Banner signs too much
The recent fad of large, garish banners as attention-getters brings to mind the fly-by-night, used car lots in downtown anywhere, often manned by oily fast talkers.
The worst by far is the Amy Greenwell Garden which went from a staid dowager to gaudy strumpet overnight. This seems like a flaunting of laws (and commonsense). In short —it’s awful.
Bob Peters
South Kona
No dose of poison is small
The island of Hawaii deserves better than what U.S. Fish and Wildlife has authorized for our military base at Pohakuloa — poison.
Having spent many years rehabilitating birds, I have to speak on their behalf. The death that is meant for mice is easily transferred up the food chain. And the smallest amount can cripple animals that have to hunt to survive — starving to death is poison’s downside.
I say the people who propose this ecosystem disaster eat small amounts of their poison each day and walk a mile in the helpless animals’ shoes. There is no such thing as a small amount of poison.
I have to look at the new government in amazement as to how stupid their policies have become.
Steve Snyder
Kalaoa
Medical coverage unfair
I just got off the phone with a medical collection company for a trip I took on an ambulance over a year ago. I remember this trip because after spending hours in the ER the doctor released me from Kona hospital and sent me home.
I told the doctor I lived in Ka’u, it was after 9 p.m. and I had no way to get home, he let me sleep on a cot just outside the ER. I spent the night throwing up what began to look like blood. I asked a passing nurse for some help but she couldn’t because l wasn’t admitted to Kona hospital.
The next morning my head wasn’t clear but I was admitted in the hospital and spent the next seven days in a room by myself. I later found out by some sympathetic staff members that the doctor wasn’t sure if Medicare would cover this expense and this was why he denied me care.
I have type one diabetes and have been hospitalized many times. To add insult to injury, I am covered by a federal Kaiser plan, Medicare part A and B and 100 percent coverage by the VA, and still the collectors are after me for an overdue ambulance bill. I have never had to pay for previous trips by ambulance. I have never incurred any cost, my insurance covers all of that, so what’s my point? Simple, if this can happen to me can you possibly imagine what a family struggling to keep their heads above water, who have little or no insurance, suffer through? Pharmaceutical and insurance companies make sure through our politicians that their profit margins remain as high as they can keep them, that is so unfair to the average citizen.
Paul Santos
Ocean View