A couple suggestions regarding handling of landfills
There has been a lot of attention lately toward the handling of the local landfills. I have a couple of suggestions that might help timewise and financially:
1) Using only the green waste being hauled from just the Keei landfill/recycling site. Assuming the county bought a $40,000 chipper, which is a top of the line commercial chipper, and put it at Keei, instead of loading trucks and hauling the green waste to the Kailua land fill. Using figures for only four loads a week hauled, it would save the county $275 hauling and $50 loading cost per load for a savings of: 4 X 325 = $1,300/week, or $5,200/month, or $62,400/year. That is enough to buy the chipper and pay someone $20,000 four days a week for a year and after that a savings of $35,000 to $45,000 per year.
2) Abandoned vehicles. The county should start giving everyone $125 for every vehicle they brought to the landfill instead of charging. Last year, more than 1,000 junked cars were taken in at scrap metal facilities at a cost to the owner of about $160 per vehicle. In a addition, over 970 cars were taken in to the landfill as “abandoned vehicles.” These vehicles cost the county about $250 per car to be hauled in by a wrecker. So 970 X $250 = $242,500 cost now, or 970 X $125 = $121,250 to pay for it if brought to the landfill, or a savings of $120,000 a year. The car must still must be scrapped, at a cost of $200/car, but we are taxed $12 per year (abandoned vehicle tax), per homeowner (68,000 homeowners) or $816,000, to be used for all related expenses.
Randy Watkins
Honaunau
Self-checkout? I’ll take my business elsewhere
Like a lot of people, I decided to stock up on groceries and supplies last Saturday, I went to two of my favorite “big box” stores, I’ll let you figure out which.
Both were very busy and had lots of people checking and re-stocking shelves, I prefer that there is a human interaction when spending my money. Those stores who have laid off their checkers and have gone to self-checkout will not be getting my business.
My two favorites are part of this community as they support the community by providing employment, I’m voting with my feet and am going to continue to support those who make this a better place to live.
Duane P. Sherman
Ocean View
Shame on you
I get it. WHT tries to present a variety of viewpoints on the Opinion page and that extends to the choice of syndicated political cartoons. I don’t expect to agree with every one of them, but I find the Mike Shelton cartoon in the Monday edition especially offensive.
A ripoff of (OK, Shelton might call it a “tribute” to) James Earl Fraser’s powerful sculpture “End of the Trail,” it might be appreciated by supporters who heartily laugh at President Donald J. Trump’s “Pocahontas” nickname for U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren; but I believe the cartoon wallows in stereotypes of Native Americans that are especially unwelcome in a community that includes an indigenous population demanding respect for its culture and heritage. Shame on Shelton and his syndicator. Shame on West Hawaii Today for choosing to publish it.
Alan Silverman
Kailua-Kona