Where’s Harry?
Kudos for a very important headline story in Tuesdays’ paper, “Digging For Answers.” You know what name did not appear in the article? Harry Kim.
Which begs the question: Do we have an active mayor?
Barry Finkenberg
Kona
Who can buy
spray paint in Hawaii?
A couple of years ago, the so-called coral graffiti in South Kohala was removed by some self-proclaimed do-gooders. As others predicted, the harmless coral writing of the pre-2015 era has subsequently been replaced by paint that has been sprayed directly onto the lava. Thus, each day more temporary “art” (often including names of tourists’ home towns) becomes permanent.
My suggestion to lawmakers is that they enact legislation to prohibit the sale of spray paint to out-of-state visitors. Much to my surprise, when I buy paint at any local hardware store, the cash register is already programmed to automatically halt the transaction until the cashier visually verifies that I am an adult, not a teenager.
But nobody ever actually checks my ID. Happily, here in Hawaii, widespread graffiti by youths is not a problem. Apparently our young people understand that this is an island, not the throw-away world that we see elsewhere. Our young people realize that the aina is everyone’s property and everyone’s responsibility.
So why do we use mainland mentality at our local hardware stores’ cash registers? The mechanism is already in place for the county (or state) to strengthen the requirement that an ID check be made for all customers, not just those who look problematic. This expanded requirement should not pose a major burden to business owners, and it would essentially assure that spray paint sales are made to Hawaii residents only.
As for me, I would rather see the sale of a can of paint being made to a local teenager, rather than see one sold to a tourist. If there is opposition to this idea, I ask respondents to explain what possible good deed is ever accomplished by a visitor with a can of spray paint in hand.
James Donovan
Waikoloa
