Worth repeating: no cameras, no protest
Here are questions no one has asked:
1. The protesters have informed us that Maunakea is a sacred mountain. How did this come to be? Who so designated it? Why not Mauna Loa, Hualalai, Haleakala, Waiele, Diamond Head, etc.?
On the summit are 13 observatories. At the 9,000 foot level is a very nice Visitor Center, and accommodations for visiting astronomers. Up the road is a very nice camp ground.
All of these constructed without complaints. Why is the TMT that hasn’t even been constructed accused of desecration when previous construction has not?
So is all of this really about a telescope? Or is it what happened over 300 years ago that the protesters refuse to accept. We all weren’t there at the time. We had no say in the decision-making. It’s history. Unfortunately the protesters will never agree. They will never forgive, and they will never forget, so there’s no solution.
A few weeks ago I wrote to the governor suggesting he pull the media from the road and anywhere there are demonstrations. In doing this they would no longer be on television or the front pages of our morning paper, and without an audience there’s no reason to perform.
The governor’s office wrote back they would be afraid of losing communication by doing that and with cellphones that’s a pretty ridiculous statement. The minute protesters see the media packing up they’d be on the phone to the governor wanting to know why, and all he has to say to them is that they are needed elsewhere.
Gov. Ige, whose name is David, let him be a modern day David to slay Goliath. Step up, governor, and be a hero. Just remember, there is no forgetting and no forgiving. This is the solution.
Marjorie Nahl
Kailua-Kona
Shark bites aren’t all ‘attacks’
As someone who learned to swim in the ocean and was surfing at 13 years old, the notion of a shark is not warm and fuzzy. Now 70, I have swum, surfed, scuba’d, snorkeled, shark cage dived and just plain frolicked in oceans in many places in many countries. All the while the notion of a shark, while very interesting, is still not warm and fuzzy. The thought of being looked at as something in the food chain chills my naturalist spirit.
In spite of that and in spite of that horrible movie Jaws, sharks are to be honored and respected with a distinct emphasis on respect.
I take exception to the media trying to be junior Peter Benchly’s and portray every shark bite as an attack. If one takes the time to watch the videos shark researchers at UC Santa Cruz produce, the distinction bite versus attack is very clear. We don’t call every dog bite an attack, nor should we call every shark bite an attack. The fear it conjures up prevents us from seeing the shark as a critical member of the ocean ecosystems.
Richard Bennett
Captain Cook