Discontent
Discontent
Held against his will?
The majority of us Native Hawaiians who read the letter written by John S. Rabi in the Aug. 14 edition of the WHT ask the same question we have asked many times over when reading such letters.
Mr. Rabi first identifies himself as a “full-time resident of Hawaii” then states that he “considers it an obligation to vote” and a few lines later he states that “he decided not to wait a few hours for the privilege to cast my vote.”
Not having the time to fulfill his obligation or exercise his privilege, he resorts to calling our island “an inefficient and overstuffed county work force that can’t do anything right,” then continues his derogatory comments in the next paragraph, slamming us, saying he “is not surprised nothing ever gets done right in the People’s Republic of Hawaii.”
Oh, I forgot to continue my first paragraph by repeating the question us natives have asked many times over after reading such letters: Are the Kona police officers holding this person against his will in Hawaii or has the Kona airport refused to allow Mr. Rabi the right to return home to his perfect paradise?
Leningrad Elarionoff
Waimea
Marijuana ops
What are priorities?
The choppers are flying again despite the majority vote four years ago to not accept green harvest funding, make marijuana offenses lowest priority by voting the clear skies initiative.
How is it that we have money to keep the helicopters polluting the air and disturbing the peace, but not to transport our children to school?
How is it that we have money to incarcerate hundreds for growing a plant, but not to pay our teachers or extend the school year?
How is it that we can tie up our judicial system with victimless infractions, but we can’t keep our libraries, parks and public service offices open full time?
How is it that marijuana is a schedule 1 drug while methamphetamine (ice) and cocaine are schedule 2? How is it that you can be charged with “promoting a dangerous drug” for growing marijuana which is non-addictive and has never resulted in a death, while beer and vodka advertisements abound on television?
Why is it that a prescription for medicinal marijuana is the only one that must be registered with the police, while overdoses of prescription pharmaceuticals are the leading cause of death in young adults?
So five days of keeping helicopters flying and unknown numbers of the police force occupied resulted in the confiscation of 2,500 plants. That works out to some pretty expensive plants. Do you feel safer? Are our keiki better educated? Has it created any jobs or improved the infrastructure? What are our priorities anyway?
Carol Laramee
Hawi