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Letters to the Editor

Center’s housing for 350 fire victims sits empty

Mayor Richard Bissen and the entire Maui County Council should hang their heads in shame.   Today, the Washington Post reported that the tiny homes erected in Kahului months ago by the Family Life Center to provide two years of rent-free housing for 350 fire victims are sitting empty, because of county red tape.   That is an outrage. Our political leaders should have acted immediately after the fires to cut this kind of red tape.  Their failure to do so is not only cruel and heartless to the fire victims, it’s completely incompetent and a dereliction of duty.   Shame ...

Those who caring enough bring memorial wall here

I am a veteran. However, I didn’t serve time in the Vietnam conflict, but was stationed in Thailand during this unfortunate period. I would like to thank the individuals, volunteers, organizations, County of Maui and others who were responsible and who cared enough to bring the Vietnam War Memorial Wall to Maui. During my visit to the wall, and viewing the exhibits and presentations brought back memories and emotions of that time over some 50 years or so ago. To see the wall with almost 60,000 service people was sad and heartbreaking. They made the ultimate sacrifice for our ...

No affordable housing projected for west side

Maui County Council’s meeting Feb. 16 was a fiasco and showed a lack of humanity and compassion for residents of this ‘aina struggling to find safe, dignified housing. The destruction caused by the August 8 fires destroyed over 2,200 structures; most were homes. Yet, the current Housing Director has provided no plans to address the high-need housing crisis for our westside ohana. Instead, an unvetted, three-person committee was not required to submit financial disclosures to the Board of Ethics and was given unfettered authority for site selection of upcoming affordable housing ...

We should listen to what people like Putin say

If you don’t think the left will do anything to control the population, and silence the voices of anyone willing to speak out, just look at what they did to Tucker Carlson. They are so afraid of him and the ability he has to enlighten those who don’t drink the Democrat kool-aid. I think the world would be better off listening to what people like Putin has to say. I’m not saying he is an innocent and moral person, but is he any worse than our current or past presidents? They say he is corrupt, and lies, cheats, and silences his opponents. Sounds familiar huh? They deem ...

Kaupo suffers crime wave, unable to get needed help

Kaupō, on Maui’s southeast coast, is suffering a crime wave and has been unable to get the help it needs. Problems include, but are not limited to, trespassing, illegal hunting (shooting guns after dark), illegal burning (bonfires and trash fires), illegal dumping (appliances and vehicles strewn along Pi‘ilani Highway), and even, though far less common, carjacking and even murder. A recent murder was not even reported in the press, as far as we know. Our calls to 911 are routed to the Big Island. Our calls to Hana Police and Hana Fire Department are ignored. They are ...

January storm brought piles of debris on Kihei beaches

After the storm in January, piles of debris came down the mountain and ended up on our beaches in Kihei. I asked to have this stuff removed by either the state or county. Here is what Amy Wirts wrote: (direct quote) “Thank you for confirming Mary - County Public Works sent someone out to evaluate the situation yesterday - and their assessment was that there is not currently a dangerous condition, it appears as though someone has done some raking and most of the shoreline is clear, although there is still some debris along the beach. “I recognize that this is likely not the ...