Letters | 12-21-15

Larger Ethics Board is unnecessary

I am concerned that the County Council has decided to revive the Board of Ethics bill as reported in the Dec. 15 edition of West Hawaii Today.

I am also concerned that the County Council thinks it will take a larger Board of Ethics to police our elected officials in the event that they commit an unethical act or a lapse in judgment.

Elected officials are expected to uphold the highest level of personal integrity and honor, that they should always do the right thing when no one is looking. That is one of the reasons why we elected them into office. However, the County Council thinks that this will no longer be the case because a larger Board of Ethics will be there to police their actions for them.

As citizens of this county, we are all responsible for making sure that our elected officials set the highest standards of integrity and honor. If not, we will have an opportunity to replace them in the upcoming election instead of going with the idea of establishing a larger Board of Ethics.

Nestorio Domingo

Kailua-Kona

Are ultralight pilots unknowing or just uncaring?

Licensed pilots know flying low and slow could immediately cause a fatal stall, spin and crash.

Apparently the ultralight pilots flying low and slow over Kona are unlicensed, unknowing or uncaring.

Michael K. Sylmond

Kailua-Kona

Mahalo for fixing Mamalahoa Highway

I am writing in regard to the road work recently done in the Holualoa area and also by the culvert near our home on Mamalahoa Highway.

I really needed to comment on the work well done by the Kona road work crew led by Ben Casuga. Initially, the work started at the Japanese cemetery. This area has always been very dangerous and now that the paving has been done, it is much improved. I believe that more work like a hand rail should be done going down to the cemetery but that needs to be done by the association. The area near the old Kona Hotel had paving done, which definitely improved the parking for our small town, which celebrates a lot these days, bringing more traffic here.

For all the years of complaining to the county of the culvert near our house about a mile north of the town that kept flooding and overflowing, taking the gravel and soil that we repeatedly replaced near our home, someone heard me. I am so thankful that Casuga and his crew cleaned up and paved the shoulder of the road so flooding can be avoided. In my whole life of living in Holualoa, I always thought that the day of sidewalks on Mamalahoa would come true. This paving is just as good as a sidewalk to me since in my lifetime, I will probably not see that much improvement to this road that is now serving as one of the main roadways in Kona.

The culvert is probably over 100 years old and in dire need of a pathway when the river flows downhill to Kailua town. If not for the thick bamboo forest just below the highway, I believe Kailua-Kona would have more damage than this past summer when we had flooding. I know for a fact that the culvert will be having a stonewall repair to the damage done by the recent flooding and we are grateful for that.

For the person who heard my complaint at the county’s Highway Division highest level down to the working crew who applied all the asphalt, controlled the traffic, and let us watch you work so hard, a very big mahalo. I really wished that my late parents were alive to have seen this happen. Our family really appreciates seeing government in action.

One word of caution: For speeders on the highway, this paving does not give you the right to overtake on the double line just because there is more room on the highway. Police: You have my permission to park in our driveway to catch those people.

Carol Zakahi

Holualoa