Stop with the Roundup!
As a resident of the Big Island of Hawaii, I have been trying to protect my family and my community from the extreme overuse of Roundup Pro Concentrated spraying by the County of Hawaii. It seems like every few weeks the trucks are out spraying again and again. We see the areas that are constantly sprayed are starting to show signs of Roundup Resistance which has been proven to happen repeatedly everywhere.
The county states they are “protecting drivers on the roadsides” then why are they spraying in neighborhoods and parks? Where are drivers driving on the baseball fields? Why are they spraying my neighbor’s mailboxes? (I have video evidence of the county heavily spraying a local neighborhood’s lawns and mailboxes).
Why are they spraying 10 feet from kids walking to Parker School and HPA? Why does Waimea Elementary have Roundup burns less than two feet from the classrooms? Why is it that every waterway we have in Kamuela is Roundup burned? The county states they use a different type of herbicide around the waterways, but I’ve got video evidence of them spraying the neighborhoods and waterways using the exact same tank. Also, a sign stating “herbicide spraying” at a random spot on the side of the road is simply not enough to protect us and our pets from walking on a wet probable carcinogen.
We have video evidence of the county spraying Roundup in Kamuela on a day where the wind was gusting up to 30 mph, formal complaints were made, but no answers or even a courtesy email was returned. I guess the best way to deal with a complaint is to ignore it. Ignore the pile of evidence showing just how badly Roundup is destroying our environment, our waterways, our bodies and our future. When will we wake up to the destruction we are allowing to happen right before our eyes?
Kami Carter
Kamuela
Hoffman not business as usual
The June 3 edition of West Hawaii Today certainly spotlighted the major issue in the upcoming mayoral race. Michael Bates’ op-ed article summarizes what many people have been thinking: Why didn’t Wally Lau, who was one heartbeat and one office away from the mayor, do or say anything about Mr. Kenoi’s questionable behavior pertaining to his use of the pCard? Why didn’t Mr. Lau speak up or resign? And now he wants us to believe he has the credibility and integrity to be our mayor.
Also in that issue was a letter to the editor from Bryant Ching criticizing Harry Kim’s overall attitude toward the west side of Hawaii, and Mr. Ching’s fear of Kim’s “business as usual” approach. What wasn’t mentioned in either letter is that there is another candidate for mayor, Pete Hoffmann, who served as councilman for eight years, some of those years as chairman, without a hint of professional or personal misconduct. Mr. Hoffmann has demonstrated an outstanding competence and dedication to his constituents, just what the entire island needs.
With 25-plus years in the military, retiring with the rank of Colonel, Mr. Hoffmann has dedicated his life to public service. Mr. Hoffmann has the competency, energy, integrity and the fresh perspective to lead us in the coming years. What we don’t need is the same old “business as usual.”
Cindy Coats
Kailua-Kona