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Letters to the Editor

Letter: Mahalo to councilmember, Office of the Mayor staff

I would like to express my appreciation to Maui County Councilmember Tom Cook for initiating and securing a much needed grant for the Veteran of Foreign Wars, Post 3850 in Kihei. The grant will help fund much needed programs and services for our veterans in need. Mahalo also to Budget Chair Yuki Lei Sugimura, members of the Maui County Council and Mayor Richard Bissen's staff for their support and assistance. VFW Post 3850 continues to provide a site for helping our veterans and a venue for community and family events in Kihei. All of this would not be possible without County of ...

Letter: Store, employees godsend for our Haiku community

I’ve spent most of life on Maui and thought living in town was the best place to be. I recently had to relocate to Haiku, and Hanzawa store and their employees are a godsend for our community. I live on Awalau Road and sometimes they are our only source of food and other necessities during storms and road closures. I haven’t ever submitted something like this, I just hope these folks get some recognition for their contribution. Mahalo. Kyle TruesdellHa‘ikū

Letter: Contractor water line slap in community face

Here we go again, a private contractor gets to put in a water line just for themselves Upcountry. Because of county rules, they are being allowed to do that because they are paying for everything themselves, bypassing all of us on the waiting list. The county always says that there isn’t enough water for us residents or any new meters. But somehow, all of a sudden, down Pulehu Road, there is magically water available for a huge construction baseyard. Not even houses. What a slap in the face for us. No wonder so many people are moving away. Tired of Maui totally being ...

Letter: What happens to animals would scare most of us

Ghosts? Fun! Zombies? Bring them on. Haunted houses? We’ll take two tickets. But this Halloween, there is something genuinely frightening we should talk about.  Every day, animals are transported into slaughterhouses most of us will never see. What happens inside is kept far away from grocery stores, restaurant menus and cheerful food packaging. We even use comfortable words like “beef,” “pork,” and “poultry” to help us forget who our food once was. Maybe that is because looking closely would scare us.  Here is the good news: Halloween horror is supposed to be ...

Letter: Purposely separated from our higher principles

Science, technology, widespread circulation of information, indiscriminate intelligence and the pervasiveness of algorithms might incorrectly be considered aids in the search for truth. Instead, they have done little to transform our conditioned materialistic mindset into a more highly valuable spiritualized mentality and consciousness. Such ideas may seem neither practical nor legitimate in our present society, culture, civilization, or traditional Western institutionalized system, where profit rules and property rights dominate over human needs. But true evolution of mankind will ...

Letter: Nationwide nonviolent civic resistance Oct. 17

“No Dictators” Maui event will be another nationwide nonviolent civic resistance day Saturday, Oct. 17 at 4 p.m., fronting Queen Kaahumanu Center in Kahului. Power does not belong to billionaires or politicians who believe they are above accountability. Power belongs to the people, but only if we use it. Going all the way back to the American Revolution, it was protest by ordinary citizens that forced change. Major shifts like voting rights for women, civil rights and an end to the Vietnam War would not have happened if people had stayed home and done nothing. Please stand ...