Letter To the editor
From: Wayne Cochran

History repeats.
Our schools don't teach the story of carpetbaggers--scammers who moved south after the civil war. They had bags made from carpets with leather ends, filled with union money. Confederate money was deemed worthless, and the carpetbaggers took full advantage of this economic situation by buying distressed plantations and land for pocket money. Locals didn't take kindly to these intruders and many were ridden out of town after being basted with hot tar and dipped in feathers--hence the term tarred and feathered).
Many of Hawai'i's plantations have been bought up by a similar breed, the Dot-com carpetbaggers. With a track record for turning ag-land into massive developments, our island lifestyle is in danger. Who benefits from urban sprawl? Only the corporate heads who will move on to pillage Kauai next. Guess who owns most of the land on Kauai? Steve Case--ML&P's major stockholder, he comes from the land of finance. On Wall St., Time-Warner and AOL stock holders took a dive, while Case came up swimming. This is the same guy who wants to pave our island over with gentleman farms and ag subdivisions that grow houses instead of agriculture. How can we fight the Wall St. wizards? Sorry brah tar and feathers is no longer the solution. Is there a way to keep the ag-industry and that "country" atmosphere everyone loves alive? We can yell at the rubber stamp planning commission till we're blue in the face. Our county council and Mayor Tavares are our only hope to fight off the corporate take over of our open spaces.
People demand a moratorium that will only allow infrastructure demands and low-income housing. Affordable housing costs much more than most people working 2-3 jobs can ever hope to realize. Maui needs your help. Carpetbaggers go back to Wall St.