Molokai Veterans Caring for Veterans (MVCV) continuously seeking a settlement to the lawsuit they filed against Maui County in September 2010, after years of delays in receiving a building permit for a veterans center. The county Policy Committee voted last week to authorize the settlement under terms currently unknown. The terms were not disclosed to the veterans' group prior to either vote.
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U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Sen. Dan Inouye met with Kalaupapa patients last Wednesday in Honolulu to discuss the $500 air fares that Pacific Wings charges, the only carrier to serve the peninsula.
LaHood discussed the possibility of releasing Essential Air Service (EAS) federal funds to Kalaupapa for subsidized flights. Currently, bids are being taken from two carriers, Makani Air and Iolani Air. LaHood is hopeful that funds can be provided by this summer.
Congresswoman Mazie K. Hirono was also at the meeting and expressed the need for a change in laws.
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Hawaii’s Sen. Dan Inouye has had enough of Kalaupapa’s outrageous airfares and is taking action to help relieve the peninsula’s residents and workers.
He has invited Ray LaHood, the secretary of the Department of Transportation, and Kalaupapa patients to the Hawaii State Capitol for a March 25 discussion about ongoing airfare issues between Pacific Wings and Kalaupapa residents and workers.
Pacific Wings raised their prices dramatically for round-trip flights to Kalaupapa in 2009. Workers and patients pay up to $550 for round-trip tickets to Honolulu or topside Molokai.
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Community Contributed by G.T. Larson
It has been said that nature speaks to our senses unceasingly. If we are not hearing it, the problem lies with us – the receivers – not with nature – the transmitter. It can be said that nature cannot teach us anything, for it is an inanimate object, a title for everything contained in the natural world. This statement is more accurate than we may want to admit. No matter what the subject nor who or what the teacher, if we do not want to be taught then we cannot be taught, which in and of itself is an important lesson to learn.
For those of us who seek for this wisdom, nature is speaking and has much to share, may we take note. This article is the first in a series that will look at some of the various voices, literal and figurative, that nature is using to teach us with. Through these articles we will be specifically detailing rare plants and animals, some of which are found nowhere else on Earth but Molokai. We will also expand upon some meteorological, astronomical and geologic features of Molokai that we touched upon earlier in The Life of the Land series. The first place we will look is up.
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UPDATED VERSION
Water is the key to life and has always been a key issue on Molokai. Currently in the spotlight, Molokai Properties Limited (MPL) is attempting to legalize access to state-owned water lines in central Molokai. Although it’s current agreement to use the water lines was deemed null in Sept. 2007, MPL continues to rent Molokai Irrigation System (MIS) pipes at $11,375 per month, transporting water from central Molokai to users on arid west side of the island. MPL’s subsidiary water company, Kaluakoi Water LLC (KWL), needs the go-ahead in order to connect the company’s source well in Kualapu`u, to its users in Maunaloa, west Molokai. MPL has been using the MIS for transmission of its water since the 1975. Because MPL uses state property to conduct its operations, state law requires an environmental assessment (EA). A Matter of Culture In order to satisfy a major requirement of the study, MPL CEO Peter Nicholas was on-island last week to discuss possible cultural impacts associated with use of the irrigation system. Approximately 100 residents participated in meetings held in Maunaloa and Kualapu`u at the invitation of Nicholas and Environet, the company contracted to implement the EA. The MPL rental agreement represents a large stake for the state. With rental proceeds amounting to $136,500 in 2010, MPL is the Department of Agriculture’s (DOA)biggest customer, making the MIS the only profitable state-owned irrigation system in Hawaii, according to state records. MPL is also the only non-agricultural customer using the MIS. From A to B
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