Letters | 1-15-16

Purchases help preserve Hawaii’s history

Mahalo and kudos to the Free Church of Tonga for saving the Mauna Ziona Church and its property. It is so sad to see the loss of so many Hawaiian churches that were built by missionaries and parishioners such a long time ago, due to their lack of economic solvency. We need to have these buildings listed as historical sites.

Thank you West Hawaii Today for enlightening us about these important happenings in our community. But, I’m bewildered that the rest of the people at the auction were like predators picking up, for a good price, other parcels of land and dwellings on the unfortunate people who lost their property due to economic reasons.

I guess that’s what they call American entrepreneurship. Again, Hawaii aina is being devoured by the mano (sharks). One more thing it is very disheartening to see Bishop Museum’s CEO willing to sell the sacred lands of Waipio, that was given to them as an endowment a century ago, to the highest bidder. Auwe (how sad)! Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Kamehameha Schools, Liliuokalani Trust, kokua (please) purchase those lands before they are lost to our future generations. Imua (forward)!

Amoe Meyer Bean

Kailua-Kona

Protect palila by protecting sheep

To save the endangered palila on the mountain I believe that we need to fence 500 acres on the west side of Mauna Kea, the best habitat for the palila to nest. I also believe that we need to allow hunters to manage the sheep. Our observation of the palila population is that with the decline of sheep, the palila population has also gone down.

We have learned that the palila now use the wool from the sheep to line their nests. Also, we have not heard of any studies that look at what will happen if all of the sheep are eliminated. Many of us hunters believe that getting rid of the sheep will not benefit the palila population.

If you look at Mauna Kea now, we have a terrible weed problem, as well as a rat and cat problem. These animals eat the baby palila. Therefore, I think that it is a good time that all of us, environmentalists and hunters included, take a good look at the current situation on the mountain. We need to relocate some of the palila to Puu Waawaa and Hualalai where there are many mamane trees and sheep to help save the palila population. We should stop all aerial shooting because we are disrupting the habitat and damaging the nest area.

I am writing this letter because hunters genuinely care about the palila population. I am a hunter, an environmentalist, and a Hawaiian. The survival of the palila depends on having some sheep on Mauna Kea. If we take all of the sheep off of the mountain then it will be the end of the palila. It is up to us to work together to save the palila and hunting.

With much aloha,

Lloyd E. Case

Kamuela

Don’t confuse probability with odds

In a recent article, the claim is made that the odds of winning the lottery jackpot are 1 in 292 million.

No, that’s the probability, not the odds. To take a simpler example, if you draw one card at random from a deck of cards, the probability of getting a spade is 1/4. The odds against getting a spade are 3 to 1; and the odds in favor of getting a spade are 1 to 3. I just thought you might want to know. Almost everybody confuses probabilities and odds.

Tom Knapp

Kailua-Kona