Letters to the Editor 11-11-2016

New WVA board needed

I read with interest the letter from Tiffany Nguyen recently posted in West Hawaii Today concerning the exorbitant proposed dues increase for the Waikoloa Village Association. I, too, signed the online petition.

Frankly, “we” are going about it wrong. It is fine to have a petition stating our feelings but that just isn’t forceful enough. I have lived in Waikoloa Village for nearly 35 years, I have been a property owner (and thus, member) since 1992, far longer than the majority of residents. During my 35 years I have seen a constant effort by the WVA to keep golf rates for members (green fees) artificially low, because that makes those board members popular. In addition, people expect they can use the pool or tennis courts for free (in this context by free I mean at no additional charge other than their dues).

If the WVA charges members to play golf why don’t they charge an additional fee for pool or tennis court usage? Why don’t they allow non-members to use those facilities for a fee and enjoy the extra income?

A petition should be organized (only requires 50 signatures) to call a special meeting of the membership to recall the entire board. Elect a new board and rescind all such previously approved measures. Unfortunately, sometimes it becomes necessary to storm the Bastille!

Roger Hansen

Waikoloa Village

Premium increase shouldn’t be tolerated

I just received my health insurance premium estimate for next year. The absolute lowest cost option is over $500 month and the premium increased by over 40 percent compared to last year. When it’s cheaper to purchase a luxury car than it is to have health insurance, something has to change.

When are we going to stand up to health insurance companies? It’s time to release their stranglehold on all of us and say no more.

Kit Muhs

Waikoloa

Dolphins need protection

Tuesday morning I went for a swim by the pier. Just past the fifth buoy, I swam into what must have been 100 or more people madly swimming this way and that, yelling and pointing. I picked my head up to see no less than seven commercial boats surrounding, completely surrounding, a pod of spinner dolphins.

The spinners were being chased in every direction by gangs of people and the boats were adjusting themselves to keep the spinners herded together between them. They were also drifting well into the swim lanes. If you, as a boat tour operator, are not already aware that spinners must rest sleep during the day, especially in the morning, then you don’t deserve to run any kind of ocean recreation tour.

If you do know that spinners must rest and sleep during the day, and you behave this way, then you don’t deserve to be in business either. Instead of destroying the health and well-being of these beautiful animals we should be protecting them and educating visitors about them. If you are doing anything less than that you are an amoral, unethical operator.

I’m very much looking forward to the fed regulations that will put an end to this horrid, money-grabbing display in our nearshore waters.

Kona can do better. Kona should do better.

Judy Edwards

Kailua-Kona

Return to what forefathers envisioned

Janis Clark (My Turn, Nov. 10), congratulations, you do have it right. It’s time America returned to a constitutional, moral, and biblical stance; the Republican Party is the way to start back. We no longer want anymore killing of unborn children, we no longer want illegal aliens entering our country, we do want the right to bear arms, to name a few. Let’s return to what our forefathers imagined for this country.

Susan Bickell

Kailua-Kona

Simple question

Who’s paying for the mayor’s attorneys? Taxpayers?

Edwin Lista Jr.

Hilo

Watch me laugh at you

LOL at Hawaii’s Democratic Party, you got what you deserved. Unfortunately, the rest of us will pay the price of your arrogance. Trump won because the people are fed up of the status quo and it was a movement that led us into this mess.

We also had a movement going strong with Bernie Sanders that was much stronger than what Trump had to offer but you knew better than us and showed us your power with your delegates and with the DNC’S help, you pushed Sanders and us Democrats and independents off the stage. Then you had the nerve to chastise us, saying get over it and vote for Hillary.

Until you get rid of your better-than-us attitude and this farce called free election that allows your choice to override the popular vote, America will never be a country of the people, by the people. I console myself with humor because laughing is better then dwelling on the havoc that’s coming. The picture in my mind that’s funny is how the RNC and its members disowned Trump but are now rushing to put a hickey on Trump’s okole.

Paul Santos

Ocean View

Hard times ahead

The election is over. Trump and the Republicans will have control of the entire government. This story will not have a happy ending. It will not end well for the nation or for each of us.

I know that all those who voted for Trump were hoping for positive change. But that is not what is going to happen. Trump is going to be controlled by the corporate oligarchy just like Hillary was going to be. The entire system is corrupt beyond redemption and ready to fail.

What comes next will not be a return to America being great. Don’t be fooled. What comes next is turmoil. A Greater Depression. War. Chaos. Death.

Whether Trump sits in the Oval Office or Hillary makes no difference to what is coming. The system is corrupt and needs a complete overhaul top to bottom. But that won’t happen. The people who benefit most from that corruption won’t let anyone upset the system. The system must fail completely before it will be replaced. And it will.

But that will involve a great deal of suffering and pain. Only when America and the world is fed up with its corrupt system will be replaced. In the mean time, well, we will all just have to do the best we can and persevere. The coming times will be extremely difficult.

Good luck and aloha.

Tom Beach

Waimea