Kailua-Kona
Trees
Different spin put on testimony
Trees, public input and sidewalks have co-existed in America for a very long time. Brittany Smart and Brenda Ford are against cutting down trees, but they were not against cutting me down when I testified at the Jan. 4 council meeting. My testimony concerned a lack of sidewalks. Their reply insinuated that installing sidewalks means cutting down trees. They put their own spin on my testimony, and therefore villified me as a person who would choose a sidewalk over a tree.
I was talking about a situation makai of the highway where a required sidewalk was not installed in a village commercial rezoning. There are no trees involved, yet the sidewalk is still not there. The two councilwomen started ranting about losing all of the trees on the mauka side of Malamalahoa Highway in Naalehu. They ignored my line of reasoning.
Smart and Ford took advantage of an opportunity to grandstand their “I Love Trees” political platform. Their inflamed rhetoric was beyond legislative decorum. I was collateral damage.
Jerry Warren
Naalehu
Blood drives
No opportunities in Ka’u
I donated often on the mainland and would love to do so here, but in 10 years I have never seen a Ka’u drive and have only infrequently seen banners announcing one in Captain Cook.
Give us decent lead time and make it so we don’t have to travel so far and the Big Island blood supply will increase.
Dan DeJarnette
Ocean View
Merging traffic
Install plastic poles as temporary solution
In reference to letters by Barry Finkenberg and Darcel Sheldon on “merging traffic” …
Perhaps an inexpensive temporary solution would be to install those plastic yellow poles between the right turn only lane and the straight ahead only lane, which would prevent cars from cutting in and causing potential accidents. I experience that every time I go into Kona.
Peter Abarcar
Waikoloa
Headline disappointing
What criteria is used when selecting headlines?
The West Hawaii Today headline of Dec. 4, “Elks Donate Thousands,” jarred me awake as I sipped my first cup of coffee. I eagerly started reading the article to find out the details of this earthshaking news only to be disappointed by learning of the amount raised being $4,519, not what I would term “thousands.”
Since the above date there have appeared inside the paper many small announcements of fundraising by various organizations; Dec. 17, “Sunrise Rotary’s Chairs for Charity Auction raises over $5,000;” Dec. 21, “Hawaii Federal Credit Union raises $15,000 for Food Basket” and “Clark Realty raises more than $20,000;” and a recent letter to the editor thanked the community for their support in raising $165,000 for the Kona Hospital Foundation.
I am not a member of any of the above organizations, but I have to wonder why the Elks was favored with the daily headline while the other organizations raising larger amounts were not.
What criteria is used by the paper when selecting the daily headline? Do the Elks have an inside track at the paper or is this some kind of Mark Twain spoof? I would like to know how I can get the headline I want.
Michael C. Robinson
Kailua-Kona