Letters to the Editor: September 24, 2020

Goats and roads don’t mix

I realize that the island is in a state of emergency with the virus, but that doesn’t excuse the government from doing housekeeping.

I am speaking to the situation we have with feral goats. This weekend, while riding to Kawaihae on Queen Kaahumanu Highway, I came across two goats on the road dead and numerous goats up and down the road skittering every time we pass by. On the way back, I came from Waimea to Kona on the upper road, once again, dead goats on the road. Our riding club has stopped club rides over the mauka road due to the hazards the goats create for the riders. Allowing this situation to continue is not only putting drivers in danger, it’s also very cruel to the goats.

To some residents, goat is on their menu and would feed a family. What is the problem with letting hunters in to catch the goats and use them for food? I have spent time helping ranchers catch and remove the goats from their cattle pastures. The goats were captured by cowboys roping them. The goats were then taken to an area where the buyers would pick them up to be shipped as food to Oahu. I’m speaking of up to a 100 goats a day.

I realize that this is an under-the-table business and has to remain this way due to “regulations,” but regulations can be suspended as our government has shown us in the Senate. Let’s let the hunters and cowboys have the freedom to eliminate the goats and ship and sell them as they see fit. This would eliminate the hazards on the road, feed people, the hunters can make some money and a very humane way of culling the goats.

Paul Santos

Ocean View

Recycling made easy

I want to thank Mayor Harry Kim, Department of Environmental Management Director Bill Kucharski and Solid Waste Division Chief Greg Goodale for making my life easier.

I no longer have to separate my trash into recyclable plastics, recyclable newspaper, junk mail and other paper products or steel cans that all used to be recyclable. Now, just about everything goes into the trash. Easy!

Now, I only separate cardboard and brown bags, glass bottles and jars, and HI-5 containers. By the way, no one, including Mr. Goodale, when asked, seems to know where those HI-5 plastic items go to be recycled, if they are. If they are being recycled somewhere, why can’t other plastics made of the same material join them?

Oh, and only having greenwaste open three days a week at the Kealakehe station makes life easier for many of our residents too. They now simply add greenwaste to the regular trash.

Let’s hope the new mayor and his new department heads will make life a little more difficult for us by encouraging, requiring, and enforcing recycling and re-purposing materials. It will be better for Hawaii and all of earth’s residents.

Dan Sabo

Kailua-Kona

An agenda about power

We have a very important presidential election coming up very soon. I hope that everyone who can vote, will vote. The person sitting in the Oval Office right now is doing his best to sow the seeds of doubt on the importance of voting. He and his administration are lying to the public every day about voting by mail. He would like you to believe that everything is just fine even, though over 200,000 people in the United States have lost their lives due to the pandemic. Trump also rates himself an A+ on his handling of this pandemic, the pandemic that he has been heard on tape saying that he has known about for some time but decided to play it down.

Well, thank you, Trump for your blatant dishonesty that caused so much suffering and death. Now, with the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, he would like to rush through her replacement on the Supreme Court. His whole agenda is about power. Trump cares about Trump and no one else.

Doreen Vail

Kailua 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