Your Views for October 14

Great job on highway

I want to thank the engineers and construction crews who built the new Hilo section of the Daniel K. Inouye Highway during the past two years.

I drive to the Mauna Kea Visitor Information Station from the Hilo area a couple of times a week and was impressed with the speed and quality of construction on such a difficult project. It was amazing to see how they did it. The road was always kept opened, and it was no easy task with the rainy weather up there. It was slow-moving at times, but the workers did their best to maintain the road and control traffic.

I drove the road for the first time Wednesday and it was a delight to drive. The design is very safe and the markings at night are fantastic. It probably cuts 10-15 minutes off my driving time and I don’t have to feel like I’m driving the Formula One track at Monaco.

Thanks again for the great effort and finishing essentially on time and within budget.

Don Rudny

Pepeekeo

Dump Columbus Day

The hurtful and racist 2017 celebration of Columbus Day in Hawaii, which marked the beginning of the genocide of Native Americans, must be the last Columbus Day celebrated in our islands.

The holiday should be replaced with a celebration of Native Hawaiian and Native American culture as part of Indigenous People’s Day.

The colonial legacy of U.S. imperialism in Hawaii is one of many crimes against native people, including injustice, poverty, theft and death. The United States plundered the Hawaiian Kingdom and imposed foreign rule on our islands.

Working-class people in Hawaii of all races must stand together and demand the formation of an independent, socialist and eco-friendly Hawaiian Kingdom. The Hawaiian language must be restored as the national language and the tourism industry brought under public ownership.

Let’s replace President Donald Trump with a Kamehameha descendant as Hawaii’s commander in chief!

Eric Hafner

Mountain View