Police a little quick with trigger
Really, police? You shot someone else? So suicide by cop is the preferred way to go now?
Seriously!
Warren Hahlbeck, Jr.
Waikoloa
Hirono a hero
To Mazie Hirono, you go, girl! You’ve found your voice. Hawaii is proud to have strong women in government. Don’t let them shut you up.
Likeke Bumanglag
Kailua-Kona
Lono Kona project not all that meets the eye
On Dec. 11, I attended the latest community meeting on the Lono Kona Sewer Improvements Project. The meeting was run by representatives of the County of Hawaii, Belt Collins Hawaii, and Nan Inc. There were approximately two dozen residents and/or property owners present. The general mood was confusion and irritation.
One big problem is communication. Several property owners do not live in Kona or on the Big Island. While certified letters were sent out, the people living in the house or apartment had no idea. Some don’t speak English as their first language and were confused.
At an earlier county council meeting several of us did protest the project, either with verbal or written testimony. A major concern was the cost. Paying for the assessment, a contractor to close cesspools/septic tanks and then connect to the sewer is a serious hardship. Unfortunately, not enough people were there to testify, and as a result our protests and concerns were largely ignored.
Side note: The residents of Lono Kona did not vote for themselves to pay for the sewer. A few property owners pushed this idea forward when their “gang cesspools” were shut down and they faced heavy fines. Other property owners, like my family, were told about it later.
When construction finally starts (no date set), we’ll have to deal with even narrower roads, and construction noise roads. And the best part? Once the project is completed, property owners have 180 days to connect their home to the sewer.
My home was one of the first built in Lono Kona in the 1960s, and we have lived in it since 1970. I resent the fact that property owners are forced to pay for a sewer system that the county should have installed decades ago. Shouldn’t our taxes pay for that already?
Elizabeth Poire
Lono Kona subdivision
Bringing snakes to Hawaii? What are you thinking?
Why not take the dogs to Guam to be trained or buy already trained dogs? I trained my own farm dog to kill garter snakes by a simple reward system. It was easy.
We were residents of Guam. Besides eliminating the birds, we knew of other people’s personal experiences; a snake trying to swallow a baby via the arm; a friend who had a tiny hole in the screen and woke to the find a snake trying to swallow her nose. They attach and are hard to get loose.
Isn’t this another mongoose-to-get-rid-of-the-rats story?
Do not trust male, sterilized snakes!
Mary Folger
Kailua-Kona