Make your voice heard
West Hawaii Today readers need to know that Melanie Ide, the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum’s talented CEO, is now under attack by her own board of directors, her reputation and career hanging in the balance. Why? She honestly has no idea why. And guess what? Her board will not even talk to her, face-to-face, but chooses to hide behind the closed door of a legal advisor.
Why should those of us in Kona care about Ide’s fate? Without her intervention and vision, our own beloved Amy B. H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden in Captain Cook in South Kona might not exist anymore. Ide came to the garden’s rescue after a previous museum CEO, a real crook, had driven the museum into financial ruin and forced the garden to close in 2016.
Leaving her work in New York, Ide accepted the challenge of leading the museum out of disgrace and back to the forefront of Hawaii’s cultural awakening. She wanted to reconnect with her roots in Hawaii, her father being a graduate of Hilo High School, a classmate of Kona’s own amazing photographer and author, Akinori Imai. A woman of vision, she knew Waipio Valley kalo farmers should remain on their land and that Kona’s garden needed to survive and thrive. The museum board in Honolulu had decided to cut all ties with its Hawaii Island properties because of their financial ineptitude. Ide stepped in, met with our island’s stakeholders in person, and made the big decision to fulfill the Museum’s responsibilities, its kuleana. That is the kind of person she is — a person with integrity.
Ide is now fighting to keep her position as a visionary and successful CEO. Her board is treating her as if she has done something wrong — and she has not. If you have aloha for the Bishop Museum or Greenwell Garden, make your voice heard. Stand up and say: I want Melanie Ide to be given the respect she deserves!
Maile Melrose
Kealakekua
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Constitutional amendment could resolve abortion issue
Congress could amend the Constitution to specifically define: the rights of the unborn, when human life begins in the womb and women’s rights pertaining to the unborn. This would be a significant step in resolving the abortion issue. While a long process, it would be better than eternally going back and forth on the issue and tearing the country apart.
One of the major problems in America is that we talk about and sometimes behave as if each “right” is absolute. Most are not. Taken to the extreme, each right will violate someone else’s right. We have free speech but we cannot falsely yell “fire” in a crowded theatre. We can pursue happiness but not by hurting someone else.
While this solution is not great and will not satisfy both extreme sides of the abortion issue, it focuses the discussion on the three main issues, is workable, necessary and democratic.
Leighton Loo
Mililani, Oahu
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Tell us about it
Do you have a story idea or news tip? Is there a community problem that has not been addressed? Do you know someone unique, whose story should be shared and enjoyed with the rest of the community? We want to know. Email the West Hawaii Today newsroom at news@westhawaiitoday.com and share the information with our readers.
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Editor
West Hawaii Today
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Kailua-Kona, HI 96745
Email: letters@westhawaiitoday.com
