‘Every 11 minutes’
Truck driver Morgan Leopoldino is being disingenuous (Your Views, Tribune-Herald, Sept. 28) when he characterizes trucking traffic for the Honua Ola Bioenergy plant as “only 33 truckloads per day … .”
So, too, was Honua Ola management being disingenuous in its earlier full-page Tribune-Herald advertising (Myths vs Facts), claiming only 33 “daily deliveries.” Each characterization is clearly intended to suggest minimal truck traffic. Hmm … 33 per day is less than two per hour … not so bad.
However, alert readers will note the euphemisms being used: “truckloads” in one case, “deliveries” in the other. A “truckload” or “delivery” actually represents two trips, one to fetch the chopped-down trees and the other to carry those trees to the burner.
So, 33 truckloads per day actually translates to 66 truck trips. And if trucker Leopoldino is correct that these trips will occur from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., then we should plan on 5 1/2 truck trips per hour, or one every 11 minutes.
Let me say that again: One dirty, diesel-spewing 18-wheel truck flying up and down the coast, in and out of the residential area where the factory is located, every 11 minutes. That’s from sunrise to sunset, all day, every day, every 11 minutes.
This is clearly not in the public interest, and I hope the Public Utilities Commission will continue to pay attention to the details, because this sort of traffic and its concomitant hazards are simply not in the public interest.
Skip Sims
Ninole
Use booths
Watching the presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden was the best circus-comedy I have seen in a long time.
I suggest future debates — where cutting off one another seems to be the norm for television debates — have each candidate in a sealed off booth. When one candidate is speaking, the other candidate’s microphone is turned off by the moderator.
Even if the candidate with the microphone turned off tries to disrupt, the speaking candidate will not be able to hear him/her ranting on because of the sound-proof booth.
Also, when a question is asked to one candidate by the moderator, and the candidate appears to be drifting away from the question, the moderator can cut his/her microphone off. When candidates have the opportunity to question one another, the same microphone control can still apply.
I’m certainly looking forward to the next “episodes” of this circus-comedy.
Rick LaMontagne
Hilo
Wasteful packaging
Daily, children bring home their lunch from Chiefess Kapiolani Elementary School in Hilo. And each day, the lunches are packaged in No. 5 microwave-safe 8-inch by 8-inch plastic clamshell boxes, manufactured by Anchor.
These containers are not easily recyclable, nor are they environmentally friendly. They accumulate in the kitchen, they end up in our overflowing landfills, they litter our roadsides.
To the students, they are examples of irresponsible wasteful consumption. To the entire Hawaii Island population, they are examples of thoughtless and toxic unconsciousness.
Hot food should never be put into plastic, nor should food be microwaved in plastic. Who wants to risk consuming potentially harmful chemicals? School Food Services Branch of the Department of Education should switch from plastic to compostable, biodegradable food containers. It’s a no-brainer.
Gary Harrold
Hilo