Kauai Protestors Look for Support
By Tim Sakahara
Protestors brought their songs, signs and support from Kauai to Oahu for a protest outside the State Capitol to talk about all the things they are worried about losing.
"Everything, our flowers from the mountains, our maile, our mukihana, our limu from the ocean, our leaves from the river, there are so many resources there that people can come over and take," said Kalehua Ham Young.
The protestors called the Superferry a monster and said they are not ready to accept the people that will use it.
"Local people won't be able to leave their surf boards in the back of their pickups like they do now, people will have to put locks on their doors, it's going to be a total cultural change from the way we live," said Rich Hoeppner, president of the People for the Preservation for Kauai, one of the groups suing the Superferry.
Not everyone who stopped to listen agreed with the protestors. Andrew Tomoso even shouted out during one of the speeches.
"Allow us to continue to travel in whatever means necessary," said Tomoso. "Allow myself to travel my islands, all these islands are everyone's. We're all citizens of this state, we should be able to explore the islands on our own."
Tomoso lives in Honolulu, but is from Maui and would like another option to go home besides a plane. He questioned why protestors are mad with the Superferry, but not with cruise ships.
"Kauai just had a new pier put in to accommodate two cruise ships at the same time, that's thousands per cruise ship, where's the balance on that part alone?"
"Most of us we feel the cruise ships don't bring in the cars and the heavy nets and all that kind of stuff. The people just come and leave that's the difference," said Ham Young.
They agreed that the Superferry has brought out so many different opinions. While the protestors started out looking for support, it ended with them supporting each other, vowing not to give up their fight.
Last week a Kauai judge ruled in favor of the Superferry denying a temporary restraining order which means the ship can continue sailing to that island, but it has not yet set a date to resume service.
Meanwhile, a new hearing begins on September 17 to decide if the Superferry will be allowed to continue service to Kauai before an environmental assessment is complete. A similar hearing is going on now on Maui.
Protestors brought their songs, signs and support from Kauai to Oahu for a protest outside the State Capitol to talk about all the things they are worried about losing.
"Everything, our flowers from the mountains, our maile, our mukihana, our limu from the ocean, our leaves from the river, there are so many resources there that people can come over and take," said Kalehua Ham Young.
The protestors called the Superferry a monster and said they are not ready to accept the people that will use it.
"Local people won't be able to leave their surf boards in the back of their pickups like they do now, people will have to put locks on their doors, it's going to be a total cultural change from the way we live," said Rich Hoeppner, president of the People for the Preservation for Kauai, one of the groups suing the Superferry.
Not everyone who stopped to listen agreed with the protestors. Andrew Tomoso even shouted out during one of the speeches.
"Allow us to continue to travel in whatever means necessary," said Tomoso. "Allow myself to travel my islands, all these islands are everyone's. We're all citizens of this state, we should be able to explore the islands on our own."
Tomoso lives in Honolulu, but is from Maui and would like another option to go home besides a plane. He questioned why protestors are mad with the Superferry, but not with cruise ships.
"Kauai just had a new pier put in to accommodate two cruise ships at the same time, that's thousands per cruise ship, where's the balance on that part alone?"
"Most of us we feel the cruise ships don't bring in the cars and the heavy nets and all that kind of stuff. The people just come and leave that's the difference," said Ham Young.
They agreed that the Superferry has brought out so many different opinions. While the protestors started out looking for support, it ended with them supporting each other, vowing not to give up their fight.
Last week a Kauai judge ruled in favor of the Superferry denying a temporary restraining order which means the ship can continue sailing to that island, but it has not yet set a date to resume service.
Meanwhile, a new hearing begins on September 17 to decide if the Superferry will be allowed to continue service to Kauai before an environmental assessment is complete. A similar hearing is going on now on Maui.
posted by ams at 1:46 PM
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