Letters 10-17-2012

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Keauhou Beach Hotel

Keauhou Beach Hotel

Nagging questions

The day the story was released about the demolition plans for the Outrigger Keauhou Beach Hotel, I was stunned.

Over the years, the hotel has been home for so many wonderful cultural experiences open to the community related to Hawaiian education, classes, language, hula, music performances and workshops.

A few questions come to mind: Were other alternatives considered before Kamehameha Schools made the decision to close and demolish the hotel?

The article stated it will build a cultural center. Will it provide cultural programs open to both Hawaiians and Hawaiians at heart?

Does the construction of the cultural center have a time line with a completion date?

Should this become a reality, it would be a wonderful opportunity for the community.

However, as Mr. Blum pointed out in his letter, “The Kona Lagoon was torn down. The Kona Gardens were destroyed. There were promises by Kamehameha Schools to restore those areas, but nothing ever came of that.”

That does bring up the question, will there be yet another empty, abandoned, unused property site once the Outrigger Keauhou Beach Hotel is gone?

How could this happen without public outcry?

T. Stewart

Kailua-Kona

Elderly housing

Fire hazards

Enough is enough. Why is it that property owners can own land in this town and not have to maintain it?

I live in the Hawaii elderly and disabled housing, and this is the fourth fire I have lived through.

I am a Korean War veteran who gets around in a power wheelchair, and it is no fun being told to get out when my chair is out of power, and I cannot tune it up and move at a moment’s notice.

Our city’s leaders (do we have some?) should do something about this.

Bill Esper

Kailua-Kona

Property rights

Common theft

To all of you under 40, please school yourself before you start managing a website, you may not know what copyrights or artist copies are and what it means when you abuse them — you over 40 should know better.

Just because you can use your Dell computer to “drag and drop” someone else’s image or song doesn’t make it yours. You are not clever or talented; you are a shoplifter, plain and simple. It is just like going into Macy’s and filling your purse with its goods — you are a common thief.

Successful artists are business persons, too. They invest everything in their art or business, not to mention the journey it takes to get there.

When you steal their work to promote your website or business, you are doing so knowingly using stolen property; ignorance is no excuse in the law. Copyrighted or not, it’s not yours.

Please educate yourselves before building a web site. It could cost you your business.

For more information check out the U.S. Library of Congress.

David Baldwin

Keauhou