The County of Maui Parks and Recreation department buys pickup trucks with liftgates on them for the park caretakers. This is a good idea as they have to lift up bags of rubbish from 55-gallon barrels.

So, having the gates saves the caretakers’ backs. The bad thing is all the pickups with the gates in West Maui don’t work.

So, we have a lot of workman’s comp or disability or sick leave to pay for as the caretakers hurt themselves climbing up on the trucks to unload and have to throw the rubbish bags over the sides or ends of the trucks.

Seems to me that they should get the liftgates fixed or at least take them off and put regular tailgates on the trucks so the caretakers wouldn’t get injured.

Steven B. Ashfield

Lahaina