Kudos, Kalai
Congratulations, Kalai Rosario, for being selected in the fifth round by the Minnesota Twins.
You are another shining example of a player being selected for the eighth straight year from Hilo.
People have taken notice across Hawaii and the mainland of the quality of baseball coaching and mentoring here on the Big Island.
Good Luck!
Robert Yamada
Hilo
Discriminatory quarantines
In our democracy, we do not have the right to decide which constitutional protections we will reserve for ourselves, yet deny the same protections to other citizens. “In for a penny; in for a pound.” All constitutional protections apply to all citizens.
This issue will come to the forefront next week. The governor will lift the interisland quarantine order, but attempt to retain quarantines in place for visitors from the mainland.
The Constitution is very clear: “The citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states.”
The governor may quarantine all travelers or require COVID-19 tests of all travelers. However, he cannot order the quarantine and/or testing of only travelers from the mainland, while allowing citizens of Hawaii to travel freely across the state and between the islands.
The Constitution protects all citizens equally — regardless of xenophobia.
Kenneth Beilstein
Kailua-Kona
Screen all visitors
I read the Tribune-Herald article about the University of Hawaii proposal to screen visitors at their places of departure before they are allowed to get on a flight to Hawaii.
I think this is an excellent idea, and it will protect us from 80% to 90% of the COVID-19 cases coming in. However, Mayor Harry Kim thinks this would be an impossible task. Sorry, Mayor Kim, I disagree.
The key here is to get the airlines and TSA to participate in the preflight screening. Visitors headed to Hawaii could be tested anywhere by their home doctors, local clinics or testing set up at the airport.
Until the test results come in, no one should be allowed to board a plane for Hawaii even if they have no fever or symptoms.
We know that the gestation period for this virus is about 14 days (in some cases it can go up to 21 days) so people who intend to visit Hawaii should be screened inside that gestation period.
We are lucky enough to have a lieutenant governor who is also a physician, and I believe it is his guidance that has kept us from having a higher number of cases of COVID-19 in Hawaii. We should always listen to Dr. Josh Green when it comes to public policy regarding health.
I know that it’s a difficult balancing act between opening tourism and protecting the people. If there any questions, our leaders should always decide on the side of protecting the people of Hawaii.
Francine Pearson
Hilo
‘We can be better’
The peaceful and well-attended rally in Hilo prompted by the George Floyd murder was a truly fine event. However, should some feel we do not have the racial divisions plaguing the U.S. mainland happening here, please read on.
Back during my UH-Manoa days, I had a black friend. He is the son of an Army colonel and was raised on bases. While undeniably black, he had Beach Boy albums in his bedroom.
Once, while walking around the campus together, I was bemused, then disgusted, by the reactions to my friend.
Eyes averted, some carefully walking out of our way, fear, “Hey, bro, slap me five”-type condescension.
He was followed around inside the campus bookstore. I’ll never forget that moment, realizing that black people are reminded constantly that they are different than the rest of us. The last I heard, he was attending Yale.
A few years ago, I was in the Hilo Walmart and watched a young, apparently local lady (brown skin and pidgin-speaking) wrestling with a box on a shelf. In her frustration, she repeatedly uttered (an expletive often aimed at African Americans) at the box.
A black family was nearby, though they were out of earshot. But do you think they’ve never heard such, even here in the “melting pot”?
We can be better, and I believe that as an island, a state and a country, we can and will be better to all people.
Peter Easterling
Pahoa