Fallout shelters needed
I’d like to address the issue about the false ballistic missile threat.
Honestly, how does one send a false warning and then a false alarm a half-hour later? Many Hawaii residents were outraged by this, since the majority of us have literally nowhere else to go.
However, I’d like to present a solution to this: fallout shelters. Many were built on the mainland during the Cold War, and we only have one here, but it’s on Oahu. If we had some on each island, then the majority of the civilians would survive.
The entirety of Hawaii was never prepared for a ballistic missile. Many people, including me, were ready to accept our fates. Nonetheless, fallout shelters would provide safety and comfort, sheltering those from radiation.
The chances of us surviving a nuke would be high. But this is a gamble on where the nuke would land. If you are anywhere near ground zero, everything would be disintegrated.
“Seek shelter immediately.” There is no shelter for those on the neighbor islands.
Addressing another issue is with the person who sent out the missile alert. If it was a false alert, why did it take half an hour to send that out? That person had 10 years of experience, but apparently they didn’t realize they “clicked” the wrong thing.
Whatever the cause, we do, however, need fallout shelters in case a REAL warning comes. It would be lovely to have some sort of protection.
Tuan Nguyen
Hilo
Standards abandoned
I abhorred (former Councilwoman) Jen Ruggles’ actions.
I don’t care about the money. I care about the moral and ethical standards she abandoned as an elected official in a democratic society.
Jake Dickey
Hawaiian Acres
What’s the benefit?
One quick question for the proponents of the Thirty Meter Telescope proposal: According to the divided scientific community, the TMT will see into the “past” some 13 billion years, give or take a few billion, to learn the origin of the Big Bang theory and the settling of the stirring debate of “first causes” in cosmology and ontology.
Now, some of these learned souls claim we are looking back into the future 13-plus billion light years, which would mean adding another line of zeros left of the decimal point of our murky past, and from where I now stand in Hilo, ain’t no one going no place soon, if ever.
But, to the point: Numerous astronomers have stated that the future of universe-searching telescopes will be achieved through Hubble-type satellites stationed in space, clear of earthly encumbrances, including politics and atmospheric obfuscations.
What benefit then, other than the astronomical, intellectual ego lift for the few, do we get from building this soon-to-be antiquated structure atop sanctified Maunakea? Leave jobs out of it.
Tomas Belsky
Hilo