Shame on party over oath
During the last presidential election millions of eligible voters failed to vote. The responsibility of citizenship is to participate in our form of government.
Shame on those who did not vote. the results are failures in foreign relations and climate change, also no progress in infrastructure, health care, and tax reform.
Elected officials take the oath to protect the Constitution, and shame on those who put their party and money ahead of their oath.
Merle Martin
Ocean View
Juxtaposition so sad it’s almost funny
Tuesday, June 6, the anniversary of the invasion of Normandy, where more than 200,000 American and Allied lives were lost in the battle to defeat tyranny, this paper published an article reporting that local police partnered with the emerging Washington gestapo to arrest and imprison a member of our community for accepting the invitation chiseled in stone at the base of the Statue of Liberty.
It is indeed a sad day, not just in remembrance of those lives sacrificed but because those lives lost to end tyranny may have been in vain as our national leadership continues to ignore and even support the oppressive attitude developing out of our Washington administration and when our local leaders cow to the threat of lost funding if they refuse to cooperate with Washington’s emerging threat.
Perhaps this leadership needs to be reminded that those lives lost some 70-odd years ago, and a whole lot more, were given to perpetuate the ideals of humanity and that the flame of freedom only burns if it is fueled by justice. Let’s not learn this again.
Kelly Greenwell
Kona
Twitter dumbs it way down
The reason Donald Trump uses Twitter so much is because he knows many Americans can’t process more than 140 characters of information at once.
He can bypass the “fake news” mainstream media to communicate directly with his followers, most of whom don’t read books or newspapers. Every American should be ashamed that this dangerous, unstable person has been made our president. God help us.
Paul Gutekanst
Kealakekua
Different tax rates even out
Mr. Keller has a problem with the local tax break and it’s affecting his plans to retire in Hawaii. I would like to give him a view from the local side of this plan. We locals who have lived here all our lives have been paying much higher prices for basic living i.e. food, rent, medical, gas and everything else.
Whenever we spend a dollar we are contributing to the public coffers. Housing cost is beyond the reach of most local families, which has a lot to do with the fact that Hawaii is a beautiful and peaceful place to spend your life, therefore we attract people from all over the world who can afford to retire here in paradise. These people have not contributed any money toward our economy but expect to sit at our table and reap the harvest that we the people of Hawaii have struggled to produce.
Perhaps if we just call your higher tax a catch-up tax you will be able to accept it and move on with your retirement here in our home, and if you can’t accept it then maybe you could just move on.
Paul Santos
Ocean View
Kudos for sticking up for homeowners
Thank you, Mayor Kim and the council members, for sparing homeowners in the recent property tax rate increase.
While some may view this action as unfair, you have listened to the voices of those who are fully committed to living and working here. You have put your true constituency first as any honorable public servant should. Bravo!
Ann Fraser
Kona