A low blow
A low blow
Kicking someone when they’re down is wrong. But kicking someone’s family when that person is down is disgusting.
The Tribune-Herald’s cartoon about Mayor Billy Kenoi on April 5 was wrong and offensive. The cartoonist owes Mayor Kenoi’s family an apology.
Mayor Kenoi admitted it was wrong to use county funds for certain events. He paid back the county. He took sole and personal responsibility. He and his family are trying to work through this situation.
The editorial cartoon strongly suggests infidelity on Mayor Kenoi’s part.
The cartoonist had no consideration for Mayor Kenoi’s wife and especially their children. Imagine the humiliation and ridicule that only schoolchildren can inflict on each other. The cartoon and especially the infidelity implication was unnecessary.
I know the cartoonist and others will say Mayor Kenoi put his family in this situation. He, his wife and family will have to deal with that pain.
But they no longer can deal with that pain in private or among themselves because of the cartoon. The cartoonist exposed Mayor Kenoi’s wife and children to unnecessary and unwanted attention and that is just plain wrong.
The cartoonist had many other ways to construct that editorial statement. But he deliberately chose to hit Mayor Kenoi below the belt by humiliating his wife and children.
Whether you approve of Mayor Kenoi or not, it is unfair and offensive to drag his family into this situation, and the cartoonist should apologize.
Ted H.S. Hong
Hilo
It’s their legacy
We just celebrated King David Kalakaua by hosting the Merrie Monarch Festival.
It is a good time to look back at the legacy of the last of Hawaiian royalty.
They (King Kalakaua, Queen Emma and Queen Lili‘uokalani, in particular) were forward-looking and embraced science and technology.
Had they been alive today, I am sure they would have supported the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope and exploration of geothermal energy for the betterment of their people, while protecting the ‘aina.
Pradeepta Chowdhury
Hilo
Not worthy
Recent developments with the Mauna Kea protesters are hurting the credibility of their cause.
Where exactly were these protesters during the seven-year long Thirty Meter Telescope approval process?
On (a recent television news show), a spokesperson for the protesters stated they are amending their goal from merely stopping the construction of the TMT atop Mauna Kea to the removal of all 13 existing telescopes on the summit.
While I did not agree with the protesters’ original goal, I did, at least until (the newscast), respect their cause and their efforts.
The protesters appear to be confusing the reality of stopping one telescope from being built versus the removal of all existing telescopes.
While their original cause was something worthy of consideration, their amended cause is not.
Steven Gray
Keaau