Letters to the Editor: 8-6-16

Water needed more than AC

Well it’s school time again. I know this not because I have school-age children but because the same file video of the same girl fanning herself in a hot class room on Oahu has hit the news. And the dramatic tale of the teacher passing out last year (no word on what she was doing the night before). Oahu schools are complaining about hot class rooms before the school year even starts.

What’s even more laughable is the fake outrage of the news casters. The latest price tag to cool 1,000 classrooms (Gov. David Ige’s goal) is $80 million. That’s right, $80,000,000. Now, instead of blowing that kind of money to cool class rooms a few weeks a year for Oahu’s over-heated class rooms, (funny that they were OK when my kids went to school must be global warming) why doesn’t our governor consider bringing water lines to South Kona? For those of you that don’t know it, yes we catch water in South Kona just like they do in the African nation of the Congo. It runs off our roof into a big tank, and is pumped into our homes.

Think of all the farms that would start if we had water lines. If the state wants to promote agriculture, bring in water to fertile ground of South Kona. I bet it wont cost $80 million.

James Duke

Honaunau

A mahalo from Big Island Giving Tree

The Big Island Giving Tree would like to thank the many generous sponsors and volunteers who assisted in making its back-to-school “Adopt A Student” program a huge success.

This year, BIGT blessed 119 students and touched many lives on our island. These students were blessed with the school supplies listed on their lists and a new backpack.

God bless each and every one of you who gave of your time and resources to make it happen for these 119 students.

Rhonda Bell

Co-coordinator, BIGT

Time wasted by incumbent

Nancy Cook Lauer’s article (Aug. 2, 2016) on the battle between the incumbent in Council District 9 (Waimea-Waikoloa-North Kohala) and the challenger, Tim Richards is accurate, but misleading.

The incumbent states that she’s “sponsored more substantive legislation than anyone else on the Council,” and this is accurate. What is misleading, however, is that from February 2013 (when she started in office), till April 2015 (two years, two months later), she introduced 61 pieces of legislation. Of this total, 41 are considered “substantive.” Of this number, 27 were either voted down because they are not supported by her Council colleagues, postponed by the call of the Chair (sometimes a polite way of killing a measure), or she withdrew it after going through several drafts, amendments and countless hours of discussions and debates.

The incumbent prides herself on writing her own legislation. She doesn’t collaborate with her own constituents, including farmers and ranchers. She bypasses the review process by the Legislative Research Branch, which conducts independent review and analyses of substantive legislation, prior to consideration and enactment. As a result, her proposals are poorly written, not well thought through and not researched properly. Because of this, many of her proposals go through several revisions which in many instances eventually get voted down or withdrawn.

The outcome is that so much time is wasted by the incumbent, the Council staff and the public, not to mention the amount of time and effort it costs to run the meetings. More importantly, my District is left out in the cold. On Aug. 13, vote for someone who can play nicely with the others in the County Council “sandbox.” This is not child’s play, our community deserves better. A vote for Tim Richards is a vote for someone who can work well with others.

Riley Smith

Waimea