Deer are a threat
Axis deer threaten the sustainability of our local agriculture and food supply, as well as the integrity of our forested watersheds and native wildlife. The rantings and justifications of those who have been convicted of crimes should not be promoted as mainstream views.
To understand the potential impacts of axis deer, we should be listening instead to people who are currently dealing with the long-term consequences: the farmers, land managers and ranchers on Maui, where they have to spend thousands of dollars to build 8-foot fences to protect their crops, forests and pastures from deer.
Or talk to the fishermen on Molokai, who can no longer fish on huge stretches of reef that have been lost due to siltation, caused by the overgrazing of axis deer and goats on the slopes above.
Our islands are delicate ecosystems which, when properly cared for, can provide abundant food balanced with healthy forests and reefs long into the future.
In this case, the selfish actions of a few thoughtless people in introducing a large non-native mammal to our island may cause long-term, irreversible consequences for our entire island — to both human communities and natural ecosystems.
Whether these actions were illegal on the books or not, they are crimes against nature and neighbors, so they are inherently wrong. We need to hold the perpetrators accountable to the public for their crimes, rather than promoting their selfish justifications.
Melora Purell
Waimea
The popular vote
Where does Mr. John Gallipeau get his information?
He states emphatically in his Nov. 13 letter (Your Views, Tribune-Herald) that President Obama lost the popular vote. That is not true.
These are the facts, which I obtained from the Washington Post website, but they are readily available elsewhere.
Barack Obama got 62,281,602 votes, or 50.6 percent.
Mitt Romney got 58,900,448 votes, or 47.8 percent.
Other candidates got 1,952,686 votes or 1.6 percent.
Obama won 332 electoral votes, while Romney won 206.
After every presidential election, the antiquated electoral college system is questioned. I agree that it should be eliminated, but advocates of states’ rights manage to keep it in place, so I suspect that we will continue to have this debate every four years for the foreseeable future.
Charlotte Phillips
Hilo
