Feral cat response Feral cat response ADVERTISING Beware the zealots When will government step in? It was very nice to read Pat Hall’s letter regarding our destructive human-induced feral cat fiasco. The joy I will feel when a bright light
Feral cat response
Beware the zealots
When will government step in?
It was very nice to read Pat Hall’s letter regarding our destructive human-induced feral cat fiasco. The joy I will feel when a bright light will finally be shown over a well-intentioned slaughter house.
In a state that prohibits species that will alter the fragile ecosystem, how did our guardians at the gate let the “advovermin” gang build its ravenous band of predators to the staggering population it enjoys today?
Thank you, Pat Hall, for stating the obvious, but beware the zealots who protect this folly. When will our government put an end to the misery these rampant animals inflict on our aina?
Steve Snyder
Kalaoa
Airport Roofing job
Cost is unbelievable
I just read “$10.4 million to re-roof open air terminals” in the May 3 edition of West Hawaii Today. The premise of the article is the tax payers of Hawaii will be spending $10.4 million dollars to re-roof two open air terminals at the Kona Airport.
Really, $10.4 million? And it will take one year to complete?
If the total roof area is 100,000 square feet and there are 260 working days in a year, that means the crews would be covering an area about the size of a two-car garage (400 square feet) per day to make this job last a year at a cost of $40,000 a day.
If you told me they were going to tear down the two terminals and rebuild them completely and it would cost $10.4 million and take a year, I would still be surprised at the cost and the time to complete that project.
I truly cannot believe that any roofing contractor in the state couldn’t beat that estimate.
Dave Chrisman
Kailua-Kona
Coral graffiti
Don’t change tradition
How old is the tradition of rock and coral expression along the Queen Kaahumanu Highway? Certainly it is older than I am.
When Big Islanders saw strips of asphalt cutting through the lava beds near the airport, they found a way of making the asphalt and concrete lines their own, by adorning them with messages of love, remembrance and aloha.
Hundreds of people over decades of time created a lei of aloha along the asphalt. What makes it all so unique in the world is that it does show respect for the aina because it does no permanent harm. The generations who created it have turned it, as a whole, into cultural folk art, unique for its scale, composition, sentiment, age and respect.
As with most folk art or modern art or impressionistic art, etc., the white coral and stone creations are viewed as positive expression by some, blight by others, tradition by some, messy by others. There will never be a consensus.
But if the “intent” of this folk art, if the time, energy and good will of the generations who created it are weighed, then countless people are being affected, hurt or disrespected by its removal.
If so many are hurt by the destruction of the trail of aloha, why should so much volunteer effort, even well-intended, be poured into a divisive issue when it is better used for purposes on which we all agree: cleaning the parks, beaches, streets and water of tossed beer cans; fast food wrappers; discarded fishing nets; broken styrofoam and shards of plastic.
There is a vast difference, both in intent and result, between those who create loving messages along the asphalt of the highway, and those who mar ancient artifacts. There is a difference in purpose and result between those who improve and respect our trails and those who desecrate them.
Why not direct our volunteer efforts toward things we all support? The newspaper prints opportunities for volunteers every week: be a hospital volunteer; help build community gardens or trails in Honokaa; plant trees and preserve native species; honor police and firefighters; aid the homeless; support animal sanctuaries; help clean churches or community centers or volunteer in the schools.
The creations along the asphalt of the Queen Kaahumanu Highway are singular in the world and one of the only places on this island where such folk art can be expressed without hurting the aina. Please allow locals to continue to have such a place. Allow it to continue to wow tourists. Allow it to honor vets, express gratitude, remember loved ones. Use it to welcome, and share kindness.
Yes, some original messages get messy. So tidy it, maintain it, look at it with new eyes, but don’t take away this cultural tradition.
Joan Oviatt
Keaaa
