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LETTERS for the Oct. 15 issue

By Staff | Oct 15, 2020

Come visit Lahaina!

I am responding to the letter on Oct. 7 titled “Lahaina, our forgotten town.” I adamantly disagree. Lahaina is not forgotten, and there is a valiant effort underway to revive Lahaina’s spirit.

For starters, I want to applaud the restaurants and eateries, many of which are open daily. If you want to help Lahaina, come have a meal or a cup of coffee, an ice cream or a shave ice. We welcome your business!

I would also like to applaud the galleries who are participating in the newly revived Friday Night is Art Night, now in its fourth week and slowly getting busier each Friday. Come to Lahaina, enjoy a stroll through the galleries, meet the local artists, enjoy live music and refreshments, then have dinner at one of Lahaina’s many restaurants.

Don’t know what is open? Google “What’s open in Historic Lahaina,” and you will get a comprehensive list of businesses with hours, addresses and links to their webpages. Come visit us!

Join the docents of Lahaina Restoration Foundation on a guided, COVID safe, candle lit tour of the Baldwin Home every Friday from 5 to 8 p.m during Friday Art Night.

There is also a free historic exhibit on the Baldwin Home lawn every Friday.

How about free, hands-on Hawaiian cultural classes? These are coming this month to the new cultural park at Apuakehau next to the library on Front Street. Held on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and funded by a grant from the Hawaii Community Foundation, these classes will focus on “canoe plants” with an emphasis on kalo. Watch Lahaina News for details.

The county’s project to improve the sidewalks, railings and seating area along the seawalls in the 700 and 900 block is still on track and will give Lahaina a much-needed public face lift.

Plans are underway for the Holiday Lighting of the Banyan Tree with a month of safe, free, fun activities during the holiday season.

Lahaina, forgotten? No way! Residents and visitors enthusiastically responded with donations of over $22,000, which will be used to further promote and protect the beautiful historic town of Lahaina.

A vibrant commercial sector supports the culture and history that LRF protects, and Lahaina Restoration Foundation is leading the town’s revival.

Our biggest challenge is countering the false perception that Lahaina is “closed,” “boarded up,” “a ghost town,” “forgotten.”

Please come to town, shop, learn some history, dine, stroll through the galleries, enjoy the views, the sunsets and the ocean breezes.

We are alive. We are open. We are safe. We welcome you to the historic town of Lahaina. Please come visit.

THEO MORRISON

Executive Director, Lahaina Restoration Foundation

Phone service needed in Honokohau Valley

I have been asked by a resident in Honokohau Valley to write a letter on his behalf and for all of the residents of the valley.

It is my understanding that someone attempted to trim a tree and accidentally damaged phone lines.

This has resulted in no phone service — for many weeks now. It is imperative that these lines be restored immediately. There are many residents that rely on their land lines for communication. Many residents have medical problems.

What will it take to get the phone company and whoever is needed to get this vital service up and running? If trees need to be trimmed, who is responsible?

I beg that this problem is remedied as soon as possible; it could mean life or death.

SU CAMPOS

Napili

The difference between President Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump

President Reagan made these remarks in a speech on Oct. 26, 1984, to the Temple Hillel leaders in Valley Stream, New York.

“We in the United States, above all, must remember this lesson, for we were founded as a nation of openness to people of all beliefs. And so we must remain. Our very unity has been strengthened by our pluralism. We establish no religion in this country, we command no worship, we mandate no belief, nor will we ever. Church and state are, and must remain, separate. All are free to practice faith or not.”

PEGGY O’DELL

Lahaina

A clear choice in the Presidential Election

President Trump, you have had almost four years to lead the United States and have failed us by your own choosing. Whether it be in foreign policy or domestic policy, you have not protected the United States as commander-in-chief.

Now comes the latest news about your complete disrespect for our military and total disregard for the COVID-19 virus. We the American people have finally borne witness to what happens when they place an incompetent business leader into the Oval Office.

Quality of life is not a business decision, sir — it is a humane choice to be empathetic to those who cannot help themselves.

Joe Biden has that empathy and will return the United States to the era when we were respected internationally because of how we treat our citizens domestically.

This election is a clear choice between those who have never had it so good and those of us who know we can do better. Joe Biden will lead us there.

Fellow citizens, exercise your right to vote to preserve your sacred heritage, promote your children’s future and obtain the blessings of liberty we all cherish.

To restore a sense of decency to the United States, rise and vote!

JOE BIALEK

Cleveland, Ohio