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LETTERS for January 31 issue

By Staff | Jan 31, 2013

Concerns on Act 55

Many in the Repeal Act 55 movement – myself included – do not consider the governor’s statement as a considerable step forward, as it may lead some to believe at first blush.

“Adjusting” and “fixing” Act 55 through amendments do not hold promise that Hawaii will end up with a better law – a law that has outraged thousands of people across Hawaii, in particular the neighbor islands.

Our public lands will be targeted for commercialization, and our local zoning laws and building codes will be disregarded. Decisions to do so will rest with a five-member Oahu-based board, while an estimated 80 percent of public lands are located on the neighbor islands.

By amending complicated Act 55, the potential is high that we will end up with reactive legislation that is also poorly designed.

While the governor highlights that public concerns should be addressed, he points out that it must advance somehow. Does that mean regardless of what the people of Hawaii desire? Additionally, there is no commitment to not veto.

MAHINA MARTIN, Founder, PLDC Watch, Maui

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Drivers generally respect crosswalks

This is for the writer on the issue of safe crosswalks in Honokowai. I 100 percent agree with you. The female who sped by and, to add insult to injury, even gave you the finger ought to have her driving privileges (it’s not a right!) revoked!

As bad as her demeanor was, I believe it’s rather a single case.

I’ve lived in many countries and nearly never had any problems. And, as I recall my years in Maui, never.

I am currently – to my regret – still assigned in Taiwan. And here, crosswalks are an effort in vain: wasted manpower to paint them and wasted paint. They are NEVER regarded here, in all my nine years living in this “society.”

Why am I writing this? To comfort you.

God bless and aloha from where I don’t want to be any longer…

DR. GEORG WOODMAN, Kihei/Taiwan

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Thanks for improving our school’s campus

On behalf of King Kamehameha III Elementary School, I would like to extend a huge mahalo to The Westin Maui Resort & Spa in Kaanapali.

Thank you goes out to Fely Guieb, who organized a crew consisting of Shalinder Singh, Daisy Yadao, William Phillips and Tania Tongi, who all volunteered their time and energy to do some improvements to our campus.

First, they revitalized a planter box that fronts our school with brand new, beautiful plants and trees. And second, they repainted an entire portable classroom to match the rest of the newly renovated buildings on campus. That was one gigantic job, and it looks fantastic!

Thank you so much for your generosity, time, effort and support of King Kamehameha III Elementary School.

CLAIRE TILLMAN, King Kamehameha III, PCNC Facilitator

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What’s good about hunting?

PETA has written to President Obama asking him to please rethink his praise of hunting.

There is nothing good about killing animals for sport or teaching our children to do so. Consider the case of 13-year-old Mitchell Johnson and 11-year-old Andrew Golden. They took the hunting guns of Andrew’s grandfather, who had taught Andrew to hunt, and used them to ambush their fellow students in Jonesboro, Ark. The massacre left four little girls and one teacher dead.

The great humanitarian and Nobel Prize winner Dr. Albert Schweitzer asked, “When will we reach the point that hunting, the pleasure of killing animals for sport, will be regarded as a mental aberration?”

More and more people are coming around to this way of thinking. According to the latest U.S. Fish and Wildlife survey, 13.7 million – just 6 percent – of Americans hunt, but a whopping 71.8 million Americans are wildlife watchers. People have learned that hunting causes animals unspeakable pain and suffering.

Celebrate the outdoors and our fellow earthlings. Grab your kids and/or friends on a nice day and go hiking, biking, rock-climbing, boating or bird-watching.

And take along a camera, in case you spot an animal out there enjoying life.

CARLA BENNETT, The PETA Foundation

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Support bill that protects animals

Please lend your support of Senate Bill 197. E-mail Senhee@capitol .hawaii.gov and Senshimabukoro@ capitol.hawaii.gov and ask them to please hear the bill, which criminalizes the killing of pets (dogs, cats, horses) for human consumption. This is fundamental protection for beloved companion animals that are considered members of the family today, and of whom we are guardians.

The violence in their killing is as unacceptable as it would be for humans. There is no way to ensure that their killing for consumption is humane under the current law. To prove whether their killing was humane or not becomes impossible without evidence. It is also believed that there is no such thing as the humane killing of companion animals.

In the past, references to cultural or racial discrimination had confused the real issue: cruelty to animals. How can there be an argument when the killing and human consumption of these companion animals have already been outlawed in major countries as the Philippines, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and recently in Weixian County in China?

It is really a cruelty issue, not a discrimination issue.

Please e-mail to ask for a hearing for this bill; that is only way to pass this law to help our beloved companion animals. We want to hear your voice, as the animals cannot speak for themselves. Mahalo!

BARBARA STEINBERG, Kihei