs could recover ha ha ha! All of those California transplants and their entitled "local" offspring do more to destroy the reef with their leaky trucks and boards fins than any golf course or battleship.

But that would be wrong wouldn't it?

Nobody should ever deny a bunch of Tamba hat wearing drones from parking on the beach, scraping the reefs with their merrick boards, and then getting wasted until well past sundown where anything could happen, but if all goes well, they will merely drive home plastered.

Anonymous said...

There aint no aloha in more places than the north shore. Hello mirror

Anonymous said...

mauna kea is his name, STOOPID

Anonymous said...

Dawson- obviously you are either rich or have not been here very long.
Tourism has brought economic vitality to Kauai. Before Tourism, it was Sugar or no eat.
Sugar was OK, but hard, hot, dangerous and dusty. Most of the sugar workers sent there kids to college so they wouldn't have to work the fields.
Tourism is the cleanest, safest and has the least impact of ANY of the major economic drivers. IE. Forestry, Ag, Mining/Oil, Fishery, etc. Hard for fathom for some....but the world is based on work. Ya know? Sow and ye shall reap.
The Hanalei incidents are bad and will be worked thru. People get punched out every day. The Cops who are too busy giving tickets for BS expired safety stickers and not are not actually doing plain old simple patrolling.
But, if you were a dumb sh*t kid, with no education and half lolo anyway, things will happen. Things are no worse than before. Hanalei is crowded, so what. We all have equal rights to every public place. And Newbies like Dawson have the same rights as the haggard, skinny gluten free know-it-all that just got off the plane. We are all supposed to be equal. Smart guys and dumbsh*ts, new, old fat and slim, we are all supposed to be equal. Except in Hooserland.
The Government may be at the heart of it all.
Example....and JOAN, you are absolutely correct, pictures of Da Hoos are circulating and he is absolutely trespassing. Inside the gate, inside the fence, his bare face open to the world. Why the Seed guys don't prosecute is probably because of some wet knee-pad action by the County. They do not need their most famous Son getting busted. So between JoAnn, Hoos, Crybaby Bynum, Mason and bombastic Jay Furfaro the County sues itself, gets sued by others and endorses paying each other off...what a f*ckin' circle-jerk. And it cost millions and the dumb sh*t kid in Hanalei gets the public shaming and maybe Jail time...something surely Schtinks.
So if Da Hoos can trespass and get away with it, why not the dumb sh*t kid?
Fragrant violation of law, disrespect of private property and condescending pomposity.
It is enough to make a person poke her own eye out with one of the Big Fistee's old coke straws.

Anonymous said...

Joan. Why perpetuate a fraud? Why allow other commenters to perpetuate the same fraud? There are no pictures of hooser standing in the fields trespassing. I have asked him directly. He's emphatic that he and the filmmakers did not enter past the gate. Frankly, I believe him. Any pictures you saw are apparently fabricated. Otherwise, why have they not been leaked? Why no charges? Why no formal complaints? Only anonymous attacks. Why do you support this Joan? Show us the proof not just thinly veiled anonymous second hand rumor and innuendo.

Anonymous said...

1:02 was joking. That 4:02 didn't see that suggests her parents are 1st cousins.

Anonymous said...

10:05
What a little loser, crybaby you are. Get a job.

Anonymous said...

@6:23pm, the seed companies don't prosecute. They make a report and provide evidence. It's up to the police and prosecuting attorney to follow through. I don't think KPD has the cajones to follow through, but we shall see. Regardless of what KPD does, this is a test of Mel's leadership. Is he gonna call "bite me", jet setting, lying, trespassing Hoos on the carpet or not?

Anonymous said...

Some of the commenters here love tourism. I want to say there is a balance and the balance has been lost. It is a benign industry only if it is controlled and does not take over the whole island. We don't have to be Molokai, we did not want to be Maui, now we crossed that divide. Do we stay rural, agricultural community or one big commodity? Is there a balance or do we let the "new Konohiki" rule? Is the recent accusations at the pier to get rid of all the local kids and families that enjoy it there?
1:02 thanks for the laugh!!

Joan Conrow said...

7:18. Emphatic denials from a documented liar mean nothing. But I agree it's wrong to perpetuate a fraud. So next time you talk to Hooser, try ask him why he contines to perpetuate the fraud that the seed companies are suing for the right to spray poisons around schools, using 18 tons of RUP annually, refusing to disclose, etc., etc.

Anonymous said...

Its not trespassing unless there are the appropriate signs posted.

Anonymous said...

7:18 Hoosergate.......it is easy to understand.
Big Shot Hoos escorting Big Shot Swiss- cruising to see the evil farms. Just taking in the island's majesty. How easy to pull over by a gate and take a peek. Caught up in the moment, what is a little fence or gate? We are making history here! The Kauai Fistee and a couple of Swiss Fistettes caught by employees. Who cares?
All Mel has to do is start asking the west side workers and get a picture. Then ask Da Hoos " eh, Gary? Did you go on to seed company land" and then show the picture. Mel can get it....just ask.
But, I think that there is a trade off goin on. Why would the seed companies put themselves in the spotlight! People have been trespassing for over a hundred years.....why pick on Da Hoos?
And all you Hanalei Primo Warriors, if Da Hoos can stay go trespass, so can you. Law? What's that?

Anonymous said...

June 20, 2015 at 6:23 PM said, “Sugar was OK, but hard, hot, dangerous and dusty. Most of the sugar workers sent their kids to college so they wouldn't have to work the fields.”

That’s so true. Sadly our work ethic has changed and many parents no longer view struggling and sacrificing to improve their children’s’ lots as essential. Maybe that’s because today’s parents never worked on a plantation or lived in plantation camps. Today’s parents enjoy a much improved lifestyle with cable TV and cellphones, health insurance, cars, etc., and all that’s good but it also helps to dampen one’s drive to prepare and assist their children out into the world. In the old days, if one wanted to improve their situation, the relied upon themselves to achieve it. But today, we have so much government assistance…and a viewpoint that it is government’s job to improve our lives, that working for it is becoming less common. It’s all about self-reliance vs. dependency. Today if there’s something preventing you from achieving what you desire, it’s someone else’s fault. And because it’s always someone else’s fault and we are weaker for it.

Anonymous said...

In the spirit of Bill Clintons famous definition speech.
Was Da Hoos trespassing? Depends on what your definition of trespassing is.

Anonymous said...

HaWAII is BROKE(N) because we have created our own monsters. Whether you are born here or flown here, it's easy to just go and get food stamps and hmsa quest. You don't have to work when you have free food and free drugs. While in other states they started to drug test welfare recipients and by doing so they saved millions of dollars because the drug addicts stop applying for EBT because of the new rules and regulations.

I believe that people who are on welfare should work at least 20 hours to supplement their needs and pay a partial in tax for their government assistance.

Too many people on Kauai and the state of Hawaii gaming the system. You can't just keep popping out kids with different baby daddies and receive free benefits without contributing while different baby daddies work construction jobs and stay at your crib with big trucks and big shiny tires and also not contribute to the system that they suck dry every month.

Legislatures and representatives have to work with community services and find a bridge over this flood of wasteful spending.

Another thing is that Hawaii is broken because of big construction unions. (1) the state had excess of 800 million dollars for highway development and improvement. Each year it is not spent less money will go to the state and counties.

A perfect example is when Kauai outsourced the Kapaa bypass to be paved and striped, it too the big island guys 3-6 months to complete the project. Now even though the Lihue mill bridge to halfway bridge was a much larger project, why did it last 5 years? Job security and no bid contracts of 100's of millions of dollars going to the greedy unions. Could it have been done faster and cheaper? Hell to the YES it could of but fraud, waste, and abuse is the only way these good ol boys and gals know how to do it.

Change is needed and change in our government and our representatives is the only answer. These clowns on council are lame ducks. No smoke bill? Come one now! Kauai doesn't have pressing needs instead of this wasted neighbor vs neighbor squabble.

Anonymous said...

9:56- trespassing is being on someone's property without permission. What? you like me come yo' hale and check things out? No way Jose, we do not want people on our property.
The County/State/Feds have no rights to your property unless there is an emergency, have a court order or permission. Period.
The west side Ag properties are clearly defined. They have gates and fences li' dat. Easy to know where you stay.
As this progresses, we will surely see Da Hoos wiggle semantically. The pictures are Da Hoos' blue dress.
I hope the powers that be do not let this Hoos antic slip on by. It is time the Big Fistee got justice. He has caused a lot of damage. A lot of damage.

Anonymous said...

And while tourism get blamed on this blog for creating hostility in locals toward tourists, don't overlook another explanation - some people just can't stand the idea the other people studied hard, worked hard, made sacrifices, saved their money, invested wisely, or did other things besides sty on welfare, do drugs, drop out of school, and grow up in an environment where they were told all of their problems and their failures are caused by racism. As for all the casual trotting out of "racism" by commentators on this blog, anyone on Kauai who believes that they have been held back by racism should be prepared to show that they had the grades to get in a good school but were rejected, or had the resume to get a good job but a less qualified haole got it. Otherwise, shut up and look in the mirror. Pandering to certain people's need to blame others for their own problems isn't going to solve Kauai's crime and drug problems.

Anonymous said...

True story.

Well I have experienced racism when I served in the military. Even though there were clicks, I belonged to none and had friends from all the clicks. Being born and raised on Kauai, I was thought that all the problems in kauai was the white mans fault but when I joined the service and my brothers and sister in arms were from all different backgrounds and ethnicities. Even in high school there was many clicks but I belong to none for I had classmate friends from all clicks. Sure we made fun and had racial jokes but we all work hard together, ate together, laughed and cried together.

When in the states I got a job as a security officer and was racially attacked verbally and almost ran over by a car. When I served as a armed guard, several coworkers conspired and colluded to get me fired. When I worked as a work study student, a boss changed rules to try and retaliate against me. When I worked as a government employee people in that dept didn't believe I was born and raised in Hawaii. People would call me an Eskimo and to go back to my country. I finally left that states and racist people behind only to be discriminated by local coworkers at my work. So racism is a hot topic and will forever be. I once proposed that if speech class was taught at every level in school focusing on different areas of speech, that people will learn more about others and their cultures. They will learn good and bad ways to communicate and learn how to be respectful and tolerant towards one another. Another person suggested talking story. She included only the people that wanted to talk story but what about the people who are shy and afraid to talk about things. Excluding these folks would defeat the purpose. When you have a curriculum that people can learn how to communicate and learn about different ways different cultures communicate then people will have a better understanding of one another. The racism in Hawaii and on Kauai has been going on for generations. So how can we better the situation? Implementing a curriculum that young kids can learn and also adults learn in college helps us get along better. Until then the puppet masters watch and laugh at their entertainment while people suffer through lack of knowledge. The senseless shootings, the bullying, the racial slurs, fights and discrimination can be reduced.

We must change through education and it starts from grade school.

Anonymous said...

Reply to 9:56 AM

No, it doesn't depend on what your definition of trespassing is....it depends on how Hawaii law defines it...

With regard to agricultural lands, this is the relevant trespass law:

§708-814 Criminal trespass in the second degree. (1) A person commits the offense of criminal trespass in the second degree if:

(c) The person enters or remains unlawfully on agricultural lands without the permission of the owner of the land, the owner's agent, or the person in lawful possession of the land, and the agricultural lands:
(i) Are fenced, enclosed, or secured in a manner designed to exclude intruders;
(ii) Have a sign or signs displayed on the unenclosed cultivated or uncultivated agricultural land sufficient to give notice and reading as follows: "Private Property". The sign or signs, containing letters not less than two inches in height, shall be placed along the boundary line of the land and at roads and trails entering the land in a manner and position as to be clearly noticeable from outside the boundary line;

OR

(iii) At the time of entry, are fallow or have a visible presence of livestock or a crop:
(A) Under cultivation;
(B) In the process of being harvested; or
(C) That has been harvested

============================================================
IN OTHER WORDS, for one to be in violation of State ag criminal trespass law, the farmer/rancher is not necessarily required to put up gates or fences or signs, when it is fairly obvious that the property is NOT a public area; it's a farm or a ranch!

One would expect a lawmaker to know the law and abide by it.
If Gary was on farm property without permission, the book should be thrown at him. This is UNACCEPTABLE.

Anonymous said...

But if Gary gets charged, he will sue the County. He is a Councilman doing his work to serve the people and if the Chemical Companies are poisoning the County it is Gary's right, obligation and moral duty to assess the situation. The dust and poisonous gases know no fences. Gary did the right thing.
Leave Gary alone. Sometimes we expect leaders to challenge bad law. Lincoln did it, Obama did it and now Gary is doing it. All lands should be open for all people and Gary is righteous in his acts.

Anonymous said...

6:09pm - What in the world does Gary need to do in the field that is so important? Moral duty to assess what situation? I guarantee you there was no spraying or planting going on where he chose to trespass without permission, And why couldn't he just call and ask for a tour if it was that important? Gary demonstrates an obligation to nothing except his overblown ego.

Anonymous said...

6/21 @6:09 PM, you are full of it. If Gary is supposedly doing his work to serve the people, he should do it using local law enforcement and within the law, not using activists from foreign countries to commit trespass. I'm glad you put "if" in your second sentence because there has been NO evidence of poisoning from the chemical companies, even when HawaiiSEED tried to fabricate, excuse me, find such evidence.

Anonymous said...

He was committing an act of civil disobedience. He just skipped the getting arrested part. It's Gandhi lite.

Anonymous said...

I read one smart solution...talk to the local boys and pay them to keep the peace. Genius. Self-sustainability, empowerment and communicating with the teens and young adults as human beings. It's really unfair projecting a negative stereotypical image of local boys. What good things are said of local boys lately? I do recently recall the local boy who saved the two women who were washed away by a rogue wave at Queen's Bath. I am positive there are many countless similar stories of locals helping others no matter who they are. They just don't brag or need to have it printed in the media. Locals are always getting the short end of the stick but don't care...just let the idiots grumble about others cuz that's just what they do....no time and don't care. Just let up on locals already.

Dawson said...

June 21, 2015 at 6:09 PM wrote:
"Leave Gary alone. Sometimes we expect leaders to challenge bad law. Lincoln did it, Obama did it and now Gary is doing it. All lands should be open for all people and Gary is righteous in his acts."

Bravo on some beautifully written satire!