Mahalo for assistance following accident
On Dec. 26 about 6:30 p.m., I was in an accident on the Hilo side of Ookala Gulch. I would like to thank all those who helped and came to my aide, especially the two gentlemen, one who was behind me and the other that put out flares, so that no one else got hurt. These young men were heroes to me, in my time of need.
Venus Gonsalves Henriques
Honokaa
Seat belt use is nothing to joke about
Long before seat belt use became mandatory I buckled up. I thought then, and still think now, it was/is idiotic not to use seat belts. There simply are no good reasons not to buckle up, but these are the kinds of excuses one encounters: the seat belt might trap me in a burning car, I was in a hurry and I forgot, I was only going a short distance and, I don’t want the government telling me what to do. To this very incomplete list I would add Dennis Gregory’s: don’t the cops have better things to do?
Mr. Gregory is amused by cops enforcing the seat belt law. I am “shaking my head” amused that Mr. Gregory accumulates expensive traffic tickets but doesn’t change his behavior by buckling up. Whether through spite, forgetfulness, poor risk assessment or disagreement with the law, I sincerely hope people like Mr. Gregory don’t learn a seat belt lesson the hard way — not the traffic ticket hard way — but the bloody and broken body hard way.
Edward McShane
Naalehu