Your Views for March 20

An abomination

This is an open letter to Scott Watson, the owner of that “house” about to be auctioned on March 22 on the Hamakua Coast that was featured (in the Tribune-Herald).

I’m just curious: What does one do with 10,000 square feet of living space, three helipads and a 450-seat tennis stadium?

The structure you have built is an abomination, a physical manifestation of the unfettered greed and entitlement you represent. How many natural resources were squandered in the construction of that beast? How many trees did you kill, how much oil was burned, how many chemicals were released into our environment while building that obscenity?

As it becomes clearer and clearer that humanity is doing irreparable damage to the environment, tycoons such as yourself continue living in the gilded age without a second thought to the repercussions on future generations.

I guess conservation is the realm of little people. Let us keep it in mind while we eat our cake.

Christian Wong

Hilo

No ethics violation

In Tuesday’s letters to the editor, I was accused of ethics violations because I introduced legislation on behalf of my constituents. In last Saturday’s letters, I clarified that I have done nothing wrong. Quite the opposite is true: I introduced legislation on behalf of supporters and other constituents, including complete strangers. That’s what honest legislators do.

The director of the State Ethics Commission has informed me that the commission finds no basis in the accusation. This newspaper could have confirmed this with a simple phone call. Instead, the baseless accusation appeared in headlines last week and is repeated on Tuesday.

It is understandable that concerned citizens might be confused about the difference between lobbying and legislating. It is disturbing that a legitimate news publication would share that confusion and spread such harmful misinformation instead of the readily available facts.

State Sen. Russell Ruderman

Keaau