Coqui frogs
Coqui frogs
Waging the battle in your own back yard
Last night my husband donned a long-sleeve shirt, jeans and boots and went out into the dark.
He was armed with a flashlight and a box of baking soda. He searched and found that pesky frog that’s been keeping us awake at night. We slept well for the first night in a few.
Could Wednesday night become frog hunting night? Could it be that easy, just tossing baking soda in the area of the calling frogs put an end to this invasion?
About a month ago a kind neighbor (Anton) told us he hunted a frog in our yard at night for us. So this time we went hunting ourselves. My job was whistling (attempting to imitate the call of the frog) on the lanai while he got closer to it. It took about 25 minutes. You have to be careful. You may need to clear the path, remove brush in the daytime in the area you think it’s coming from, but hey, the yard work usually needs to be done anyway. If you have kids, you can get them involved. I wanted to share that with others. It’s not very hard, if it’s in your yard, to be a good neighbor.
Have a great day — and a better night’s sleep.
I. Ray
Captain Cook
Business blockades
Costs go up, hiring, jobs suffer in Hawaii
I own and operate a small business and want to start adding employees. Tax increases and employee benefit costs keep me from taking the next step — to hire.
The excise tax (and possible increase) keeps me from doing business in Hawaii. Now the minimum wage may increase.
I want to create entry-level positions, train people, and thus create a new career path for folks and grow my business.
It could be a win-win but I cannot reliably predict how much it will cost.
How many other businesses in Hawaii are not taking the next step to hire?
The state can continue to raise the cost of doing business to raise revenue — or it can help businesses hire and gain new taxpayers.
My guess is that people want the job opportunities.
Debbie McCoy
Keauhou