Keep a wary eye
There is a lot of concern on the mountain now, but Hawaiians also need to pay attention to the beaches.
This week my wife and I walked in on the public path to the beach at the Fairmont Orchid. We set our chairs on the beach and were told the new policy starting this week was that we could not be there unless we each bought a $50 “beach pass.”
We argued that beaches in Hawaii are public, and that we were below the high-water mark. Their position is that they control that beach, we are not allowed to bring our chairs or umbrella, that the only chairs allowed on “their beach” are their chairs. We refused to pay $100, we were told we needed to leave the beach.
Roger Redifer
Port Ludlow, Washington
Death threats, bounties not ‘peace-loving’
It started out as a peaceful protest against the TMT. Many people have written letters to the editor about their experience among the protest group that is filled with aloha and peacefulness.
These writers need to pull their heads out of that crevasse where they are keeping them and pay attention to the news because the news tells about some of these “peace-loving thugs” resorting to violence and threats. Death threats and bounties on people are not even close to peace -loving! These few barbarians are showing their true colors that they could care less about TMT, but would rather resort to their violent roots.
Gayle Kalapana
Ocean View
King Kalakaua saw need for observatories
It’s occurred to me that it would be a wonderful thing if a time machine were invented that the protesters, or protectors, of Maunakea, could use to go back 100 years or more to discuss with the Hawaiian kings whether or not the Thirty Meter Telescope should be built. But alas, we don’t have that luxury. However, we have written history as our “time machine.”
Fortunately, one of the last Hawaiian monarchs actually gave us his opinion regarding observatories. My wife and I last week visited Imiloa Astronomy Center in Hilo, and I took a photo of one of the displays offering King David Kalakaua’s opinion of observatories: During the reign of King Kalakaua (1874-1891) the Hawaiian monarch expressed great interest in astronomy. In a letter written in 1880 about observatories King Kalakaua remarked, “Something of this kind is needed here very much.”
Thank you, King Kalakaua, for commenting in writing!
BW Waliszewski
Waikoloa