Your Views for September 10

Purse returned

A big heartfelt mahalo to the kind gentleman who found my purse in a shopping cart at Cost-U-Less on Saturday, Sept. 4, and returned it to the store.

His name is unknown, and I do hope he reads this, as I really am most appreciative.

What a relief to get it returned! Thank you, again, dear sir.

Verna Post

Hilo

‘Standing around’

OK, I get that the county allegedly has personnel issues where COVID-19 is right now, but to close the Pahoa Transfer Station is completely ridiculous, especially when the county stations two — yes, two — employees at the gate to prevent either entry to or dumping of trash at the facility!

If you’re going to have two employees standing around doing absolutely nothing, which is very commonplace in Pahoa anyhow, why not just open the station? It would be better off to allow people full access to dump their trash than to deny and post employees to prevent illegal dumping, when they could be inside monitoring the station while still standing around doing nothing!

This county makes no sense with their policies. If you’re short of staff, hire some! There are a number of people looking for good, solid-paying jobs who would like the opportunity to get off of government assistance or otherwise improve their lot in life.

Sean Hannah

Pahoa

Animal control

This is what we need from our next animal control vendor.

1. That they be a “dog catcher” — this part of the job goes back to ancient Roman days and is still essential. Stray dogs need to be apprehended by the vendor. Lending citizens traps is not adequate.

2. That they socialize and leash-train the dogs they get and do whatever else is needed to prepare them for adoption. Merely walking the dogs or fostering them out to untrained handlers does not provide the dogs with the education and experiences they need and would get from proper professional training.

3. That they offer free classes to help with pet retention once dogs are adopted by solving any behavioral problems that might arise. Love is not always enough, especially if a dog is tearing up the furniture when you are away from home or seems impossible to house-break. Sometimes, pet lovers need professional training and guidance, and our animal control vendor ought to offer these to the community for free as part of their contract.

So, we need a vendor that has the skills and knowledge needed to catch the dogs, train the dogs to be adopted, and then help to keep pet homes happy and secure.

It’s basic and simple, but we have not been getting these services from past vendors. They have not been proper dog catchers or trainers.

We deserve better.

Carl Oguss

Hilo