Not the time to lower our guard

March 6, 2021

The mind-boggling politicization of mask-wearing hit a new low this week when the governors of Texas and Mississippi abruptly ended their states’ mask mandates. Flaunting President Joe Biden’s push for public mask use and social distancing to stop the spread of COVID-19, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves rolled the dice on the safety of their citizens and the capacities of their health care systems. We’ll know in a month if these bold strokes give their states an economic head start, or create a Sturgis on steroids that roars around the country. City ...

Hike wages, but not now

March 5, 2021

A minimum wage of $7.25 an hour is an insult to hard-working Americans. That base figure should have been raised years ago, but self-serving politicians saw to it that working-class folks were kept in their place,î as they did the bidding of corporate CEOs. Be that as it may, there are several ways a sudden bump to $15 an hour could be catastrophic at this time. One has to do with the pain inflicted on businesses by the pandemic — and that’s why the minimum wage hike had no place in the stimulus package passed by the House of Representatives. It’s understandable that activists ...

Vaccination hesitancy

March 2, 2021

Vaccine makers reassured Congress on Feb. 23 they will boost production and provide an additional 140 million doses in the next five weeks, overcoming the production bottlenecks that have crimped the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. The next hurdle is vaccine hesitancy. Opinion surveys show the United States is drawing closer to the goal of broad public acceptance, but there is a ways to go. Every effort must be made to administer the vaccines as widely as possible. A pair of polls by Gallup and the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research show that from a low ...

Restaurants still need our support

February 27, 2021

Whether you’re ordering won ton mein at Sam Sato’s or macadamia nut-crusted fresh catch at Haliimaile General Store, going out to eat has always been a treat. Like so many things taken for granted before the pandemic, we had no idea how truly special the restaurant experience was. Fresh tasty food, friendly service, no grocery shopping, cooking or pots and pans to clean — apart from paying the bill, what’s not to like? These truths set in last Sunday as we enjoyed our first indoor restaurant meal in nearly a year at Sansei Seafood Restaurant & Bar. The Kihei landmark ...

Following rules when others won’t

February 26, 2021

A local restaurant owner has been defying regulations for the containment of COVID-19, forcing the hand of Allegheny County health inspectors. Mask-wearing is not required at the restaurant. Paring down the number of patrons within the eatery has not been done. So, the owner has been cited and has been ordered to close, which she has refused to do. Her defiance has landed her in the state court system. Her defiance has spurred her to sue the county Health Department in federal court. She has filed for bankruptcy. Restaurant owners and their employees, undeniably and obviously, ...

Strength in helping

February 23, 2021

‘Only the strong survive?’ That isn’t the society we want. Former Colorado City, Texas Mayor Tim Boyd has government all wrong. If there’s one thing people freezing inside their own homes didn’t need, it was an elected official hopping on social media, preaching about only the strong surviving, and lecturing us on government overreach. We aren’t surprised at the backlash Boyd is getting from the same social media universe where he felt compelled to use a genuine crisis of public health and welfare to crow about excessive reliance on government. Social media is a mob ...