What’s in a name?
Should the middle name “Gaffey” be given to Mitt Romney?
T. Ono
Hilo
No ‘public service’
Our president is going to Europe to try to advise them on their financial situation. He has not cleaned up the mess in this country.
The Senate has now taken a 98-day vacation, until Election Day, while the post office under their supervision is going bankrupt and there still is no federal budget.
The House of Representatives is also getting ready to on vacation until November. Our representative has not voted in the past two weeks on matters in the House — too busy campaigning for another government job. Our mayor is spending almost 10 times his annual salary on his campaign for re-election. The federal government is thinking of ways to bail out property owners who are underwater, with our tax dollars, because our laws are too restrictive to effectively foreclose on mortgages that are not being paid. Why should anybody make house payments now?
Where is public service in this equation?
Bob Dukat
Pahoa
Sky-high prices
It really boils my blood to see how the Hilo Safeway store takes advantage of the customers who are at best barely surviving economically. Their prices are so absurd that when I tell mainland friends they think I’m exaggerating.
A can of green beans can cost you at least a half hour of your minimum-wage salary. A whole chicken averages about $12 to $17, and that’s like having to work well over 2 hours!
Is Safeway making us pay for their new store? Why is it that I never see customers upset over prices? Maybe because they are paying in food stamps and really are not affected in the pocket, or is it that they have all become numb to the fact of caring anymore and are willing to pay anything, like a hypnotized zombie?
Safeway is no asset to this community, and all the money goes to mainland. Folks need to come out of their cocoon and wake up and say something. A bag of potatoes can cost over $8? Green beans, $2.89 a can? Am I missing something here? Are we living in twilight zone? People, wake up and buy a cheaper package of coffee, but not at Safeway.
Frank Battaglia
Mountain View
Eradicate deer
As a small farmer in Hamakua, I’m very alarmed that the County Council sought to ban aerial shooting invasive animals. We must use every method possible to remove threats such as the invasion of Axis deer, secretly introduced to the Big Island by unknown persons. These deer pose a grave threat to farmers, ranchers, gardeners and the native forest.
On the mainland, deer cause 200 deaths and about $1.1 billion in property damage per year. If deer aren’t controlled, expect “deer in the headlights” to pop up in front of you and your ohana while driving. Don’t forget that deer ticks carry the dreaded Lyme disease, too.
On Maui, the Axis deer have caused millions of dollars in damage to farms, ranches and home gardens. Many farmers like us have been forced to spend money to fence their farms to keep out pigs, but that will be useless for deer that can leap 10 feet high. We must act quickly and effectively before the deer become too widespread to control.
Noelie Rodriguez
Ninole
