Support Syrian refugees closer to their homeland
The problems in Syria are not our responsibility to solve. Nor did we cause them. Their problems are theirs to solve.
Taking refugees into Hawaii from Syria is patently illogical. We can not afford the high costs. The benefits to our people are zero. The correct course is to help support those refugees close to their homes. Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon, Iran, Russia and others have been taking millions of refugees into their borders. What we need to do is send physical and financial aid in the form of food, water, medicine, shelter and protection from Bashar Assad and the daesh.
The war in Syria will end. Bashar will not last forever. When this war ends, however it ends, those refugees will want to return to their homeland and their families. They will want to rebuild their nation. They can not do that from Hawaii.
Do you think that if they come to Hawaii or America that they will want to go back to Syria? I doubt that they will. Why would they? Would you? I give Gov. David Ige credit for his compassion. But the correct action is to send aid to those nations who already have hundreds of thousands of refugees in their countries. We need to help those nations because they need it badly.
Further, it makes more sense to send aid than to hope to make a dent in the refugee problem by inviting them to come here. If the refugees know that they will be able to survive in Jordan and other nearby nations do you think they will risk their lives to get to Europe and America? Would you?
The best course of action is to help these refugees closest to where they are, namely nearby safe havens. I can and will support that action. But I will not support importing refugees to Hawaii. Never. We have enough problems of our own that need solutions.
So, you who empathize with the refugees might consider helping out in the camps or sending compassionate gifts to those in need. While you are at it, you might take a look at the situations in Africa. The refugee situation there is in dire need of help also.
We need to support refugees who have already escaped to nearby nations. That should be the primary emphasis and priority.
Tom Beach
Waimea
Put a bounty on old tires to speed turn in to county
In battling dengue, what about putting a bounty on old tires?
I’ll bet if the county put a $20 bounty on old tires, a lot of them would be cleaned up in no time. And it would probably be cheaper than hiring staff for long hours to go around and look for tires and other mosquito breeding spots to clean up.
Christopher Erickson
Waikoloa
If visitors come back can they re-infect mosquitoes?
While your Department of Health and “expert politicians” continue to bicker over the current problem of dengue fever on the Big Island, my husband and I returned home and had the blood tests taken on Nov. 20. Your DOH will probably be notified by our DOH because “that’s what they do.”
We were on the island for three weeks, and stayed in four “hotspots” shown on one published map. Of everything published in your paper or online, I found the Nov. 17 article by doctors Barry Blum and Stephen Denzer to be the most useful and succinct.
So, I guess we don’t need to worry about infecting our local mosquitoes (not semi-tropical, and currently frozen). However, I can’t seem to find information if we can re-infect the Big Island mosquitoes when we return in March 2016. This is perhaps something to consider with visitors who returned home either with mild symptoms or after several days of recovery in bed, as my husband did.
Pat Whitright
Monroe, Washington