Make grad ceremony more user-friendly
As a proud grandmother of a Kealakehe graduate, I know for a fact I am not alone in my disappointment in the poorly managed ceremony on Saturday. The keynote speaker may have delivered an inspirational message, but those of us in the stands will never know because the PA system hardly reached the parents section (I’m told) much less the stands.
Bad enough we were we missing out, but missing out for 30 solid minutes? The applause when it finally ended was thunderous.
Kealakehe staff, please take note:
1. Beef up your sound system.
2. Avoid mass confusion. Mark off alphabetized sections for grads to gather with family afterwards and please, in the name of respect, enforce the “stay seated until last grad receives diploma” rule. Our grad’s name is a “C” but I felt so sorry for the “Zs.”
3. Locate the stage on the same side of the field as the bleachers. Yep, right there at our feet where we can see.
4. Lastly, restrict the keynote speaker to no more than 10 minutes of mic time. Ten is tolerable — 30 is tortuous.
Dinah Rodgers
Kona
Sewage presents foul problem in Kailua Bay
I swim in Kailua Bay on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays because the county pool has been closed for repair since March 1. This week I swam in sewage. It rained hard on Sunday night and on Monday morning there was a distinct smell of sewage in the area in front of the seawall between the pier and the palace.
There is a large fresh water outlet on the reef bottom located in front of the seawall which releases water from the mountain into the ocean. On Wednesday, the smell was very strong. On Friday, there was still a distinct smell of sewage.
I called the Clean Water Branch of the DOH on May 29. The person who answered said he would get out there and test it. As of Friday, there was no posted sign indicating any results of testing. We had a cruise ship in on Wednesday when the smell was the strongest.
The town’s economy depends on visitors to a large extent. Having the bay near the pier smell like sewage after a heavy rain is a problem for both locals who swim there regularly and for visitors on their Hawaiian vacation. This is probably a very complicated problem involving old sewage pipes, cesspools and porous lava, but one that needs to be addressed and remedied as soon as possible. I sincerely hope visitors don’t leave thinking that Kailua-Kona literally stinks, and I hope that no one gets sick from sewage contamination.
Donna R. Goodale
Kailua-Kona