Know the rules
Regarding the article in your Dec. 26 edition regarding the “misrepresentation of a service animal”: I sincerely hope that the powers that be are up to date on the Americans with Disabilities Act’s rules and regulations that must be followed in order to classify an animal as a service animal — hopefully before people are charged for breaking the law.
Debbie Marie
Hilo
Don’t build wall
This is the season of celebration, joy and love for Christians and all other people throughout the world, irrespective of their faiths.
One of the major messages I heard in a church was that we should not be afraid, that there is hope, that we are not alone. True, we live in a very scary world, and our existence is threatened by many forces, inside and outside, but the United States does not really have to fear any attacks or dangers, considering our enormously strong military, our strong constitution, and our civic pride as Americans.
Why are we then so afraid of asylum-seekers, refugees or the poorest of the poor who cannot even make a living for themselves and their families in their home countries?
President Trump and his allies constantly preach to us that we need a wall, that we must block ourselves off from the rest of the world and defend our country with all the resources we can muster. What a poor signal that is — a demonstration of anxiety, insecurity and plain fear!
America is so much bigger and better than that! Most of us came from the outside, anyway, so why would we suddenly need a wall? Apart from the utter foolishness and cost of such plans to build a wall along the entire southern border — which would not work anyway, as history has taught us many times — we Americans do not need and do not want a wall.
You do not “make America great again” by hiding behind a ridiculous wall against people in utter need and desperation. What did President Reagan say in a speech on Friday, June 12, 1987, calling out to the leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev: “Tear down this wall!”
It is time for all of us Americans, proud of being brave people and freedom-lovers, to call out to Trump: “Do not build this wall!”
Albrecht Classen
Hilo