Letters — Your Voice — for July 10

Share your thoughts on the Keauhou Plan

I am writing this letter in the hope that many people from our beautiful community will take the time to respond to the recent Environmental Impact Statement released by Kamehameha Schools on June 24 regarding the construction of a new 150-room resort hotel on Keauhou Bay.

The Keauhou-Kahalu’u Heritage Corridor has undergone many changes over the past 75 years under the leadership of the Kamehameha Schools, with and mostly without regard to the consequences of overdevelopment, destruction of cultural sites and exploitative tourism.

While I welcome the fact that Kamehameha Schools is finally making care and management of the area a priority, including plans to correct the mistakes made at Keauhou Bay, I have to ask: are they listening to the community and their own Huamana?

Please make your voice heard. August 7 is the deadline for comments at www.ksbe.edu/keauhou-bay.

Sally Rankin

Kealakekua

SaveKeauhouBay.org

Help for the cats of the Big Island

Summer is here! Warmer nights mean termite outbreaks between 7:00 and 8:00 p.m. Pretty funny and inconvenient, but it works, right?

It’s time to escape the heat and high humidity with shave ice/ice shave and slow drives through Lili’uokalani Gardens with the windows rolled down. The sparkling waters of Hilo Bay, happy walkers, nene geese and wild popoki are all part of the picture.

The early mornings in Kaumana are still dewy and cool. Recently, a playful grey popoki has watched me weeding the garden and picking up fallen ti leaves. He sits statue-like on a grey rock plinth or pokes his pointed face out of a kupukupu growing wild beneath a towering orange ohia tree.

My family has two senior dogs who enjoy good food, pampering, and the occasional short walk, but they sleep most of the day and night, and we miss their curious furball company. Gone are the days of endless fetch with our Chihuahua Tobi, and after enjoying the antics of the neighbor’s cat who scared me almost every time by scurrying away if I accidentally got too close, we decided to adopt a cat from a local TNR group. Their amazing volunteers help care for and reduce the feral cat population through TNR, providing food, flea treatments, worming, vaccinations, microchipping, and foster homes.

After meeting many cats and kittens, we adopted a sweet young cat named Jini (pronounced Ginny). She has white paws, long whiskers and a tiny pink nose. She was very shy at first as she was abandoned in a cat colony at a local market where she contracted ear mites. Her true nature is now coming out with screeching purrs and big golden eyes full of curiosity.

She sleeps in a nook of her new cat tower, with a soft, furry belly full of food, completely relaxed, the princess of the castle.

The good work of animal rescue organizations and compassionate volunteers is bearing fruit, one animal at a time. Their work requires donations and our community must stop abandoning animals.

Sharon F. Wong

Hilo