Kona DMV staffed with friendly helpers
A couple of weeks ago I went to the DMV to get a star on my driver’s license so I could use it to board a plane next year when the rules change. I felt like one of Dr. Seuss’s Plain-belly Sneetches seeking a star on my belly, I mean, driver’s license.
That aside, the wait was long but the people I interacted with were wonderful. They were beyond helpful, polite, patient and even at the very end of a long day, they maintained a sense of humor. I have found them to be this way every year I have needed to visit the DVM and especially when my son was getting his first licenses. They were kind and patient with a nervous young man.
I just want to thank the Kona DMV employees for being the best civil servants I have ever dealt with. Now, it if the county would just clone a few more so the wait isn’t so long …
Donna Goodale
Kailua-Kona
Let the Hawaiians decide
The issue of the TMT has dragged on for months now with no progress being made. The workers from the telescopes that are already there have a hard time going to work and the businesses that count on taking visitors stargazing are not able to at all.
Now it seems that the government in all its wisdom has come up with a document that once again promises to fix it. Once again they’re asking the Hawaiians to “trust us.” I’m no expert but that isn’t, in my opinion, the best way forward for this matter.
What I propose is to let the Kanaka Maoli decide. The governor has already given the TMT a two-year extension on the start of construction. So why not use that time to hold a vote? The Office of Hawaiian Affairs would be in charge, it would be a simple yes or no question, do you want the TMT on Maunakea or not?
As for who should be allowed to vote, any DHHL leaseholder or anyone on the waiting list. Any graduate of Kamehameha Schools, or anybody whose application to Kamehameha Schools was seriously considered. Then anyone else who can prove they have at least some Hawaiian ancestry.
OHA and DHHL can work together to generate the voting list and the ballots could be mailed to them with a date to return them by. Then it would be just a matter of counting the votes and living with the results.
Also, while we’re waiting for the returns to come in, the Office of Mauna Kea Management could start taking concrete steps to remove the decommissioned telescopes from the mauna. Yes, I know that over the years Kamehameha Schools has graduated some non-Hawaiian students but the number is, as we say, manini. Let the Kanaka Maoli decide this time and the rest of us live with it for once, instead of the other way around.
Warren Hahlbeck
Waikoloa