Kauai News

Lihue airport will be the first airport in the state to utilize full-body image scanning as part of its security process. The new advanced imaging devices can look through passenger’s clothes to produce full-body images. Other Hawaii airports are suppose to follow with this equipment in the coming months as well.

While the new technology is very advanced, many passengers fear it because they say it allows people to view them naked, and in turn, those images could fall into the wrong hands. Another major problem is the situation that occurs when the device produces a false positive. This happened to a passenger who was carrying a wad of napkins in his shirt pocket. The machine registered it as a threat, so he was forced to undergo a full-body pat down.

While these concerns are legitimate concerns for passengers here and around the nation, it is not as big of a concern as keeping the country safe from possible terrorists attacks. There have only been 125 installed around the nation so far, but Suzanne Trevino – spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration, says, “We expect 500 by the end of 2010, 1,100 by the end of 2011.”

Yesterday the United States Department of Justice hit Kauai Utility with an indictment that claimed they violated the Endangered Species Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

The Endangered Species Act caries some pretty stiff fines and is put into affect when a person or company is involved in the “taking” of endangered species like the Newell’s Shearwater and other seabirds. It doesn’t matter if the death of the birds is unintentional, the indictment will still be carried out.

KIUC officials claim that they are very disappointed in the Justice Department’s decision to file such charges against them. KIUC claims to have worked diligently to prevent deaths of the Newell, and other endangered seabirds. William Goodman – counsel for KIUC, says that, “we are doing everything reasonably possible to protect the seabirds.” from the Advertiser

We have seen through the years that Hawaii is always quick to jump when it comes to endangered species, we all remember what happened to the Superferry. Most of our local companies are very aware of the Endangered Species Act, and go out of their way to follow the rules. It remains to be seen whether this indictment will stick or not, but either way, local companies have to continually be on their toes.

In the mood for comedy?  Then run away to Kauai where the new theatre company, Oceanside Productions, presents “The Complete History of America (abridged).”

The show is a ninety minute romp from pre-settlement America to the unsettled politics of modern America.  It was penned by Adam Long, Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor whose “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)” delighted residents & visitors alike on Kaua`i resulting in two sold out shows.

“The Complete History of America (abridged)” was a smash London production with a lengthy run, winning rave reviews wherever it has played.  It will be played on Kaua’i by a pair of local favorites, actors Ross Martineau and Jeff Demma, along with veteran actor Nellie Foster.  “The Complete History of America (abridged)” is set to begin Thursday February 18 2010 at the Aston Kauai Beach at Maka’iwa and is set for February 19, 25 and 26 and March 4, 5, 11, 12, 18, 19, 25 and 26.

Tickets are $35 and available via www.oceansideproductions.com.

When people on Kaua’i party they party, just check out the incredible line up of entertainers for the annual Waimea Town Celebration 2010, on Friday, February 19, 2010. Second Nature, Makaha Sons, Natalie Ai Kamaluu, Wailoa, Cherry Cherry, Kirby Keohn perform.

Then on Saturday, February 20, 2010 more stellar performances by Kiwini Vaitai, Mana’o Co., High Risk Factor, Pono Breeze and Hoolea.  In addition too all of the great music all of Waimea will be one vast party with food booths, crafts & games, lots of local products for sale, Hawai’i’an Heritage & Hula, and the sheer joy of family & friends and new found friends celebrating the joy of living on Kaua’i.

Suds a plenty with a beer garden for adults and carnival rides for children of all ages.  Festivities begin at 4:30 PM on Friday running to 11:30 PM, and then Saturday it is an all day party from 10AM to 11:30 PM.

There will be an on going softball tournament, three men basketball, but the biggest draw will be the 10^th Annual Waimea Round-Up Rodeo. All sorts of fun stuff from Steer Roping and Po’owaiu to Barrel Racing, plus the antics of Rodeo Clowns, and the drama of expert horsemanship plus colorful costumes and the sheer enthusiasm of the crowd all combine to make this a must attend event.

Most all of the Waimea Town Celebration events are free and open to the public while the main rodeo events are a screamingly modest $3, so grab this opportunity to explore Kaua’i the Unconquered Isle.  For further info about the Rodeo, Chelsie Ludington Phone: (808) 652-3770, and for the Waimea Town Celebration Mark Nellis Phone: (808) 651-3368 or check out WKBPA Events.

Saturdays are Ohana Days at The Kauai Museum (4428 Rice St, Lihue, Kauai) with free admission and on Saturday February 6 2010 The Kauai Museum celebrates the upcoming Year of the Tiger with special exhibits and activities.

Throughout February the Museum’s Lion will be on display in the Heritage Gallery accepting donations and bestowing blessings for luck.  On February 6^th from 11AM to 1PM woodwork by Les Ventura will be displayed.

In the courtyard the lovely ladies of Holomua FCE will have a tempting array of Chinese goodie on sale, along with crafts and fortune telling.  Narcissus Plants will be available for purchase, proceeds going to the Education Department.  The Peaceful Dragon Academy will give demonstrations of Tai Chi Chuan.

The Kauai Museum Gift Shop offers 15% discounts for members on Ohana Saturdays, with many Koa Wood items available.  For further info check out Chris Faye Phone: (808) 245-6931

The island of Kauai has many tourist destinations and special attractions.  One that you should be sure to visit if you are in the area is Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge.  The refuge is located in the town of Kilauea just off of State Highway 56 or Kuhio Highway and Lighthouse Road.

Kilauea Lighthouse was built in 1913 and used as a navigational shipping aid between Hawaii and the orient.  In 1976 the Coast Guard deactivated the lighthouse and replaced it with an automated beacon.  In 1979, the lighthouse was placed on the National Register of Historic places.  In 1985, the Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge was established to protect the native Hawaiian seabirds and nene geese that live here.

Red footed boobies, Laysan albatrosses, wedge tailed shearwaters are among the protected birds that live and breed here.  Hawaiian monk seals, green turtles, and humpback whales can also be found in the waters off Kilauea point.

When visiting Kilauea Point you can view the breathtaking sights of the ocean and cliffs below and watch the seabirds in their natural habitat from the lookout above.  For a closer view and to learn more about the refuge you can drive down closer to the lighthouse and pay the $5 per person entrance fee (children under 16 are free).  This brings you into the refuge and allows access to interactive panels, the visitor center, and bookstore.

The refuge is open daily 10:00 am to 4:00 pm and closed major holidays.

View from Kilauea Point Lookout

With Hawaiian Telcom now having the fastest internet available in Hawaii, they are stepping up one more time by providing over 100 wi-fi hot spots around the state. This is big news, because their wi-fi will be free to subscribers of Hawaiian Telcom’s internet service. Now you can take your laptop to one of the many locations to use the internet.

Some of the locations that provide this service are Ala Moana Center, Restaurant Row, Downtown Honolulu, and all Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf locations in Hawaii (Source: Honolulu Advertiser). Certain areas on Oahu will also receive the service, such as Kailua, Hawaii Kai, Manoa, Ewa Beach, and Pearl City. They also didn’t forget the neighbor islands as well, so they will provide service at Kapa’a on Kauai, Kona and Hilo on the Big Island, and Kahului in Maui.

Compared to Oceanic Cable, who offers only 40 locations around Oahu, Hawaiian Telcom is really upping the ante with the high speed internet customers.

I think Hawaiian Telcom is looking to better themselves, especially having very poor service ever since they took over Verizon as the phone and DSL provider in Oahu. So far, things seem to be going great for them, and for them to expand into Oceanic Time Warner’s market is a big step, since Oceanic has most of the high speed internet subscribers. With lower charges for internet, more free wi-fi locations, and having the fastest internet, Hawaiian Telcom might persude more than just a few subscribers.

Reading the Midweek newspaper one day, I laughed after I read this article about the Superferry.  Below is the excerpt (Source: Midweek):

“Here’s what Braddah Bash (as in Cala-) has to say to residents of Kauai who protested the arrival of the Superferry:

Mahalo for da aloha, li’ dat, when us Oahu guys try come Kauai on da Supahferry.

Not!

OK, OK, so we know you special, eh – Kauai is da one island Kamahemaha da Greates’ nevah wen’ conquer. Jus’ one leetle remindah, tho: Your chief joined da kingdom, and now you part of da state. Fo’ real! E komo mai!

And da folks you protesting against an’t’rowing rocks at is us Oahu peoples – local kine folks like you, yeah?

From what I saw in da paper an’ on top da TV, you t’ink we make less traffics if we fly ovah on one airplane and rent one car, ‘stead of taking da ferry wit’ our own vehicles. You know, ‘as kinda like my auntie – to make her coat less heavy, she cut off da buttons and put’ em in da pockets …

Speaking of pockets, I kinda wonder who’s slipping some kala in your pockets fo’make you ac’ so lolo …

‘An what, you want us protest when you try come Oahu fo’shop Ala Moana? Better watch it, we get plenny more peoples den you. So you like see one protest, ho, we show you one protest…

‘Kay den…”

Now that speaks the truth doesn’t it?  It makes sense on all points when we talk about how the Kauai people have been reacting to the Superferry.  I agree with Dr. J with his article when he said it was ridiculous that they were hitting the cars of the people who were arriving to Kauai.  And they were also letting out the air in the tires.  What are you doing?  Do you think those antics will keep people away from your island?  Most of those people visiting are all LOCAL, with some Kauai people visiting their relatives.  Really, how mature are you?

And I also do agree with the protest with what Bruddah Bash mentioned.  Do you want us to block you from Ala Moana Shopping Center?  Do we even remotely try and keep you from living or playing on our island?  So what’s the big deal in keeping us off your island?  And he does make a good point…we do have many more people than you.

I also agree with Bash about the car issue.  What’s the difference with renting a car and bringing our car over to Kauai?  We aren’t leaving it there.  We’re gonna take it back with us.  And you have to bank on people visiting your island for the island to survive economically.

Please don’t make it big deal when it only seems that you are all protesting just to protest.

According to KHON news, about 6 thousand pounds of marijuana was found in a remote location in Kauai at Mount Waialeale.  The net worth of all the plants is about $6 million.  Authorities have been watching the suspects this summer, and finally decided to do the bust this past Friday after recording all their activites on camera.

Five people were arrested for being involved in this drug operation.  In fact, a father and son, along with the son’s wife and the wife’s brother were all arrested.  One of their friends also helped and was part of the arrest. 

This is ridiculous.  Not only is promoting and selling drugs a stupid way to make money (at the expense of others), but growing them within the family is even worse.  The father might serve 20 years to life, while the others can spend 10 years to life in prison.  They’ve also destroyed their own lives because of something so stupid.  Everyone besides the father are in their mid-20s.  They are too young to spend the rest of their life in jail.  Then again, I do believe that it’s better to put those people in jail since they are hurting the community.

Hopefully justice will be served.

Wow. I really wasn’t aware how strongly the people from Maui and Kauai felt about the Superferry to be honest. Living on Oahu, I must have been just over-excited about the Superferry and at the same time insensitive to what others islanders thought about the ferry. So I would like to start with my apology to everyone on Maui and Kauai first of all. Please do forgive me if my previous articles were insensitive.

A large number of protestors showed up today at the Nawiliwili Harbor in Kauai, and the ferry could not even dock and had to return to Honolulu. In Maui, the Sierra Club, Maui Tomorrow, and the Kahului Harbor Coalition filed for the temporary restraining order, and the judge granted a temporary restraining order banning the Superferry from the Kahului Harbor for 10 days. People on Maui and Kauai have been concerned about the lack of the environmental assessment and potential pollution, traffic, and endangerment of the wild animals.

I am not sure why the Hawaii Superferry decided not to conduct the environmental assessment which is usually required for this kind of project and how they got away with it. I am yet to see their side of story, so I will hold my judgment at this time. However, there would not have been this kind of protest and discontinuation of their services if they had done everything they could to convince the locals. Frankly, they should have conducted the full environmental assessment without rushing to get the ferry operational as soon as possible regardless of the financial and economic consequences.

Sadly the passengers who were waiting for the ferry to go back to Honolulu got the worst end of the Kauai demonstration. The demonstrators were yelling and swearing at the waiting passengers, banging on their cars, throwing coconuts at the cars, and some demonstrator even attempted to deflate the tires. I do strongly support the cause of the organizations who protested against the Superferry, but they definitely could have taken a different approach toward the passengers. It is not the passengers’ fault that the Superferry did not conduct the environmental assessment. They succeeded in preventing the Superferry from docking in their harbor. What they should have done is to tell the passengers why they were protesting or to hand out fliers or brochures to persuade the passengers into boycotting the ferry in the future in support of their cause.

There is absolutely no excuse for the violent behaviors that they showed today, and I would refuse to support any groups pushing their ideas through violence no matter how important and righteous their causes are. The protestors need to understand that many of the passengers were the fellow islanders who live on Oahu, and I guarantee that most of the passengers did not even understand why they were protesting. Educating the public is definintely a better alternative to threatening them to get their support to the cause. Violence will only result in further violence and division of our great islands. Insteading of preaching aloha to the tourists who come to visit our islands, why don’t we practice aloha amost us first? Then we can get unimaginably wonderful things done together, like fixing the problems of the Hawaii Superferry…

Lastly, I condemn the Hawaii Superferry for their irresponsibility in protecting the beauty of our islands and sincerely hope they will take any necessary actions to convince the residents of Maui and Kauai and put this all behind as soon as possible.