Letters 4-28-13

Smoking ban

Image used with
story upsetting

Your front page article on the smoking ban and a photo of Jayson Castillo smoking on the beach was very upsetting to me. I really don’t care if Jayson smokes or not but I bet he doesn’t carry a pouch to put all his cigarette butts in when he gets done with his cigarettes. If he is conscientious enough to do so, then that’s okay but I bet he just tosses the butt in the ocean or in the sand. Either way, this butt can make its way into the sea or into the mouths of birds, turtles or fish, where it will do more harm to other living creatures.

The whole idea of the ban is not to make people stop smoking but to make them aware that a public beach or any beach for that matter should be cared for. We must protect our aina and its creatures. On beach cleanup day, volunteers gathered many cigarette butts, as well as other trash from the beach. If people cared more and did the right thing, we wouldn’t have to put restrictions and those who don’t care about their own health can go on inhaling those carcinogenic fumes.

Colleen Wallis

Kailua-Kona

Staff changes

Letting editor
go a bad decision

I am sure that you and your staff have had a flood of negative comments over letting one of the most esteemed members of West Hawaii Today go. Reed Flickinger was the voice and conscience of West Hawaii. To say that I am upset over this decision is putting it mildly. He has always had the pulse of this community and has represented us well. Politicians listened to what he wrote, and positive changes came about because of his visionary, forthright, thoughtful, well-researched, concisely written columns. This was one feature that I always eagerly looked forward to reading in your paper. No more — I’m canceling my subscription in protest over this outrageous decision.

Melissa Otaguro

Kailua-Kona