YOU’RE WELCOME!
Thanks for taking the time to publish Pauline Fiene’s response to the proposed Olowalu development (“Reef at Risk,” May 3, 2012). If we don’t work to protect the best parts of island the inevitable further development of Maui is likely to cost us dearly.
-Jeff Groh, via email
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CASE REOPENED!
In his [Apr. 26, 2012] Coconut Wireless, your editor expressed grave concern over a “once proud U.S. Congressman (yours truly) standing alone on a busy (Kihei) highway” sign-waving at dawn one morning last week.
Don’t cry for me, Pignataro! I was proud to serve as Maui’s Congressman (‘02-’07) and am proud to offer Maui my US Senate candidacy. But not too proud to get down and personal, to listen to your thoughts and ask for your vote one-on-one.
I’ve sign-waved both alone and with supporters throughout my career, when I was and wasn’t a Congressman. Some candidates and elected officials fear direct voter contact and must be surrounded at all times by a million busy handlers. But I’ve welcomed the unfiltered interaction that comes from personal sign-waving, canvassing, unscripted and uncensored talk stories and other activities.
My last Maui trip was a good example. Over two days I sign-waved both alone and with supporters in Kihei and Olowalu and on Hana Highway (with folks stopping by to talk), did a Pau Hana with Ed in Wailuku and a Talk Story in Napili, walked the Kahului and Paia business districts and Maui Open Market, spoke at Rotary and Kiwanis meetings, taped an Akaku show, met with other Maui media, and talked with other Maui residents along my way. Folks got to size me up personally as their possible next Senator and I got to hear from them personally as well.
I don’t buy the high muck-a-muck, mountaintop political model; I think the divide it creates is half of what needs fixing in DC today. So next time you see me sign-waving alone or with others on Maui’s highways or anywhere else along my way, please stop to talk, and please consider whether you want a Senator who wants and likes to keep in touch, personally.
-Ed Case, via email
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MORE SHELTER TALK
This is in response to a Letter to the Editor written by Kelli Uderitz and printed in the April 26 edition of the MauiTime. I need to clarify some misstatements made by Kelli. Kelli stated that 9th Life Hawaii will not spay pregnant cats. True to a degree. We will NOT sterilize an obviously pregnant cat, abort the babies and kill the babies. We rely on the knowledgeable vets and vet techs to palpate and let us know if they feel babies and if so how large. Fertilized eggs the size of a fingernail are really not palpable and those females will be spayed because there would be no way to tell if the cat was pregnant by palpation. We do not incise open a female, see kittens and sew her up.
Our highly experienced vets are capable of telling a pregnant female by palpation and we rely on their knowledge. We do offer a maternity room where pregnant ferals can be held till they give birth. We then spay mom and either return her to her colony or keep her in one of our feral colonies at the sanctuary. Kittens are socialized and adopted out. Owned cats are returned to their owners for birthing. We will spay the mother (after about 7 weeks post-pregnancy) and will sterilize the kittens (when age appropriate) and help adopt them out.
Your second comment regarding the 135 kittens we fostered several years ago is that we only took healthy cats. We had a large foster network at that time. These foster parents had their own cats. We could not knowingly expose their cats to Upper Respiratory Infections or Ringworm. Those were the only cats we did not take and Dr. Kim did examine the kittens for these situations. However, we took in kittens with worms and dewormed them. We took in kittens with fleas and deflead. We took in some kittens that had motor problems.
You suggested we go down and take in all MHS’s overflow. We wish we could do just that. We neither have the manpower nor the millions that flow into Maui Humane Society’s coffers every year. So we do the best we can, with what we have. We have sterilized over 4,529 cats for the Maui community. Roughly 30 percent of those were absolutely free to the cat owners/caretakers.
-Phyllis Tavares, 9th Life Hawaii Executive Director, via email
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