Support for ban
I want to voice my support for House Bill 551, which would end the sale of flavored tobacco products.
Flavored tobacco can cause addiction at a young age and lead to serious health issues in the future. The cool, fresh taste and smell of menthol makes it easier to start and harder to quit.
When my grandparents lived on Oahu, my grandpa used to smoke all the time. He smoked about three to six times a day. He never really had a relationship with me because he was half blind, deaf and couldn’t remember all that well.
I know that the pipe really messed up his speech, too, because he could only make out a couple of words. He smoked because he was trying to get rid of stress.
I felt bad for him because I know that smoking really took over his life and hurt him a lot, but I couldn’t say anything.
He and my grandma live on the mainland now, and he has stopped smoking, but the smoking got to him and hurt him a lot. I don’t want others to feel like that with their family, friends or even people we don’t know, because we should be able to speak up about these topics.
Youth get addicted, because they don’t know any better. They think it’s cool, they get pressured, or they are just trying to let off stress. We need to help protect them from a lifelong addiction by ending the sale of flavored tobacco in Hawaii.
Moani Yamanoha
Mountain View
Regarding animal control
Here are some comments on the recent discussion about creating a dedicated animal control agency.
Great that we are addressing this issue, as it was never proper to just hand over responsibility to the police, who are overworked and were never trained in animal control.
No, we do not need to establish and fund a new agency. We need to hire a well-qualified vendor for the animal control services we need. That is what we have lacked all these decades. Money can and should be spent on providing much-needed services, not creating additional layers of administration.
No, we do not need to spend more money. Properly spending what is currently budgeted can provide the county with much better services than we’ve ever received before.
For example, a Camp K-9 model that combines camping and service facilities for the homeless, with vocational training working with dogs, would allow us to better serve both groups. Without proper training, working with dogs can be stressful for the staff, but with proper training, it can be therapeutic and wonderfully satisfying, especially for disabled folks who have so few other vocational or life options.
Working with Camp K-9s that house both people and dogs can be very cost-effective and are very likely to help many homeless transition to regular working “status” again in a way current programs have failed to do.
No, we do not need to wait to improve the laws to get a vendor to do a great job. Professional ethics and standards accomplish that if they are well-trained.
That is the key problem with all of our past vendors (Hawaii Island Humane Society, Rainbow Rangers, the police). They have lacked the proper training. Yes, improve the laws, but not as a first priority that needs to be accomplished before front-line services are expanded and improved. Providing services ought to be our first priority in spending the public’s tax dollars in this area.
A committee of citizens to oversee the operations (from Day One, I’d say — there is never too much “sunshine”) is great, but it should be volunteer and cost-free to the public, not another layer of costs and administration, however informal.
Carl Oguss
Hawaii Dog Psychology Center, Hilo