Schedule roadwork at night

(The following letter was sent to the state Department of Transportation.)

Why do painting of highways during the day? It would be better at night. The traffic on Honoapiilani Highway in Lahaina is horrendous due to painting.

We have many visitors on the island now, and possibly many will miss flights. There are locals missing important appointments and the ambulances trying to get to the hospital… all due to this inconsiderate lack of planning by your department.

SU CAMPOS, Napili

A health benefit of Lent

In Western churches, Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, six-and-a-half weeks before Easter, and provides for a 40-day fast in imitation of Jesus Christ’s fasting in the wilderness before he began his public ministry. Many Christians abstain from animal foods during Lent.

However, a meat-free Lent is more than a symbol of devotion to Christ. A meat-free Lent reduces the risk of chronic disease, environmental degradation and animal abuse. Volumes have been written linking consumption of meat with increased risk of heart disease, cancer, stroke and more.

In a 2007 United Nations report, they noted meat production as the planet’s largest source of pollution and greenhouse gases. And undercover investigations document farm animals being beaten, crowded, deprived, mutilated and shocked.

Lent offers an opportunity to honor Christ’s powerful message of compassion and love by extending a meat-free diet beyond Lent; it’s the diet mandated in Genesis I:29 and observed in the Garden of Eden.

Today, there’s a rich array of plant-based meat and dairy alternatives, as well as readily available vegetables, fruits and grains. Decide to make this change for Lent but commit to keeping meat off your plate all year.

LESTER NAITO, Lahaina

U.S. has a history of provoking wars

America defeated the most powerful nation in the world in the Revolutionary War. After we added the huge Louisiana Purchase, no nation could ever attack us and win, especially not across two broad oceans.

How could America ever add to its land and achieve economic domination without access to the fruits of war?

We had to manufacture incidents first. President Polk lied and said Mexico started something, but we finished it and grabbed California in the process.

President McKinley parked a naval vessel on the front doorstep of the Spanish Empire in Havana Harbor. Things blew up, and we picked up the Philippines and Puerto Rico.

President Wilson deliberately put Americans on the Lusitania in German-controlled waters and the boat went down, justifying our dive into World War I.

President Roosevelt committed an act of war against Japan well before Pearl Harbor by unilaterally cutting off fuel and other critical supplies to them that we were required by treaty to supply.

President Johnson parked a warship in North Vietnamese waters. President Bush invented “weapons of mass destruction” in Iraq. And now President Biden has provoked Russia by refusing to allow Ukraine to be officially neutral.

KIMBALL SHINKOSKEY, Woods Cross, Utah

The GOP is now openly aligned against democracy

If you’re the sort of person who follows the news, did you hear former President Trump admit that he’d intended to have Mike Pence overturn the 2020 election? In a statement, Trump asserted that Pence had the power to “change the outcome” and should indeed have “overturned the election.”

Or, did you hear that the Trump administration actually drafted orders for federal law enforcement to seize voting machines before his loss could be certified?

What about this: after years of making hay over Hillary Clinton’s e-mails, did you hear that Trump himself illegally removed or destroyed thousands of official documents?

That’s right — Trump personally took at least 15 boxes’ worth of material with him to Mar-a-Lago, while at least three of his former staffers said Trump ripped documents apart right in front of them. National Archivists have recovered as many as they can, but they literally have to tape the destroyed documents back together.

Finally, did you hear anywhere that one of America’s two major political parties just endorsed the Jan. 6 coup attempt? That’s true, too.

You may remember Jan. 6 for the rioters who smashed public property, viciously assaulted police officers, built a gallows outside the Capitol and chanted for the execution of elected officials. At least seven people died in connection with the attack, while hundreds of rioters now face federal charges.

In a recent statement, the Republican National Committee called these despicable acts “legitimate political discourse” and officially condemned Reps. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) and Liz Cheney (R-WY), the two lone House Republicans helping to investigate the attack. (For good measure, Trump also personally promised to pardon Jan. 6 rioters if he’s reelected — something two-thirds of Americans say they oppose.)

So it’s sadly unsurprising that majorities of Republicans report believing the ridiculous lie that the 2020 election was stolen — something not even GOP-led investigations have found a shred of evidence for. And an alarming 40 percent of Republicans now say violence against the government is justified.

If you ask me, it’s extremely dangerous that the GOP is now officially sanctioning a violent coup attempt, a likely GOP contender in 2024 is openly committed to overturning elections and destroying the evidence, and a disturbing minority of the party’s faithful seem ready to endorse violence to do that.

We live in interesting times — there’s always news to cover. But these threats to our democracy need to stay top of mind all year, and every politician needs to be repeatedly asked about them. Voters deserve to know about this crisis and where their leaders stand on it.

PETER CERTO, OtherWords.org