Letters to the editor | 8-16-14

Voter suppression is wrong

Voter suppression in any form is just plain undemocratic and wrong. The arbitrary Friday election in Puna/Pahoa is just such a tactic.

It’s shameful to think that thousands of storm-ravaged residents — many without food, shelter and clothing — are being forced to choose between providing for their families or trying to make it to a polling place.

Give our neighbors time to recuperate, then to vote.

Maureen Fagan

Kailua-Kona

Alii Drive project was well done

I read where someone was complaining about deficiencies and poor management during the Alii Drive road improvements south of Laa Loa Beach.

Having been in, out and around construction longer than being in the restaurant business (45-plus years) I beg to differ. Isemoto Construction, the county and police did an excellent job of handling the traffic, the in and out of waste material and fill and the movement back and forth of heavy equipment. You name it: Those workers did the job in A-1 fashion. Plus the fact that every evening the project was washed down and secured in a safe manner. So, I say aloha to all of you who were connected with that Alii Drive project. And to those who found fault, I say, quit your complaining and appreciate a job well done in the least amount of time and inconvenience.

Hugo von Platen Luder

Holualoa

A vote for Hanabusa is a vote for criticism

How can anybody vote for Hanabusa? She has a nasty habit of criticizing her opponent. Are you a criticizer too?

Monday’s article in West Hawaii Today, in a column on the front page, Berneicea Worrell says if a hurricane hit us we were ready, and thank God it did not hit us worse than it did.

As soon as Abercrombie became governor four years ago, he withdrew millions from the hurricane fund. How can we be ready? It is ridiculous for (Daniel) Inouye to name a particular person for office before his death. Sounds too personal. This is not a democratic way, or is it?

B. Pontis

Kailua-Kona

Honeybees more important than alala birds

I find it disturbing that the people at the sanctuary are trying to prevent the extinction of a rare crow at the expense of another.

I think we need honeybees more than we need crows. Honeybees help pollinate fruits and are also dying out. If the alala birds have to be fed honeybee larvae to survive, then maybe they were meant to go extinct. Unfortunately, if a mother bird doesn’t even rear it’s own young, it’s an impossible task for humans to try to propagate them. If they have to be raised through human intervention, these crows are just meant for extinction.

As cruel as it may sound, I think Mother Nature is taking over and eliminating many animals. plants and populations because mankind has not taken care of this planet and all that’s been placed here to live in harmony.

That’s why we are now having fires, droughts, storms and natural disasters around the world.

Colleen Miyose-Wallis

Kailua-Kona