Hospital thankful for donation
On behalf of the Kona Hospital Foundation, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Lavaman for their generous $5,000 donation. These monies will serve our community by going directly to the trauma services department to advance the medical care of trauma patients in West Hawaii.
As we celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Kona Hospital Foundation, we are so grateful to Gerry Rott and Lavaman for this continued support of our efforts to help fund medical technology and expanded services at our community’s hospital.
The giving spirit of Gerry, and our many community donors, is much appreciated!
Donna Hiranaka
Chair, Kona Hospital Foundation
Fuhl rocks!
While initially reading the April 1 article on roads, I called out to co-workers and asked if any had read the paper yet today? No one had, so I proceeded to loudly read the entire piece to a half-dozen people, all of us becoming more animated in response to each sentence. When I got to the end and saw “41Q,” I thought, What the heck?!
That’s when I looked up to see who wrote the article, and had to admit to all listening that I’d been had.
Kudos to the West Hawaii Today crew for a creative read, and for getting a few Kona folks heated up and working faster.
Mary Brown
Kailua-Kona
Government can force immunize
The government can force you to immunize. That is one of the jobs governments do, protecting the population for disease outbreaks.
I do agree, pharmaceutical companies should be held accountable if they fail in producing a safe drug, but the track record with vaccines has been extremely good and they are considered the safest way to protect the population from diseases that have in the past had far-reaching and devastating consequences.
Ignorance of the safety of vaccines is no excuse for avoiding them. Religions do not have any prohibitions against them. The only and extremely rare cases where children have some immune disorder or hypersensitive reaction to vaccines is the only medical reason for someone to not get a vaccination. These children depend on herd protection, which is obtained when over 95 percent of the population is vaccinated for all the common diseases.
When that fails, then we again start seeing outbreaks of childhood diseases that can lead to mental retardation, blindness, deafness, and even death. When parents do not protect their children there is precedent for government intervention to ensure that the children are taken care of and given either life-saving treatments, vaccinations, or surgery.
This is not a power grab. The problem is not that we need to strengthen parental rights, but see that everyone is treated fairly and protected from those individuals who would otherwise, through ignorance or spite, endanger the lives of entire populations of people. Thinking otherwise is both selfish and arrogant.
John Pierce
Waikoloa
An open letter to Representative Mark Nakashima
In the April issue of the Hamakua Times, you wax poetic about the military complex at Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA). While I take exception with some of the “facts” included in your column, this statement stood out to me:
“There are residents (who) oppose having the military presence on our islands because of possible disturbances. Although these concerns are understandable, these are often the same people who oppose and overlook the benefits of investing in geothermal energy, the study of astronomy on Maunakea, and the development of an aerospace industry on Hawaii Island.”
You’re casually invalidating the concerns of a large number of your constituents; that’s a dereliction of your duty. Shutting people down because you’ve personally decided that their views are irrelevant is not behavior suitable for an elected official. Your job is to listen to your constituents — all of them — and to create a space for intelligent conversation about ideas that will benefit this island and the State of Hawaii.
But here’s the thing.
I received a questionnaire in my mailbox from your office in late March, asking for my household’s opinion on topics like geothermal energy, the Thirty Meter Telescope, and the proposed rocket launching facility on Hawaii Island. (Sound familiar?) One would assume that when our state representative uses his budget for such a survey, that he sincerely wishes to hear the response.
If your job is to represent the will of the people, wouldn’t it make sense to take time to process those surveys before taking a stance on them? To listen to your constituents concerns? Instead, you’ve publicly dismissed an entire sub-section of the voters you purportedly represent.
I wonder how many of your constituents hold some of the opinions you mention and feel as unrepresented as I do.
Sincerely,
Kris Bordessa
Ahualoa