Follow Trump? No thanks
It seems Jim Koulberg conveniently ignored all the negative comments about Trump in the excellent letter to the editor by JoAnne Martinez. It seems he is quite confused about several things (and probably many more, judging by his comments).
Trump has not improved the standard of living for everyone, only the top 1 percent. In fact, his farm bill has caused bankruptcy for many farmers, to mention just one point.
Trump has not tried to work with Democrats, to the contrary, he objects and turns down anything they propose.
I doubt that many will want to follow a man like Trump who presently has 17 lawsuits against him and that does not even count his affiliation with Russia yet.
Please entertain yourself with other news sources than Fox if you want to know what is really going on in the country, Mr. Koulberg.
Christa Wagner
Kailua-Kona
Council isn’t on-the-job training
That was an interesting article printed on the front page of the Feb. 12 regarding the County Council wanting four-year terms. However, I cannot understand their reasoning. In fact, I think that anyone wanting to be a County Council representative should first prepare themselves. Are some council members now saying, “I want to serve you so I need you to pay me for the training I will need to effectively serve you.”
When I served on the council, there were members who were an embarrassment to their districts. All they knew about representing their district was to talk and talk and talk and talk. They knew nothing about the culture or even the basic things about the other eight districts they needed to work with much less the people involved.
Should a person who wants to be a doctor just set up an office and begin his practice? Should a person wanting to be a police officer be allowed to apply for a police caption position and expect to be trained on the job? Every place else, except being a parent, one would need to get trained for a position of responsibility. Not every dummy wishing be a council representative can or should be one. Or, is that the perception? If it is, it needs to be changed.
Persons wanting to serve on the council should first take the time to attend council meetings representing their districts and speak up on issues that matter. They should first volunteer to serve on some county board and get the exposure. They need to attend community meetings and get involved in community affairs, do some volunteer work. Prepare themselves on their own expense so that they can contribute and not be a drain on the limited finances available.
The other thing is that their constituents need to expect more from their representatives. The pay is such that dummies need to be eliminated. Our island is too small and filling up too fast to have representatives who expect two years of full pay training on the job.
Leningrad Elarionoff
Waimea
Other priorities before Kuakini
Widen Kuakini? How about looking more south? Straighten out some of the bad turns where there have been more crashes then I can count. Milolii to Kainalio, for example. I remember how the widening of shoulders of the road was done by our state workers.
The district of Hamakua between Waimea and Honokaa needs a right side slow lane for truckers. Doing so will help with the flow of traffic through Waimea town.
Michael Derasin
Waimea