Get us back on a path to normalcy
If we truly want to get our economy and life moving again here are some common sense steps we can take right now:
1) Allow vaccination verification to supplant the travel testing requirements. Everyone who has been vaccinated gets a card designating where and when they received their shot(s). Accept this simple card for both interisland and trans-Pacific travel. Institute a healthy penalty for creating or using a fraudulent card. No need for a government vaccine passport. Get rid of the majority of test-validating people at the airports and send the National Guard back to its primary mission. Also get rid of the greedy “approved” testing sites that are gouging the public for hundreds of dollars a test.
2) Send all vaccinated teachers back in to the classroom, no excuses. It is proven safe and any delay for not returning full-time to the classroom is pure political posturing and maneuvering. Our families and keiki demand and deserve it.
3) Remove all restrictions on commercial businesses. Let them decide what is prudent for them and their customers/clients to remain safe and vigilant. Let customers decide on who to patronize.
4) End the mask mandates. Let individuals and commercial entities determine where and when masks are appropriate and trust them to act accordingly.
Gov. David Ige and Mayor Mitch Roth: Please raise your heads above the eucalyptus trees and see how easy and low-risk it could be to put the COVID nightmare in the rear-view mirror and get us back on a path to normalcy (if there ever was one). Bold action is needed but unfortunately unlikely.
John Bingham
Kailua-Kona
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Kudos to good people
I’ll set the table first before I reveal the names of those good people that honored me with their talents and aloha.
I’m a U.S. Army combat medic that spent most of my two years of active duty in Korea on ambush and hunter-killer patrols in the demilitarized zone (DMZ). I was there when the USS Pueblo was captured in January 1968. That dates me.
Later, I developed chronic sinusitis and had to have all my teeth extracted. I was under the care of our Veterans Affairs Clinic in Kona. It was a battle getting dental care because the VA’s policy is “…only veterans with a 100-percent service-related disability are eligible.” Ultimately, I got the teeth removed without replacing any of them.
I learned to live toothless for years until I found Dental Lifeline Network, which helps people like me unable to afford dental care or VA qualified to receive it.
After a year or more, my name came to the top of their list — it was my turn.
The good people at Hawaii Holistic Dentistry offered their services. Dr. Doi, Dr. Hartwell and the staff welcomed me with aloha. Hartwell took the reins to fit me with some premium dentures, and remove some old teeth fragments.
Please indulge me in naming the team members that might be your neighbors and/or friends. Dr. Hartwell’s assistants are Jacy Medina and Cricket Anne Higginson. Dr. Doi and his assistants: Esra Lynch, Gemma Fujii, and Jocelyn Lyndsey. Front desk: Anna Tilini, Kylee Kawamura, Sasha Kaaekuahiwi, Tia Revilla, Charmain Amaral, Ann Yamamoto, and Nancy Tocatlian. Hygienists: Daiva Micutaite, Numia Tatom, Kim Schneider, Amanda Whiddon, and Julie Simons.
From my heart, “Mahalo nui loa e aloha ke Akua…a hui hou”
Dennis Lawson
Kalaoa
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