Remove ahu ADVERTISING Remove ahu In response to your article, “A tale of two ahu” (Tribune-Herald, June 11): Some anti-American sovereignty activists have built rock piles on government land (college campuses). They use the rock piles as bases for poles
Remove ahu
In response to your article, “A tale of two ahu” (Tribune-Herald, June 11):
Some anti-American sovereignty activists have built rock piles on government land (college campuses). They use the rock piles as bases for poles to display the Hawaiian flag upside-down, protesting “124 years of genocide continuing on the Hawaiian community.”
If someone used paint or crayon to write gang tags on the wall of a campus building, the graffiti would be promptly removed and the vandal(s) would be arrested. The same would be done even if the graffiti contained religious or political symbols.
Calling a rock pile an “ahu” makes it sound like an altar deserving respect. But no. It’s merely a piece of three-dimensional graffiti, placed there by hooligans behaving like animals scent-marking their turf. Of course, they did not apply for a permit from a government they consider not valid.
In case someone thinks this nonsense must be allowed as an expression of free speech, then it also must be allowed for patriotic Americans to place an American flag in the rock pile, using a taller pole. Or build a new rock pile using colored rocks to make an American flag. The rocks could be quarried from the heads of the administrators of these colleges.
A rock pile was built at Iolani Palace in 1993 on the 100th anniversary of the revolution that overthrew Hawaii’s corrupt monarchical government. It remains there 24 years later, although someone tried to clean it up in 2006. It’s on land belonging to the state of Hawaii. No permit was ever issued.
Are college administrators ready to see their rock piles standing for decades to come, flags or no flags, with more built nearby to protest additional issues?
Kenneth R. Conklin
Kaneohe, Oahu
Fearing government
The following quote is attributed to Thomas Jefferson: “When government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny.”
On June 2, the Tribune-Herald published a front-page article about a just-completed county worker survey. The news article stated: “Many Hawaii County employees see little cooperation between departments. They aren’t comfortable voicing their opinions and are hesitant to raise sensitive issues because they fear retaliation.”
It is odd that even government workers fear government. Imagine how the average citizen petitioner feels?
Ask any contractor or business owner about the how they feel when told an “inspector” is to visit the job site. Needless to say, business folks are rarely happy about a visit from city hall.
My experience with Hawaii County staff has been fairly easy. The individual counter people have been good-natured, helpful and knowledgeable.
Still, in the back of my mind there is that old hippie saying from the late ’60s, early ’70s: “Beware of the bureaucrat on a power trip.”
Arthur Warren
Keaau
