Letters | 5-26-14

It’s time to do more to help the homeless

I have just finished watching a news report concerning the homeless situation in Chinatown in Honolulu. It specifically dealt with the disposal of human waste. And I’m left to wonder, what are the local leaders thinking of? You can push the homeless off of the sidewalks, you can clear them out of the trees, you can chase them off of the beaches, but the bottom line is that, no matter how much you wish you could, you can’t make them disappear.

We will always have homeless, especially with cutbacks in social services and the decline of the economy. And the homeless will always have a need to have a decent place to live and a place to defecate and urinate. They are, after all, still humans. That won’t change. I’ve read stories that say that, providing them with a home, a permanent and safe abode, would, in the long run, be much cheaper than continuing to deal with this on a case-by-case basis, on a crisis management basis.

In the short term, I would ask the government to provide this portion of the population with port-a-potties as a temporary solution for all parties concerned. It may be unsightly. But really. Would it be any worse than the status quo?

Please do your jobs and represent your total ohana, and help these unfortunates, even if they don’t vote.

James Manville

Kailua-Kona

Fish collecting isn’t pono

The recent letter that was submitted by Makani Christensen was not even pono.

My ancestors knew the balance and duality of nature and what you’re calling “fishing method” in your term is not what na kupuna would call a “fishing method.”

Fish collecting dooms us as a whole. Almost 100 percent of our economy is tied to tourism in one way or another. The industry called “Aquarium Collecting” gives nothing back.

Mahalo Rene Umberger for your diligence and hard work. My hui and I are at your disposal.

Aukai Awai

Puako