Locals not welcome
It seems the new managers at the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel are doing everything they can to keep locals out.
The last eight times I’ve gone there, I was told all the public parking spaces were full. When I asked if there was any way I could get in, they said I could use valet parking, but that it would cost $40!
Everyone else I know who has tried to go there recently says they had similar problems.
The hotel claims to have 38 beach-access parking spots, but I know for a fact some of those spaces are being used for guests’ cars and restaurant-goers because a hotel worker told me that is a common practice.
The state and county have legal agreements with the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel that require them to allow public access to the beach. Those agreements are not being honored by the hotel’s new managers. I hope officials will do something about this.
There is excellent snorkeling on the north side of Mauna Kea beach (Kauna‘oa), but I haven’t been able to go there in more than a year. They also have a place where mantas feed under a bright light just a few yards from shore. I guess they are trying to keep it all for themselves.
Matt Binder
Waimea
Rights of the living
Read “Them: Why We Hate Each Other — and How to Heal” by Republican senator and author Ben Sasse of New England. He gives the best account of the genius of our founding fathers and the “American Idea” they created.
The rights of the living are paramount, even though at the time slaves didn’t have them, and neither did women of any color! We have come a long way.
The living expectant mother’s rights are as tantamount as our Second Amendment rights, and the only thing that interferes with a women’s right of choice is religion, and the Constitution keeps religion out of government.
While I do not believe in abortion, I do believe our armies die in war for our freedoms, and that included freedom of religion and freedom from religion in public/government policy.
The solution is education about parenting, support for expectant women and an assurance that any unwanted child will flourish in society — all which are failings of religion outside of government, in my opinion.
John P. Begg
Pahoa