Take a stand ADVERTISING Take a stand I’m very disappointed with our Big Island state legislators. They haven’t responded to any of my emails that expressed concern about the Hawaii Department of Transportation’s decision to defer all new state highway
Take a stand
I’m very disappointed with our Big Island state legislators. They haven’t responded to any of my emails that expressed concern about the Hawaii Department of Transportation’s decision to defer all new state highway projects.
State Sen. Josh Green was the only legislator that truly acknowledged my concerns about the DOT’s shortsighted decision.
There are several proposed highway projects in east and west Hawaii that are affected by this deferment, such as the widening of Highway 130 in Puna and the Saddle Road extension in South Kohala. However, there hasn’t been much public pushback as far as I’ve seen, especially from our island’s state legislators.
I strongly believe they should take a stronger stance against the DOT in this matter. If DOT continues to allocate 90 percent of its budgetary resources toward system preservation, this will result in fewer construction jobs and more traffic congestion on our island’s highways in the long term.
These profound negative impacts will stifle economic growth on the Big Island. This should concern our state legislators, as I strongly believe we should continue to invest in our island’s transportation infrastructure.
Aaron Stene
Kailua-Kona
Remove signs
The primary election is over after a long and arduous campaign season. One constant reminder, weeks later, is the number of campaign signs that pepper the landscape in every direction.
Campaign signs are a very visible and effective way for voters to show support for or opposition to candidates. However, after the votes have been cast and ballots counted, election signs are often considered political clutter.
Removing signs is a good fundraising opportunity for athletic groups and service clubs. Contact a candidate and suggest they support this endeavor.
Residents are encouraged to take their signs down. The winds and rains are always upon us, and signs can blow around, littering our community.
Please help maintain the beauty of Hawaii Island.
Susan Kitchens
Hilo
Reschedule
marijuana
Thank you for your recent posting of the article about the denial of the 2011 Rhode Island-Washington marijuana rescheduling petition by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
It’s encouraging to see such outrage in response to this decision, but the truth is this was completely expected. With the DEA and FDA thinking the only way a substance can have medical use is if it has successfully passed the FDA new drug approval process, it’s easy to understand how these federal agencies could ignore the fact FDA approval is just one form of accepted medical use.
We must not forget the DEA is an administrative agency that does not have the authority to ignore federalism and deny a standard of medical care states have adopted, especially when such accepted medical use has a direct impact upon federal scheduling.
However, we can’t blame the DEA for failing to recognize a form of medical use that continues to go unrecognized and unsupported by those states that have accepted such use.
Tell the DEA to reschedule marijuana based on state-accepted medical use, and let’s have the kind of public discussion on the scheduling of marijuana that is required of federal rescheduling proceedings.
Clifton Otto, M.D.
Honolulu
