Maunakea questions
May I ask a question about Maunakea?
Why has the management of Maunakea been offered year after year to the University of Hawaii even after it has mismanaged the mountain for years, according to the audits done by the state?
It seems clear the mountain should be managed by Hawaiian leadership — people who know and understand the symbols, practices and Hawaiian beliefs surrounding our mauna.
The University of Hawaii’s bureaucratic educators do not know how to rectify even the problem areas they created themselves.
The University of Hawaii, even after many years of being directed by the audits to develop better management practices, has failed not once, not twice, but for many years!
Why, in the name of all that is sacred, do educators (who know much about education and nothing about sacred space, practice or sacred thought) have the job of caring for our sacred mauna?
Sandra Lee
Kurtistown
Enough is enough
Another lawsuit against the Thirty Meter Telescope (Tribune-Herald, July 10). What a surprise.
Someone needs to tell the protesters enough is enough! Someone needs to tell them how much damage they are doing to our county and state and mountain. Someone needs to tell them that the large majority of residents on this island and in this state want it built.
We marvel at the telescopes on the mountain and consider them majestic and beautiful to look, as do most of our visitors. They are not an eyesore, as the protesters claim.
Someone needs to tell the protesters that most of us have jobs and lives, and we cannot attend the countless hearings and protests and lawsuits. We are a large, mostly silent, but adamant group that welcomes the type of progress that TMT will bring.
Someone needs to tell the protesters how much time and money and negative energy they are wasting on new lawsuits and demonstrations. We get it: You are against any and all progress that brings change, even if it benefits education, employment, high-end job opportunities, construction and exploration.
Someone needs to tell them that they are creating a hostile and divisive atmosphere in this state, and why would anyone want to do business here? If that is their goal, they might succeed.
Someone needs to tell their leaders to stop spreading lies and quit misleading the public and your followers about construction and operation of TMT. Someone needs to tell them that exploration and science and using the stars and the mountain as a resource is what the early Polynesians and Hawaiians did.
Someone needs to ask the protesters why. Why do they refuse to compromise? Why can’t we all exist in peace and harmony by bringing science and culture together on Maunakea? Be remembered for that.
Jamie Reno
Waimea