Letters to the Editor: May 31, 2020

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Minnesota officer hurt all of his brothers, sisters

The horror of seeing a human being on the ground with the knee of a police officer on his throat, being told that he said he couldn’t breathe, seeing no one making a move to help him. I thought about not being able to breathe, I held my breath.

This is murder. There is no other way that this can be seen.

Sadly, this police takes a little of all his brothers with him, with this act.

All the kindness, the helpfulness, the keeping us safe, working to keep the peace, helping old ladies, gets a little tarnished by the act of this man.

Sandra Gray

Kapaau

A better way?

Regarding Dennis Gregory’s column, “A better way?” By getting on that plane knowing full well that a 14-day quarantine is required they are agreeing to abide by it. If that one time out of their room gave the virus to someone else, then what? And then that person unknowingly gives it to others, then what? Someone gets deathly ill … and maybe their family members do. Someone dies. Yes, these are all possibilities. And if someone dies, is the tourist going to be charged with negligent homicide?

A separate beach for tourists? Which one do you think residents would give up? How would tourists get there? How many residents would be exposed in the process? A separate 7-11 just for tourists? A separate grocery store just for tourists? This goes on and on. It is ridiculous. Tourists should obey the rules they have essentially agreed to by coming here.

Really, it is to protect us all. It is vagrant disregard for others and oneself, I might add, to break the quarantine.

Dennis, if it is okay to break this restriction, what others are you going to declare it is okay to break? Stopping at red lights? Driving a moped on roads where the speed limit is 55 mph when they can only go 25 mph thus slowing all traffic to their slow pace? As a society, we have agreed to live together maybe abiding some things we would rather not but do so we can all function well.

And your assumption that those caught will be fined $5,000 is incorrect. The fine can be up to that amount. And going to jail for a year? Again, this is up to a judge, not automatic.

The reason we have so few cases here is because the majority of us do care and respect one another.

And yes, all cases in Hawaii came from off-island and then were “shared.”

Cindy Whitehawk

South Kona

Letters policy

Letters to the editor should be 300 words or less and will be edited for style and grammar. Longer viewpoint guest columns may not exceed 800 words. Submit online at www.westhawaiitoday.com/?p=118321, via email to letters@westhawaiitoday.com or address them to:

Editor

West Hawaii Today

PO Box 789

Kailua-Kona, HI 96745