Who is going to pay the extreme costs of frequent ocean and land rescues on the Garden Island? Disregard for safety is about to get very expensive!
Who is going to pay the extreme costs of frequent ocean and land rescues on the Garden Island? Disregard for safety is about to get very expensive!
It should be treated like EMS and it should always be billed to the person being treated. There should be no bearing on what they do after the rescue. It was rescue services period.
Certainly having every visitor pay a fee upon arrival would generate more income, it might not meet a constitutional challenge. As a frequent visitor, I do not like the concept. With 30+ visits we have never utilized emergency services. I would certainly not object to paying for services received.
There needs to be mechanisms to cut down on false alarms. For example, if someone calls 911 but personnel arrive and find out it’s just a nuisance call likely related to trespassing and a rescue was not merited, then the caller should bear the cost of the response. Reporting trespassers is one thing, but calling 911 to stick it to them is a waste of resources as well. Happens on O’ahu.
They’d be more better off just creating a public charge bond fund and fee for all tourists where the fee is pooled together specifically to offset public charges. Individual case assessments aside, there is no need for a minimum public charge cost impact. The Dept. of State does it for foreigners seeking entry and naturalization, the State should do it as well because most visitors are foreigners and unaccustomed to the Hawaiian Islands.
Lopaka,
Are you suggesting that US citizens be treated as foreigners “because most visitors are foreigners?” Or are you suggesting this fee only applies to foreigners, and wouldn’t that be strictly the pervue of the US State Dept?
Yes. US citizens should be treated as foreigners because the US usurped Hawaiian sovereignty dethroning the Hawaiian government, invaded and unilaterally occupied Hawaiian territory in order to fight the Spanish American war against the consent of the governed (Ku’e petitions), and then organized an Apartheid government (1900 Organic Act establishing a government for Hawaii was drafted by Senator Morgan, a former Grand Dragon of the Alabama Knights of the KKK) styled as the “Territory of Hawaii” in order to establish a Federal trade union overlay, & manufacture consent by fraudulently misrepresenting the Hawaiian Islands to the UN as a “non-self governing” territory, and Americanizing the Hawaiian people.
Aloha BOH,
If you’re a permitted hiker on the Kalalau Trail at a time when the trail is open and get injured, how is that reckless behavior? Could happen to anyone.
How about the County’s responsibility to provide a minimum level of security to prevent vehicles from being vandalized in the Haena State Park parking lot if they’re going to charge entrance and overnight parking fees?
Lopaka,
This is your reply to me. when I asked you if US citizens should be treated as foreigners:
“Yes. US citizens should be treated as foreigners because the US usurped Hawaiian sovereignty dethroning the Hawaiian government…”
In 1959, by a 17-1 margin the people of Hawaii voted for statehood. They decided statehood was a better deal than any other relationship with the US or the rest of the world.
I could not use the entire quote due to size limits on this site.
Under your reasoning, just about every country is governed by unlawful invaders. I guess you would have the US govt relinquish control of the mainland to Native American tribes.
History tells us what happened in the past. Best we move to the future.
There is much you know Rod, but much more you and I can learn. We all must learn. Thus we all don’t know what we don’t know. And what we know, we really don’t know. Even I had to learn this lesson because I too once believed as you do. We all must develop the mental fortitude and moral rectitude to research what we think we know lest we be misled. All people suffer for lack of knowledge but the blind cannot lead the blind. Therefore seek wisdom and justice as well will present herself. Start with Larsen v. Hawaiian Kingdom, 2001. Enjoy the journey to a new understanding!
BOH, I think this is the Island you guys live on.
So, if someone requires a rescue that would cost, say, $3,000, will the County reduce the tax bill by that amount for tax-paying residents? Or, is this just another govt scheme to fatten its coffers?
Mahalo
Hi Roy.
Not as far as we know. But in reading the bill, it seems to need some further clarification.
Aloha.
It’s just another way for Counties in Hawaii to get more money out of people. No matter where they come from they want more and more and they want to offer less and less
Gabi,
Exactly. And, it’s not limited to Hawaii. Elected pols know they have jobs attached to money machines.
I assume this will apply to Hawaiian residents as well, it’s not only the tourists who commit stupid acts that result in getting themselves into bad situations. Also, it shouldn’t apply to people on legal trails and have an accident, then it’s just an accident. Just as if you’re in a car accident, it’s an accident.
If private citizens are expected to pay full price it would make sense to privatize rescue services. Even NASA is using Spacex to build the Starship. Hawaii Fire and Police have a lot to explain in the Lahaina Fire deaths.
I am in favor of making folks pay the cost of “being rescued” in the context of this article. I live in a semi-rural area and every weekend we get reports of SAR rescues of – let’s just call them “city folks” – getting themselves into trouble when they come out of their metro abodes and the ‘burbs while searching for their “outdoor nature experience” that many have no clue about the realities and cost of said “experience”.
And it’s fine if they don’t know what they are doing (?) – but let them pay for the potential downside of their “outdoor adventure” instead of the taxpayer footing the bill for their inexperience or just plain bad luck.
Dicke_D,
Should the cost of rescue be borne by locals who get into similar problems? Or just those “city folk?”
I guess this is one way of discouraging tourism to the Garden Isle.
Naaaa … thanks but you’re missing the point, No one is trying to “discourage tourism”, but those who participate in the events discussed herein should bear any $$$ fallout associated with that activity.
“Locals” seldom get into such trouble as they don’t come here for an “experience” — they have Real jobs and generally do not spend their waking hours looking for something to validate a Hawai’ian “nature” trip.
Apples and oranges in a failed attempt at some sort of equivalency … or pineapples and mangoes, if you prefer. Aloha
The examples you cited weren’t All due to “intentional disregard for safety include, but are not limited to, intentionally disregarding a warning or notice.”
Those are the tough ones. If I’m out hiking on a public trail, and I get hurt, through no fault of my own, do I need to reimburse?
Hi Patrick.
That’s the direction that the state plan is heading in – intentional disregard. The Kauai plan by our read is vague at this time.
Aloha.
If I call an ambulance to my house to take me to the hospital, I’m going to be charged beaucoup bucks for it. Fortunately I have insurance that will pay most if not all of it.
I see these rescues and such as nothing more than an extension of an ambulance service, and they should be charged accordingly.