Lava unsafe zones?
On Tuesday, there was a letter complaining about the unfairness with the manner in which the government is dealing with the supposed danger from lava in the MacKenzie park area (Your Views, Tribune-Herald). I think the problem is much more general.
The checkpoints to go past Pahoa to enter Leilani Estates and to go to lower Puna are heavily manned. The roadblock to enter the unsafe part of Leilani Estates, the one before MacKenzie park, and probably others are not manned at all.
However, well within the supposedly unsafe areas there is a police presence. I can only hope our government is not more interested in generating fine money than in public safety.
Charles Hanson
Mountain View
Catchment issue
A recent test of our catchment water showed high acidity, which we were told is corrosive — bad for the metals in our water system. Since we also drink it, that wouldn’t be too good, either.
Our tank is small — 4,500 gallons. Little by little, I added up to 6 cups of baking soda, and the tests then showed perfect acidity and alkalinity.
Problem solved. I got inexpensive, easy-to-use, AquaChek test strips and a big box of baking soda at the hardware store.
I’ll continue to test and adapt. Hope this info is useful to you.
Lynne Farr
Mountain View
Our future
Lady Pele has reminded us that Hawaii County is not a place that should focus on the quality of the experience of outside people coming for short visits. It’s a place where we can, and should, focus on the quality of life of people who live here.
We, the people who live here, need more affordable housing, especially for elderly folks and struggling families.
We, the people, need better schools for local children, and this is something the legacy of royal lands can really help with, as the royals intended.
We, the people, need more and better medical facilities.
We do not need many of the things we received in abundance: excuses, delays, double-talk, more parks that are then neglected (proving we didn’t need them; Hawaii itself is our “park”).
We, the people, need more than promises and posturing and same-old, same-old. And we certainly don’t need more and higher taxes.
So we, the people, need to produce better candidates for public office, and then we need to elect them to refocus our resources and use them more wisely.
This has not been our history, but we are a democracy — it can be our future.
Carl Oguss
Hilo