‘Prove your worth’
‘Prove your worth’
It is with much angst and sorrow that this past week two legislative bills, HB 1592 and HB 2460, were not advocated by the chairperson of the Judiciary Committee and died before further review was instigated to become law to protect our animals from cruel chaining, tethering and being locked in cages and kennels.
I am speaking for myself and for the thousands of other animal advocates on the Big Island, and throughout all of Hawaii, that we will never stop pushing for the eradication of the cruel and inhumane treatment of dogs (and cats). Never.
It is time to move into the 21st century. Hundreds upon hundreds of agencies in Oregon, Illinois, Texas and New York lead the nation in advocating for animals. Hawaii falls pathetically and poorly way behind.
Perhaps it is now time to take the blinders off and get moving, legislators.
We elected you, now prove your worth to us.
Barbara Hussey
Kailua-Kona
Party favoritism?
Having just registered with the Democratic Party, I received a welcome email from Phil Barnes, the Democratic chairman of this county, informing me that the polling place where I was to vote Saturday would be open at 1 p.m., however, no closing time was listed.
Why weren’t there some kind of uniform designated hours posted at all the polling places for such an important event as this?
When I got to the polling place at 1:30, a friendly volunteer happened to mention that because of the good turn out, the doors “might” be closing as early as 2 p.m.! That would have meant voters would have just a slim one-hour window to pick their candidate. They might have stayed open a little longer, or maybe I was lucky to get in when I did.
If one were to take a survey across the state, I question how many potential voters were turned away because the polling places closed their doors too early for them to pick the candidate that they thought was worthy of the most delegates.
During election times in the past, we always hear of the frustration about not having enough voter turnout at our polls, and that’s what made this election so different. The pundits were predicting a big turnout, and many of us were counting on these huge numbers.
So, why did this happen? Perhaps the party was favoring one candidate instead of another, and the larger turn out would have worked against them to achieving that goal. In a state where the Democratic Party has such a strong foothold with the electorate, one has to wonder why things happen like this.
We can only hope that there wasn’t some form of foul play with all this. Was there a deliberate attempt to discourage voter turnout, or was it simply negligence?
Perhaps the head honcho for this county could provide us with some straight answers. How about it, Mr. Barnes? Care to share your views?
Reed Vallance
Hilo