Your Views for March 23

Go home and fix it

This letter is to Maile Walsh (Tribune-Herald, Your Views), who claims to be from Hawaii. Most Hawaiians love the past and wish it would stay that way! We knew each other our whole lives and often were related by blood. Most people coming to Hawaii are running away from crime, pollution and overcrowding. They want tranquil Hawaii. The problem is, they bring their bad habits with them.

They drive like they are on an interstate highway, they complain about nothing to do and nowhere to go, and they want to build more and more buildings and develop open spaces, rather than leaving it natural. They have lots of money after selling their mainland assets to purchase large parcels here, often ocean-front.

I used to go camping and hiking and hunting, but now those places are locked, privately owned and gated by guess who? Many Hawaiians can’t afford to buy land in the place they were born and raised. If I moved the Philippines, I wouldn’t consider myself Filipino; I would still be Hawaiian. And unlike Hawaii, you can’t own land there unless you are a natural-born citizen.

Thus the attitude that if you come to live in Hawaii, accept that you are on an island and that the culture here is better than where you came from, or you would not have moved in the first place. Respect Hawaii, and don’t change here to suite you. Go back and fix the place you came from, instead.

Paul Damien

Hilo

Abercrombie awful

We are Democrats who voted for Neil Abercrombie for governor. Recently, discussing our vote, we agreed that it was one of the worst mistakes we have ever made in our voting careers.

Abercrombie was a good congressman, and we thought he would make a good governor. What a mistake. He has proven to be secretive, vindictive and lacking in good judgment.

We begin with the health insurance exchange board. He appointed a number of persons to the board who are representatives of the health insurance industry. Good judgment alone should indicate that such persons are biased or viewed to be biased in favor of their employer. A number of states have passed or are considering laws (including Hawaii) which prohibit such employees from serving on this board as voting members. A governor should exhibit better judgment in making appointments.

Earlier, of course, the governor refused to release the list of his nominees for judicial appointments and, most particularly, for the vacant Supreme Court position. Why? Only because the judicial committee itself released them do we know what he intends for the state. His actions in making judicial appointments are likely to follow his tenure for many years.

Finally, we cannot believe that a governor can secretly suspend rules and regulations for the protection of the environment and access to the shore line, in order to secretly remove military ordnance. What law gives him this power? When we first heard that he was one of the most unpopular governors in the United States, we could hardly believe it. Having ignored what was happening in Hawaii because of our concern for national problems, we find ourselves absolutely appalled at what is happening here.

Dawn Tilman and
William Elston

Keaau