Juan Soto the real Natural
Juan Soto of the Washington Nationals just passed Mickey Mantle’s rookie teenage home run record of 13 home runs by belting his 14th on Aug. 7.
With many more games to go in the season, who knows how many more home runs Juan “The Real Natural” Soto will hit in the 2018 MLB tour.
Having a batting average of well over .300, Juan Soto has stamped the best teenage rookie year ever in MLB history in the books because there are no more comparisons for him. Juan Soto in my mind has locked up the 2018 Major League Baseball National League Rookie of the Year award. Juan Soto is only 19 years of age and he will only get better.
This is saying much since Juan Soto is already having a great year in addition to being a great player. Juan Soto, who is a Dominican Republic native, is a treat to watch play and greater things will definitely come out of this young star.
Dean Nagasako
Honokaa
Vog-free walking path pitch
I contacted Gov. David Ige about an idea I want him to support about a 25-mile athletic loop built in North Kona where the vog is minimal.
This loop will keep athletes safe and will promote positive tourism. I told him to support this good idea that is not on the highway.
Call the governor at 586-0034.
Debra Zager
Ocean View
Kapela not stuck in old guard ways
As an environmental scientist and a person very concerned about our aina, I am voting for Jeanne Kapela, for State House of Representatives, District 5. Hawaii is represented almost entirely with candidates of the Democratic Party but that is no assurance of candidates who will do the right thing.
Too many of the old guard are what some call Dole Street Democrats and akin and in league with the Wall Street Democrats of the mainland. We need new and independent people, and “traditional cultural” values and ideas to assure we keep Hawaii, Hawaii.
I am particularly impressed with Jeanne Kapela. She, unlike the incumbent in District 5, welcomed my offer to meet and discuss the new science behind the problems on our island created by some 50,000 cesspits and septic systems. There are solutions, but to see them one must have an open mind.
Not only is she open minded, she has the honesty and integrity to say, I don’t know but I want to learn. This is so refreshing. Refreshing especially at a time when the old guard is rife with soundbites that substitute for critical thinking and creativity.
The incumbent claimed since he was a MD, he already knew the environmental science regarding cesspits and septic systems. That is rather troubling, as the science vividly reveals how much we have yet to understand about this 200-year-old invention, septic systems and its grave deficiencies. One thing science teaches us is the more we learn the more we realize we don’t know. The honesty to say, I don’t know, opens the door to new knowledge and learning.
Another responsibility we must act upon is our obligation to vote. The powers that be analyze voter behavior and can predict in any region how many people will choose not to vote. This election season we need to vote like our lives depend on it, because it does. Ours lives, our freedoms and the rule of law that protects us are all on the line. If you say, “ah, my vote does not matter,” you play into the hands of those who, as we live today, are aggressively working to rewrite our laws and values to suit their interests alone.
By voting we a send a loud message, we care, we are watching and to those who conspire against our democracy, we will vote you out. Be heard — vote.
Richard H. Bennett, Ph.D.
Honaunau