Gathering rights
Gathering rights
My family has lived in Papaikou for generations. We have used our access to the ocean as a way to feed our families.
When the Papaikou community was conducting public hearings to get the county to buy the path to the beach, we saw old men come up to the microphone to speak in front of 300 gathered at our gym. They pleaded that the gate to the beach be opened again so they could fish at night and in the early hours.
The county voted to do eminent domain to buy the path to the beach. That was 2012, and then (Billy Kenoi was re-elected mayor). He started off by saying we would not be given night access, but that we would be given public access.
It is 2016 now. Several elder fishermen passed on, and the path is still waiting to be made public.
Come on, Billy, the people are waiting.
Jarrick Dasalla
Hilo
GMO labeling
Current Vermont law requiring labeling of all foods derived from genetically modified organisms has food industry organizations nervous (Tribune-Herald, March 20).
If the labeling is to be honest, it will require almost all food in stores carry a “May contain GMO ingredients” label. Right now, that would include everything containing corn syrup while the list of raw and processed foods containing GMO genes is expanding exponentially.
When most everything carries such a label, most people won’t pay attention to it. The expression will become meaningless except to organic farmers and their customers who strive to have “GMO-free” foods and sell and purchase products so-labeled.
Simple and ever more cheap genetic testing of these foods will reveal if the producer, whether knowing or not, is actually selling food containing GMO genes. As GMO strains of agricultural species proliferate, GMO-free food producers will have to do molecular genetic analytical monitoring themselves. This is to ensure they won’t be guilty, knowing or not, of labeling fraud by law.
In a short time, it will be GMO-free food producers who are on the defensive. Be careful what you wish for.
William J. Mautz
Hilo