The whole story
The whole story
I have been noticing on TV negative political ads. One has been particularly interesting. The teachers seem to be very effective in getting their point across. However, they do not tell the whole story regarding the fiasco at the governor’s office when parents occupied the office four years ago.
The teachers failed to mention that all of the state departments’ budgets were cut across the board because of the Great Recession. In addition, the furloughs were announced as part of a contract settlement between the state and its public teachers’ union, the Hawaii State Teachers Association.
Linda Lingle made every attempt to redirect the parents to the teachers union. The furloughs were agreeable to the teachers. Besides, furloughs did not end; they were given a different name. Isn’t it called something like DLNP (directed leave with no pay)? Didn’t Hilo High just have a waiver day, and then a teachers’ conference day? Isn’t that two days of instruction taken away from the kids?
Please let the rest of the story be told.
Kevin Hedlund
Hilo
Try composting
As the world’s population burgeons toward an unsustainable glut, good citizens must act now to mediate and better dispose of the world’s ever-increasing megatons of garbage we produce each day. Achieving success with this essential goal must begin at local levels.
Activities such as hauling trash to Kona solve nothing in the long term. High on a list of priorities is keeping our smelly, rotting, disease-laden organic garbage out of our landfills. Fortunately, other productive behaviors are readily available now to individuals who can mediate this gross wasting of garbage-filth and at once reap personal benefits instead. It’s as simple as one-two-three: garbage to compost to soil improvement.
Many of us have taken an easy step further and have taken up the rewarding activity of verma-composting. Little red worms in a compost bin process garbage much faster. But, either way, all one has to do is toss garbage into an inexpensive, odorless, unobtrusive compost bin. Or better — a verma-composting bin.
The rest is done for you by these cute, little, voracious critters. Good folks such as Justin Avery and Ann Hassler offer local workshops in either of the aforementioned, self-sustaining, garbage-disposal systems.
So, you can effortlessly make some rich soil amendments and watch your plants and vegetables flourish like never before. Golly gee! All this beneficial, landfill conservation AND so many personal benefits to you. I liken this behavior to comparing folks who put their trash in proper containers with those ill-thinking folks who throw trash out car windows and otherwise clutter our precious aina.
It’s your move. You’re one of the good guys.
Don Bremer
Keaau