‘Off the mark’
Mr. Robert Yamada’s recent letter to the editor (Your Views, Tribune-Herald, Aug. 31), which criticizes Native Hawaiians for submitting a county ethics complaint regarding the Thirty Meter Telescope protests, was way off the mark.
This “peaceful protest” illegally blocked access to the summit of Maunakea, which all races, not just Native Hawaiians, can access.
The Hawaii Police Department is tasked with maintaining access on all public roadways, which it didn’t do. The department spent its time targeting people for traffic infractions instead.
The latter isn’t the most egregious ethics violation, though. The county used taxpayer-funded manpower, equipment and materials to grade a pad for the “peaceful” protesters.
These same protesters bemoan the alleged environmental lapses on the mauna, but I’m still waiting to see the necessary permitting that allowed the protest site to be there in the first place.
This particular area is an environmentally sensitive conservation area. The protesters, or the county, never applied for a conservation district use permit to do that grading work. This is why the county needs to be held accountable for its lack of action on the mauna.
Aaron Stene
Kailua-Kona
Hiring boom
President Donald Trump established an employment record in one particular sector that might never be equaled.
Of course, the “fake news” media do not report on Trump’s accomplishments, even if they are big and beautiful. And the most recent unrevealed Trump administration accomplishment is further evidence that the “lame-stream” media hates this president.
So, Braddah Kerry will state the facts that the failing New York Times and Jeff Bezos’ Washington Post deliberately choose to ignore: In the history of the presidency, nobody has done more than the Trump administration to hire criminal defense attorneys. Not even Obama.
Kerry E Meyer
Hilo
Food problem
In response to the pandemic, several months ago the USDA provided waivers for schools that are providing online instruction so that twice-daily pick up for school meals is no longer required. But guess what, our local schools have not made this adjustment and are still requiring parents to drive to the school, twice daily, to pick up breakfast and lunch with the students in the car. This is absurd.
We have many schools with a very high proportion of students entitled to free and reduced-cost meals. We have hundreds of cars lining up for food giveaways, and yet the school meal program has not been able to adapt to the times and the need.
How are people out of work supposed to find gas money to drive to school that might be 45 minutes away and manage teaching their kids at home, amongst the many other challenges we are all facing at this time?
I have heard concerns about food safety, but that is simply an excuse. Meals can be frozen and ready-to-heat, or packaged shelf-stable foods could be made available.
It appears there is a form of EBT (food stamps) that can also be used to get the food to the families in lieu of school meals.
We need to put pressure on our local administrators to make the changes to serve these families. Food insecurity is going to lead to great health issues down the road. Let’s try to solve the problems that we can right now.
Vivienne Aronowitz
Waimea
