Perspective from afar on water crisis
It’s now going on six months or more. After the first two months of the pumps offline, the water company sent out a letter. It said that they had hired a contractor to fix the pumps. I was so encouraged by this, I set out on a monthlong motorbike ride around the borders of Myanmar, Thailand and Laos.
Starting out in the mountains of Chiang Rai, I noticed them building a bridge over a river with limited equipment and tools. I wondered, how would they pull this off?
After returning 22 days later, the bridge was already in use. Wow! Flying back here to Kona, I thought of how lucky we are to have anything we need to complete a project.
I was excited to see the progress made by our water supply company. Right off the plane, I noticed they moved the man living in his water truck on Hina Lani Street. They were able to chain up water tanks outside pump stations. They even added a new sign. Not only that, they changed the wording. My guess is the light bulbs burnt out on the old words used.
David Bertuleit
Kona
Defensive editorial cause not to renew
I subscribe to WHT, not because of its in depth reporting, but because I want to keep abreast of the goings on and activities in our community. In depth reporting of national and world events can be found quickly, easily and more currently on the internet. I believe that there are likely very many people like me living here in West Hawaii.
The people who make decisions at WHT have recently shown themselves to be unscrupulous amateurs. I’m referring to your “Wish you weren’t here” headline. Because I don’t read many of the articles, the headline seemed to be speaking for itself. I don’t doubt that many others (visitors and residents alike) saw that headline and likely had a similar reaction. Yes, all newspapers have a bent — politically left or right. I saw the headline, experienced a moment of irritation, threw away the paper and went about my business.
It was today’s paper that piqued my ire. Your defensive editorial attempting to justify and excuse the headline was ludicrous! Instead of saying, “We’re sorry; we made a mistake and inappropriately insulted the president of the United States,” you tried to explain and excuse your actions to the poor dolts who buy your paper and weren’t smart enough get your point.
I’m neither Republican nor Democrat, but Donald Trump is my president — our president — and he deserves the respect of the office he holds.
I have prepaid for a three-month subscription to WHT. I will not be renewing. You have insulted your readers and the president at the same time. Shame on you!
Margie Cunningham
South Kohala