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Letters to the Editor

Why put pristine Olowalu reef in jeopardy with debris disposal?

I am writing in response to the opinion piece published Nov. 18 regarding using Olowalu as a repository for toxic waste from Lahaina.  The statements from those in favor of Olowalu is that the site will be monitored for 30 years for toxic substances leaching into the soil. And what will happen then? Nobody has said but I assume the waste would all be dug up and relocated, along with excavating out the contaminated soil and relocating it also. Where will the new repository for all this material be? Wherever that is, presumably it is more secure than Olowalu was. So why not just ...

Exerting economic power over basic human rights

I sat at the gate for my full flight, looking around because you can usually spot someone from Maui. On the plane, flight attendants, donned in floral aprons with plastic flowers in their hair, greeted eager passengers. Families with children already bickering on who gets what filled the rows. The lead flight attendant tells everyone over the PA we are going “to her most favorite place in the world.” The plane erupts around me. I feel like the only person in a sea of strangers. When I hear the cheers for vacation, I think of my students. Some must have breakfast with tourists ...

Housing is not the only crisis sending people away

Our housing crisis is not the only reason Hawaiians are forced to move to the mainland.   Lack of available medical care is also an urgent problem.   Recently, an adorable six-year-old little boy spent several days in the emergency room at Maui Memorial Medical Center.   There were no beds available on Maui or Oahu for the care he required.  His single-parent mom slept on the emergency room floor next to her son. Mom was scared, along with being both mentally and physically exhausted.   Her family and friends were in disbelief, asking themselves, why? This is not some ...

Federal infrastructure funds hard to account for in Kula

About $884.7 million in federal funding was sent to Hawaii Nei to invest in roads, bridges, public transit, ports, airports and roughly $69 million for clean water. How much of that amount have our Maui representatives fought for and received for us in Kula? Maui County is still giving out water meters and building permits like they are going out of style. The state is getting fat on our property taxes, which contribute to the high rental costs. I’m presently paying the same amount of money for property taxes monthly that I used to pay for my rental, and my roadway water systems and ...

Tlaib’s outcry in Congress Palestinian double-talk?

Rashida Tlaib would have us believe that Hamas doesn’t speak for the Palestinian people and that Hamas’ battle cry for murder is, an “aspirational call for freedom, human rights and peaceful co-existence.” Israel has time and again demonstrated her willingness and eagerness to live in peace. Given the chance, Israel has happily made peace with Egypt in 1979, with Jordan in 1994 and was now on the brink of peace with Saudi Arabia until the savage barbarians of Hamas crossed the border and slaughtered 1,400 innocent lives in cold blood. What have the Palestinians ever done to ...

Government must do better for its citizens

Recently, a young friend passed away in a motorcycle accident on Maui. It took four weeks for Hawaii to provide the death certificate to his family. The delay was emotionally and financially challenging to his parents, who were grieving and wanted to bring their son back home to San Diego for his burial and final resting. A death certificate should be processed in a matter of days, not weeks. I shudder to think what awaits those families in Lahaina whose lives were shattered from the August wildfires as they try to pull required documents and building permits in their efforts to ...