Election concerns
The general election here in Hawaii County brings up some thoughts and concerns.
First of all, what happened to the process when election officials used to clamp down on unsuccessful primary candidates who fail to advance from the primary to the general election? I believe there was a time frame when yard signs and banners had to be removed within 30 days or so after the primary.
Well, a good number of these signs still remain in clear view at residences. In some cases, the property owner awaits the candidate or campaign volunteers to remove these signs.
Also, there were a number of nail-biter races statewide that triggered automatic recounts. Now we have a mandatory double-checking by the State Office of Elections because the difference in votes received by competing candidates was fewer than 100 or within 2% of votes cast.
Back in the day, say the race was decided by 21 votes or less, the request for a recount was never granted unless there was proof in the election. The only exception was being able to view ballots that were ruled invalid due to the voter signing his/her name in the wrong line, or printing their name rather than signing the outside of the ballot.
Today, people vote on the ballots for registered voters who are no longer living, have moved or simply are not interested in the outcome, thereby allowing someone else to vote and sign the ballot in their place.
Maybe we should do away with voting by mail.
Wow, how times have changed!
Andy Baclig
Hilo
Better training
Well, the sad news is that our mayor, County Council and police department are completely satisfied with the quality of the training the animal control and kennel staff are receiving, and they therefore have no interest in doing anything differently.
Specifically, they do not see any need to improve the training of the staff. This means we as a community will continue to receive some of the worse animal control services in America as measured by the outcomes:
We kill more animals than other communities almost anywhere else in America, and our percentage is much higher than the national standard, and this is not because a very high percentage of our animals are “unadoptable.”
We admit and train fewer animals than most other systems, essentially refusing to accept any animals with challenges either physically or psychologically. We do not play the timeless role of “dog catcher.” Even ancient Rome had those.
We waste huge sums of taxpayer money on everything but training the staff properly.
It is very insulting that our government is so extremely callous to the number of animals they are forcing our community to kill and neglect. Dr. (Mehmet) Oz kills 300 dogs over many years and is thought to be a horrible person. Our government kills many thousands of animals every year, and not for the benefit of research Dr. Oz at least claimed.
We do it because our government refuses to accept reality and see that better training is the thing we need the most, rather than something they can neglect completely.
Carl F. Oguss
Hilo
