$3.25 Million Range
$3.25 Million Range
Don’t subsidize this
The Dec. 20 front page article by Chelsea Jensen, “$3.25 million budgeted for Puuanahulu shooting range” still has me shaking my head in disbelief. The article continued on page 5 with the heading “Range: State hasn’t yet determined project’s total cost.”
No mention was made of future ongoing costs of operation. My thinking is it will be another taxpayer- subsidized operation benefiting only a few, as the population within a reasonable commute could not possibly support such a facility.
If a shooting range is truly needed and worthwhile, surely private enterprise would be knocking on government doors requesting approval to develop it.
Or, area shooters could band together and develop their own private club, as my father and his friends did in the 1950s in California. That club is still in operation with no government support. Should this facility be needed for police, it should be under their control and budget.
The first sentence of the article offers some hope for those of us who oppose this extravagance: “The Puuanahulu shooting range could be nearing reality — if lawmakers approve a $3.25 million budget request to plan, design, construct and equip the Kona facility.”
Please relay your objections to this project to Gov. Neil Abercrombie, Executive Chambers, State Capitol, Honolulu, HI 96813 and your local legislators, a list of which is at capitol.hawaii.gov.
Gayle Scoggin
Kailua-Kona
Violence
Change perspectives
The editorial featured in your paper recently from the Chicago Tribune brings light to the truth about our society; we must change our internal perspective in order to collectively change how we perceive violence our society.
“Children learn what they live” or experience, as the saying goes. Are we collectively prepared or even psychologically ready to make a metamorphic transformation in ourselves, our families and our communities?
Can we change our behavior? Presently, we are a society that profits dearly from exposure to violent material. Can we become a society that profits from marketing other forms of entertainment?
The editorial suggests we look into the mirror and “do something.” Changing our behavior begins when we examine our internal perspective. How can we personally help to develop in our society a sense of trust?
Psychoanalyst Erik Erikson described basic trust as “an essential trustfulness of others, as well as a fundamental sense of one’s own trustworthiness,” With trust in ourselves we can teach trust in others. This would help create a collective expectation of more experiences of trust and security in our everyday lives. If our customs, beliefs, and mores begin to change our society will change through education and the media.
Look deeply into that reflection you see in the mirror, are you ready to change your perceptions?
Linda Bong
Captain Cook