Hassled by TSA
Hassled by TSA
The Transportation Security Administration, one of the most useless and tax-wasting departments of the federal government, did it again.
In this state, the driver’s license renewal system gives you a temporary license when renewing.
If one is flying, while the permanent license is being processed, the TSA at the airport takes the holder of a temp license for further inspection to an area where they pat you down and take your carry-on luggage apart, looking for illegal stuff.
Therefore, people with a temporary driver’s license are presumed to be terrorists by the TSA.
The feds do it again. By the way, the TSA failed the most recent tests conducted.
Bob Dukat
Pahoa
Easy benefits
The article stating correction officers are looking for options to handle mentally ill patients (Nov. 5, Tribune-Herald) shows they are trying too hard to cure every problem.
All of those inmates can’t be from Hawaii. If the inmate has a foreign ZIP code or foreign residency, they should not be eligible for state or county benefits.
Why is Hawaii paying the bill for people from elsewhere on the planet? Because foreigners intentionally take advantage of the aloha here. They know they can step off the plane and automatically get free medical care and free meals and free housing. Hawaii needs to wise up.
The freebies need to stop, and that will lower the inmate numbers and foreign homeless numbers.
I hope the government officials respond to this letter as they permit more local money spent on non-Hawaii residents. There goes education money and raising more taxes.
Paul Tallett
Hilo
Consider a co-op
If the NextEra merger does not go through, a utility co-op system for Hawaii Island could be part of the solution to prepare us for coming changes.
The Kauai Island Utility Cooperative has operated for 12 years and its results have been impressive. KIUC was 100 percent debt-financed through a co-op financing system, and millions of dollars have gone into equity since then and refunded to its ratepayers.
There are 900 utility co-ops nationwide, which have gotten together and formed co-op banks to help finance utility co-ops. These banks have excellent credit ratings. The Cooperative Financing Corp. has assets of $26 billion, and Co Bank has $100 billion.
KIUC’s electricity costs were the highest of all the Hawaii counties when it started. But in 12 years, its costs have risen the least. This is despite not having geothermal and not being able to use wind because of bird kills.
This coming weekend, KIUC is having a blessing of its new Anahola photovoltaic system. That system is significant because it is using daytime sun for nighttime use, and it’s one of the first such systems in the nation.
The co-op system, with its locally managed board of directors, truly is of the people, by the people and for the people. It’s nimble and practical. A hybrid electricity system for our state might just be what we need to prepare for the future.
Richard Ha
President, Hawaii Island Energy Cooperative