Lahaina benefitted from Joan McKelvey’s talents

This past month, the West Side lost a strong community leader. Joan D’Arcy Howes McKelvey has been both behind the scenes and up front in her activities to help Lahaina grow since the last century.

Many organizations in our small town have benefitted from her talents as a successful businesswoman, community volunteer and family matriarch.

She was the owner of South Seas Trading Post and co-founder of LahainaTown Action Committee. Her leadership strength could be felt in the beginning years of the Lahaina Arts Society as well.

The West Maui Taxpayers Association held her volunteer work in high esteem, as she was a major force in the funding of the building of the Napili Fire Station.

Her strong spiritual beliefs were felt at Sacred Hearts School. Along with Tony Vierra and Joe Pueschel, she helped to rebuild Sacred Hearts School after the devastating fire of 1971.

Our community paper, the Lahaina News, was almost lost. Joan became a hands-on member of the hui that bought and owned the weekly before purchased by Ogden Newspapers.

Na Kupuna O Maui recognizes Mrs. McKelvey for the many roles she played to keep our community Lahaina Strong.

As she would write in her “Up Front Lahaina” column after the passing of a beloved West Sider, Aloha ‘Oe, Joan McKelvey; Aloha ‘Oe.

AUNTY PATTY NISHIYAMA, Na Kupuna O Maui, Lahaina

Afghanistan will never go away

Afghanistan is an unending nightmare that will never go away.

We got Osama Bin Laden. We wanted to avenge the heinous deaths of September 11, 2001. We were all mad, and we are still angry about what evil people did on that day. We will never forget. We could have covertly taken out Bin Laden and many more terrorists without all that our political leaders have done over the last 20 years.

Thousands of parents lost their children in Afghanistan. Thousands of spouses lost husbands and wives. Children lost their parents. These precious Americans will suffer the rest of their lives over the loss of their loved ones.

The long Afghanistan war broke the hearts of Americans, as 6,294 Military and American contractors have been killed. Sixty-six thousand Afghan national military and police have been killed. Over 47,000 Afghan civilians killed. Aid workers killed. Journalists killed. The Afghanistan and Iraq war has cost Americans $2 trillion. Financially, it will never be over for most living Americans.

There are reports that the United States has committed to pay $2 trillion more in health care, disability, burial and other costs for roughly 4 million Afghanistan and Iraq Veterans. America has a tough job caring for our own Veterans. For years, we did a very poor job of providing good care for Veterans with physical and mental needs.

The estimated interest costs of these wars by 2050 is $6.5 trillion.

There will never be an end to our 20-year nightmare war in Afghanistan. Families will suffer every day from the grief of the loss of loved ones who sacrificed their lives. Every year, we all will pay on the trillions of dollars in debt created by the war. For the rest of most American’s lives, we will pay on the trillions of dollars of money that we have committed to care for Afghanistan and Iraq Veterans. As we pay these huge obligations, Americans will struggle to pay for health care.

Senior adults will be given minimal cost of living increases. American young people will be buried by college debt.

Further, reports indicate that we have handed over to the Taliban approximately 22,000 Humvees, 8,000 large trucks, 42,000 pick-up trucks, 358,000 assault rifles, 64,000 machine guns and 126,000 pistols, plus 155 mine-proof vehicles. We have equipped them with billions of dollars of high-priced items that we will pay on forever. They will use American equipment to dominate a defenseless nation of people that will now be left behind to try to survive a revitalized Taliban.

We may be finally leaving Afghanistan, but Afghanistan, for our generation, will never go away.

DR. GLENN MOLLETTE, www.glennmollette.com

‘Ohana Kilo Hoku expanding

I am writing today to give you an update on ‘Ohana Kilo Hoku (OKH), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit Native Hawaiian organization that supports astronomy and space programs in Hawaii and beyond, founded by Kalepa Baybayan, Mailani Neal and myself.

I am proud to announce that this past July, ‘Ohana Kilo Hoku received a $5,000 STEM Action Grant from the Society for Science! We applied to run a workshop with Hawaii educators to find out what kinds of presentations they would like to see given to their students by our mentors in order to spark an interest in astronomy and space sciences. We have started receiving interest and are looking to sign up even more educators.

I am equally excited to share a number of opportunities that ‘Ohana Kilo Hoku is sharing on its website.

If you know any students interested in learning Python programming, participating in a ten-week science internship program, weaving native cultural knowledge into their scientific studies, and more, please check out our Opportunities page at https://www.ohanakilohoku.org/opportunities.

Finally, if you like what you are hearing about ‘Ohana Kilo Hoku, please consider donating today!

Better yet, become a monthly donor. ANY amount helps!

Find out more about OKH at https://www.ohanakilohoku.org/. SAMUEL WILDER KING II, ‘Ohana Kilo Hoku