Letters: 2-5-16

Lau a bad choice for mayor

Lau a bad choice for mayor

Wally Lau has announced he is running for mayor and promises he will focus on pono (righteousness) while leading with honesty. This is the man who, for Billy Kenoi’s entire term, has been his No. 2 man. I sincerely worry about what this means in terms of honesty.

When you are a government employee who are you really working for? Are you working for the people because your position is a position of great trust which they have bestowed upon you? If you accept a position of great trust, to whom do you owe your loyalty? To the people who elected you, or to the man who appointed you? What is more important to you — your job or your integrity?

Wally Lau does not know the meaning of the word “integrity.” You can think that Billy Kenoi is the best mayor Hawaii has had in your lifetime. That is a matter of opinion, and after having voted for him, I certainly agree that in many respects he has been a wonderful mayor. But it is also an undeniable fact that by his own admission — and that is important: by his own admission — he committed constant criminal acts as mayor. We don’t need to wait for the attorney general — Billy admitted that he knew he was doing wrong and yet he took over $31,000 of the people’s money when he had no right to do so. That makes him dishonest. That makes him a crook.

Wally Lau sat around for six or seven years and watched this crook steal the people’s money and violate the law without saying one single word. I believe — I would hope — that a man of integrity who knew this was happening would “blow the whistle.” I would hope that government employees who know that other employees are stealing from the people would report the wrongdoing to the authorities. If the public can not expect that from its employees, what do we have? Wally Lau did not do this. So what do we have?

A man of integrity? Sorry, but I am afraid not. And I find it insulting that he would ask for my vote as if he had suddenly discovered that the “pono” thing for him to have done long ago would have been to resign as managing director rather than to keep working for a man who weekly was stealing from the people. Auwe, Wally, auwe!

Lanric Hyland

Kapa’au

Dengue fight needs more effort

I am a part-time resident of South Kona, up mauka in the forest’s edge. The mosquito population is big and the fear of dengue is high.

We all know people who are getting it. So far, public services are either absent, symbolic, or in denial about the scale and potential for epidemic. Suburban sidewalk spraying programs will not work in much of rural Hawaii, where people live in the open and where there is no access for the few trucks that are spraying.

Many people on the Big Island live without air conditioning and effective screens, and we work outside. Diminishing disease-carrying mosquito populations will require a very well coordinated effort, using various methods. This is a Department of Health issue, and also the county/state insect vector control people need to prioritize it. Which means they need allocated budgets and to not put their heads in the sand.

Please take seriously this situation and cover the quickly developing issues. Tulsi Gabbard has just called upon the state to declare a state of emergency, so that appropriate health measures and funding can be applied to the situation, ASAP. I support that request.

Please publish news of the dengue situation as it develops, and encourage people to seriously consider the needs and what a proper response should be. At the very least, publish fairly to educate the public and the authorities to the reality and concerns of all of us who live rurally or in communities where we see the disease taking off.

K. Harrison

Opihihale

Dog walkers should respect neighborhood

I read with interest Juliet Nacino’s opinion of our Puuloa neighborhood where she walks her “well heeled” dogs down into our subdivision. Perhaps Ms. Nacino should have her dogs on a leash as required by law on county roads like ours.

Off leash dogs sometimes kill chickens or pet cats. A responsible dog owner would pick up after her dogs defecate in our subdivision and would always carry a recyclable waste bag for that purpose. We are a small community like many other subdivisions in Hawaii and we do have an active neighborhood watch program as posted throughout the subdivision.

We are also an active community that works hard to maintain the beauty of the land surrounding our homes. We have adopted the two-mile stretch of highway adjacent to our neighborhood and we clean up those lands off the highway regularly. We also have our own neighborhood cleanup program.

I also find it interesting when lack of accountability for one’s own actions leads to playing the ethnicity (“brown skin”) card in a feeble attempt to legitimize one’s assertions. The last time I checked kamaaina wasn’t a color but stewardship of the land, which our neighborhood actively embraces. Perhaps if Ms. Nacino wouldn’t make sweeping generalizations about what she deems “ their guarded and secreted community,” and be respectful of the aina and its creatures where she walks her dogs, these problems wouldn’t occur. Then again, what do I know, I’ve only been married to a person “of brown skin” for close to 20 years. His name is Michael.

Daniel Montgomery

Puuloa

When dogs roam free

Living in Hawaiian Acres for 30 years, I have too often lost pets and livestock to predatory roaming packs of dogs. I know that many owners believe that dogs should be free to roam beyond their property, but roaming dogs become packs, and the most vicious dog in the pack becomes the leader — that’s just the way nature works.

I have tried to frighten off hunting packs from my property, but they come back. I could kill these dogs, but that would be unfair to the dogs, who are only following their nature, and to the families that (maybe?) love them.

Bottom line: Control your dogs. Teach them to respect your property, but also to understand that they are not allowed to hunt or terrorize your neighbors. If you let them roam free, they will join other dogs to form killing packs — that is their nature. They will in turn be killed or captured by concerned neighbors protecting their own animals — that is our nature.

Joel Aycock

Hawaiian Acres

Kudos to community steward

A newspaper can do more than inform and advertise; employing concerned articulate people helps our community, find its voice.

Karen Anderson, editor of WHT’s outstanding monthly magazine, “At Home,” is not only an exceptional writer and photographer but also an exemplary citizen. She deserves respect and admiration for her spirited fight against dengue — from the dengue Facebook page to lengthy conversations with Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Karen has never faltered in her commitment to public service.

We are all beneficiaries of her dedication and tireless effort and we owe her a debt of gratitude. How wonderful it would be if more of our elected officials and individuals in our community demonstrated the level of service as Ms. Anderson and Rep. Gabbard.

Ann Fraser

Captain Cook