Simply ask about Magic Sands plan
Reading of this May 31 deadline for comments on the parking lot plan for Magic Sands (May 20) brought to mind The Great Mahele wherein only a very small percentage of the “stakeholders” were able to act on the published announcement and eventually have a piece of land to call their own.
By what means have the Magic Sands parking area stakeholders been notified of the government’s interest in their comments? And of the impending deadline by which they are to comment? Other than the recent newspaper article, that is.
I’d suggest that reasonable and valid comments could be heard any morning or late afternoon by striking up conversation along the rock wall looking onto the beach. Get people talking, and then listen well.
Sarah Kay
Keaau
Tragedy should serve as lesson to drivers
When reading about avoidable traffic accidents such as the one that recently took the life of David Mahon, it is difficult to remain in a corridor of compassion for the drivers who cause so much sorrow for our families.
Too often we see drivers overtake multiple cars on a stretch of highway that seems unconscionable. It’s also not unusual to see drivers on shoulder lanes overtaking a string of cars, not only to their own detriment but the peril of others.
Teresa Tagon’s candid point in her letter to the editor (“Hopefully, there will be no judicial ‘business as usual’ with a plea bargain and no consequences “) is well taken. For some of us there is a need to taste the truth of justice in order to be educated!
Likeke Bumanglag
Kailua-Kona
Expect more from elected officials
I’m glad I do not live in the district of Puna after reading the WHT article concerning Councilman Ruderman versus vaccines. I’m shocked and dismayed that an elected official would even make such a dangerous statement concerning his greater concern about a reaction from a vaccine over the actual disease.
He may have deleted the link to the pseudoscience website out of embarrassment or just because of the negative reactions he received but the danger is that he even published it in the first place. By publishing this, he demonstrates complete ignorance of the scientific facts and statistics supporting the safety and effectiveness of vaccination programs to eliminate these diseases. He also demonstrates his ignorance of the severe and frequent consequences of those children who suffer through these illnesses.
The fact is that 1 in 200 may have permanent brain damage, retardation, or other physical disabilities and even death from these diseases versus 1 in 1,000,000 severe reactions to a vaccine, which are generally less severe than the actual disease itself. We have to combat ignorance like this in order to provide immunizations on a scale that will protect all of the populace from these selfishly ignorant people.
Vaccinations must be mandatory in order to enter school with no exceptions other than a documented medical condition that prevents a child from getting an immunization, such as an autoimmune disorder making it harmful to them. It is also for these rare individuals that everyone who can be immunized does receive them. If 98% of the population is immunized there are not enough individuals susceptible to maintain a widespread outbreak of disease. Those are the facts.
John Pierce
Waikoloa