Letters: 2-7-16

Governor doing Big Island a disservice

Governor doing Big Island a disservice

Hooray for Tulsi Gabbard for standing up and telling the truth about the need and the resources to contain the dengue fever outbreak on our island! And shame on Gov. Ige for ignoring her!

There is no excuse for Gov. Ige effectively telling Big Island residents to bug off and fix your own problems when the governor should be leading this fight. To begin with, there is no way to insure that this can be contained on Hawaii Island. Second, as more and more visitors arrive, the likelihood of them contacting this disease grows. What wonderful PR that will be for Hawaiian tourism! Beyond that, the news of the Zika virus grows more worrisome every day. And the same mosquitoes responsible for spreading dengue, also spread Zika. It doesn’t take a crystal ball to see where this epidemic is heading.

Hawaii Island needs help now! A concerted effort to eradicate mosquitoes, free on-island testing and a lab for analysis of the tests are urgently needed. Our governor is remiss in not providing the leadership and resources needed in this fight.

Deborah Green

Keauhou

Debate the issues, please

As a registered voter, I would like to suggest that there would be a debate of all candidates for the office of mayor of the Big Island. The people need to know who they are voting for. You might hear that the person is a good person, so what!

Is that person qualified? Is he an assertive person? We need someone who can and will get things done. Not a “yes” man. Having a debate on certain issues would clarify that he either knows the issues or knows nothing at all.

Nadine Olinger

Kailua-Kona

Overturn citizens United

Almost every election is tipped in favor of the super rich. It time for serious campaign reforms. Elections are supposed to be for the people not for the ultra rich. Serious reform is needed. I applaud President Obama in his final State of the Union address stating he supports real campaign reform. Whether he takes action or not is completely up to us. Elections are needs to return to the people and together it can be possible.

Troy Abraham

Hilo

Vector control needs added support

We should all strongly urge our representatives to pass SB No. 2240. It will increase staff of the DOH Vector Control unit by 4FTE and mandate the creation of a Vector Control Branch.

While a clearly long overdue step in the right direction, this staffing increase will only partially replace extreme cuts implemented since 2009.

What can be a higher priority than public health and safety? As we’ve seen with the dengue outbreak, an effective vector control program is critical to public health. With virtually every public health agency now predicting that the Zika virus (which is associated with devastating birth defects) will spread to areas susceptible to dengue, the need for a more effective vector control program is compelling.

Of course, funding alone won’t solve the problem. Spraying with detergent was a huge waste of precious resources and time. The program must be effective and sustained over time. It won’t be easy, but what is the alternative?

Does Hawaii want to be on CDC’s list of areas to be avoided by women of child-baring age?

Matthew Lincoln

Kamuela