Your Views for September 5

Be responsible

This is in reply to a letter to the editor by Gerdine Markus (Your Views, Sept. 1).

I am vaccinated, because I do have underlying unhealthy conditions. I was on the fence for a while when the vaccine first came out. I didn’t want to be a guinea pig to some big pharmaceutical company.

However, the responsibility to keep myself, the community and my family safe had won me over.

Reading the viewpoints Gerdine brought out really hit home. Getting the vaccine really is a personal choice. The vaccine is for your own protection. However, the responsibility to keep the community and the family safe is not a personally choice. It is a responsibility.

The issue at hand is not about getting the vaccine. It is about being responsible. There are people who used the vaccine as a vehicle to be irresponsible. There are people that use the vaccine as a political statement.

You can still be a carrier even if you are vaccinated and not sick. You are a human body. You do carry germs. Just because you are not sick with the symptoms does not mean you are not carrying the virus.

Please don’t make this virus and the choice of vaccination a political issue. The news outlets are doing enough of this. Our lives will be so much better if we can just forget about politics and do the right thing.

Get your vaccine if you want to protect yourself. Don’t get your vaccine if you think you can protect yourself without the vaccine (like Gerdine did). However, whether you are vaccinated or not, don’t spread the disease around.

Most of all, stop reading Facebook and getting duped by misleading information.

Hansen Tsang

Hilo

‘Essential services’

Hawaii County continues to fail to provide the simplest of basic but essential services (roadwork, landfills, motor vehicle licensing, building permits, etc).

But these basic services are why government exists! I thought Mayor Mitch Roth would get some of this fixed, but so far there’s been zero obvious improvement (Kalanianaole Avenue is another example).

According to the Tribune-Herald (Sept. 2), the island’s transfer stations are closing multiple days per week. The claim that this is just another COVID thing is not true — the county has been struggling to operate a reliable solid waste operation for years.

I have never written to the newspaper before, but I hope you will publish my letter. This situation is unacceptable, and I bet many people feel the way I do.

Lance Joseph

Kurtistown

Do better

Although the revised COVID-19 trash dump days has been posted in the newspapers and online, many are still not aware of the amended hours, especially at the main Hilo dropoff center.

On Sept. 1 during the morning hours, I, along with other people, drove through the main entrance gate of the Hilo dump about a half mile in, only to find that the second entrance leading to the general household trash bin was closed.

Like myself, there were other drivers confused as I was as to why it was closed. The turn-around areas between the reuse center and the cardboard and glass bins were somewhat cumbersome to drive in, then back up, then drive out.

Is there a better way to alert folks at the main entrance of these newly adjusted hours, rather than drive all the way in to only find out that the dump is closed?

Also, how about providing better turn-around areas so we don’t have traffic jams at the closed areas? For now, the open days are on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays.

Rick LaMontagne

Hilo