Bag ban woes ADVERTISING Bag ban woes Do the people of Hawaii County know the local stores and the County Council found another way to siphon what little money we can earn in Hawaii County? Yes, I thought we’d only
Bag ban woes
Do the people of Hawaii County know the local stores and the County Council found another way to siphon what little money we can earn in Hawaii County?
Yes, I thought we’d only get charged IF we used plastic bags or the store merchant gets charged IF they don’t get in line with County Council’s law. So why are the merchants charging us, the people of Hawaii County, if we occasionally need a paper bag? Why do we patronize your stores and pay your high grocery prices?
A paper sack costs the store 4 cents or even less, depending on the bulk the store orders, but we get charged 10 cents a bag? If we use cloth bags we get 5 cents credit, but if we forget, we’re charged 10 cents for paper bags. What do you do with the profit? You don’t give it back to the people of the County of Hawaii or lower the grocery prices.
Let us, as the general public, find our merchants around the island that give back to the customer, instead of supporting the others that steal what little money we have left after state and federal taxes and that ever-rising motor vehicle tax.
Coreen Nelson
Ka‘u
No raises
Are you kidding me? The county government wants raises for aides and elected officials? They are still carrying unfunded items in the budget. This will mean increased benefits, also. More liability. This will also mean higher taxes. Some of these increases are in double digits.
Has our island economy increased by that much? I don’t think so. The politicians are looking at pie in the sky.
The benefits program should also be changed. Drop the current retirement program and have all government employees enroll into a 403B program and reduce the liability of the taxpayers. Also health care — are they on the “Obamacare” program?
Bob Dukat
Pahoa
The man in the park
On the front page of today’s paper (Tribune-Herald, April 23), there is an article about the protest at Lincoln Park in downtown Hilo. The protest was aimed at the large boards with hateful messages posted in the back of a pick-up truck belonging to James Borden.
I agree with the protesters, that the overly large signs spew hate and ignorance instead of aloha. If I have out-of-town guests, I try to avoid that street when possible because this does not send the message most of the town wants presented to visitors.
There have been letters to the editor written in the past regarding the signs, with no change in the situation. The police claim they have no jurisdiction over the parked car, but they do.
One answer to this hate-mongering seems so simple to me I wonder why it hasn’t been done.
Couldn’t the police make a one- or two-hour parking zone in that block and then target it for ticketing?
Even if Borden can continue to park his truck in such a prominent position, it will make the parking more uncomfortable for him if he is forced to move the vehicle every hour or two.
Nancy McGilvray
Keaau
