Twenty-seven words
Twenty-seven words stalk America’s streets,
Invade the public spaces where we work and pray and eat.
These words — considered sacrosanct by callous, bloodless men —
Break lives and hearts and bonds no thoughts and prayers can ever mend.
Those twenty-seven lethal words
Those rigid, brutal, toxic words
The music stopped for Rachel Scott. (She could play the piano by ear!)
The Holcombes as they prayed were caught when the deadly words came near.
Cavilla Garcia no longer cheers his granddaughter’s soccer team.
Bennetta Betbadal’s final nightmare ended her American dream.
Jesse Lewis and his folks won’t build that house of gingerbread.
The scholarship won by Nick Dworet will go to another teen instead.
No more will Kitty Davis hold her tiny grandson dear.
And Harry Bowman never got Mom’s Christmas gifts that year.
Teachers shielding students as they bravely gave their lives,
A loving couples’ last embrace as those cruel words arrived,
But the worst of all — I came undone — when Texas Rangers asked
Grieving parents in Uvalde for their DNA to match
Which shattered, tiny body lying in that ghastly pile
Belonged to them: Which carcass was their precious little child?
Twenty-seven lethal words
Vicious, gruesome, heartless words
“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
— The Second Amendment to the U. S. Constitution
Ruth Savakinas
Kailua-Kona
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Due process? Point of order? Transparency?
Mahalo to Nancy Cook Lauer for her reporting on last week’s Planning Commission meeting Thursday morning and afternoon. Apparently ignoring due process and transparency is optional when engaging the Kona community in governance.
A large group of citizens were there to testify and ask questions about development of property along Kuakini Highway between Kona Vistas and Pualani Estates. At the start there were 37 people present as audience, and 30 of them were wearing the blue that signified protest against the issue: giving developers another 10 years to develop that special parcel of Kona’s historical landscape.
Suddenly, there was a presentation of changes to the proposed plan that not even the Commission had seen before the meeting. They immediately took a 30 minute recess so the Commissioners could read the new material while the people waiting to testify were told that there was no way to show us the changes, so we were not permitted to read the changes. When the audience protested the lack of Due Process, and when others raised “point of order” issues, they were silenced and threatened with being ejected. The Commissioners called to order having read and talked among themselves about the changes and maps.
As noon approached, the chair announced that their lunch had been delivered, and they were taking a recess to eat to eat it, leaving the 22 people who had signed up to testify to wait without food or any information about where to get some. The Commission played its hand well – some of those who had waited for more than three hours had to leave.
Without detailing all the problems with the plan ( like an irrelevant traffic study, an incomplete archeological report, no market study, and no idea what “affordable housing” is), it is obvious that the almost 40 years that have passed since first application have brought enormous changes to Kona, and that the plan is untenable now and would certainly be in 10 more years. In fact, one of the most significant problems was not included among issues discussed: how would a condo development of more than 400 units impact our schools?
Kate H. Winter
Kailua-Kona
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