Fiber-optic assets
Hawaii has three main submarine fiber-optic cables that link all main islands.
Two of these cables will be reaching the end of their 25-year lifespan (Hawaii Island Cable System and Hawaii Island Fiber-Network). The third fiber-optic cable is owned by Paniolo Cable Co. LLC. Paniolo is an affiliate of Sandwich Isles Communications, the beleaguered rural local exchange carrier serving Department of Hawaiian Homelands homesteads statewide.
The investors who bankrolled the Paniolo cable project, which was ready for service in 2009, initiated involuntary bankruptcy proceedings against Paniolo in late 2018. This legal action, along with Sandwich Isles Communications’ uncertain future, might force the sale of Paniolo’s assets.
Both companies currently use either HIFN or HICS for interisland connectivity. The latter cables don’t support modern standards, which limits the scalability of these networks. Paniolo, on the other hand, is much newer and supports modern standards.
I hope either Hawaiian Telcom or Charter Communications (Spectrum) attempts acquire Paniolo’s assets, if and when they’re put up for sale.
Aaron Stene
Kailua-Kona
‘Evil’ ruling
Jan. 22 is the 46 year-old evil anniversary of the 1973 Roe vs. Wade U.S. Supreme Court ruling, when seven Supreme Court justices legalized the now-genocide of more than 60 million pre-born babies.
What a disgusting and pathetic display of humanity our nation shows to innocent children.
James G. Borden
Hilo
Reconsider enlisting
To all persons under 21 years of age: Please reconsider, if you intend to enlist in the military.
I admire you for putting the needs of America before your own. But consider that if you’re under 21, you are legally prohibited from purchasing tobacco products like cigarettes, e-cigarettes or chewing tobacco in your home state.
Obviously, the state knows what is best for you and will dictate what you, as an adult, can do to your own body. Never mind that alcohol negatively impacts a greater number of innocent parties sharing the road with users, but the state government knows best — ignore the drunken driver, but charge tobacco users, those under 21, with a crime.
I as an adult believe that you should have the right to put tobacco into your own body. Why does the state regulate only those under 21 with such restrictions? Yet, they give the right to vote to those under 21. This is just speaking out of both sides of their mouths: Are you old enough to make choices, or aren’t you?
Don’t get me wrong. I find smoking bad for me, but why should I dictate how someone else lives their life? Just like another person deciding that sugar is bad for me, and so it should be banned.
But none of this applied to me when I was a teenager. In 1966, it was alright to smoke and purchase alcohol, as long as you were 18. But along with this “freedom” came the real possibility that the government could force you to possibly die. I was drafted into the Army in 1966.
Michael L. Last
Naalehu