Caldwell COVID Logic: Stores Closed World's Busiest Costco Open

Dear Editor,     Sept 22, 2020

This is the typical dumbocrat party line....make the people so dependent on you until you have to ask them to breathe! 

Caldwell is making this tier system but people can go to Costco Iwilei making it the busiest Costco in the nation pulling in $25,000,000 a month!

So you will "let" businesses open with 50% capacity. What is the fricken difference if all these businesses were following al the mandates and did not have a single COVID case?

Tens of thousands customers visit Costco and for all the Costcos here on Oahu it is maybe hundreds of thousands! 

If all these businesses were forced to close because of the COVID spreading and they have only a tenth of 1% of the people shopping at Costco why is there not a super spreader event at Costco? 

A flower shop is forced to close but a giant conglomerate like Costco can operate as usual?

Can you explain this if not for the reason that Costco has money?

Craig Tanaka

Honolulu, Oahu

Reopen Kauai Schools

Dear Editor,  September 6, 2020

HSTA President Corey Rosenlee and DoE Kauai Complex Superintendent Paul Zina are fear mongering to not open ALL Kauai schools. All the private schools have been in face to face learning for months and that has not lead to community spread in Kauai. All public schools were open 3 weeks ago and that lead to no community spread. All the while free "surge" testing has been offered all over the island and produced zero cases.

So when Corey Rosenlee states " I can say with confidence if we open the schools corona will come back" he is lying. We opened Kauai schools and corona did not come back. He must mean when the tourists come corona will come back but it clearly has nothing to do with the children being in school. That has proven not to spread corona in Kauai. So along with the private schools all being open the special needs kids and teachers are at face to face learning as well and there has been zero corona.

These two continue the fear mongering by stating in the recent HNN article that the DoE had to close schools in Molokai shortly after opening because of a corona case and they feared it would happen like that on Kauai. The problem with this statement is there was never a corona case in the schools on Molokai and out of abundance of caution they closed for 5 days because of "potential exposure".

It is looking more and more like they are protecting their end goal which they are keeping from the parents and the media.

To not open ALL Kauai schools but let others go face to face learning is wrong and unfair and shows the DOE has zero protocol or rules set in place for ever opening face to face. I hope Kauai parents push Paul Zina and Corey Rosenlee to open schools not to see if they will open but to make them divulge their actual long term plan. If you are not going to open Kauai schools with zero active cases for weeks and weeks then you have ZERO plan for Hawaii.

Teachers union and Corey Rosenlee need to stop fear mongering. We started school this year and stopped for no reason. Give it a chance.

Kyle Brockett

Koloa, Kauai

TGI: Kekaha parent petitions in-person learning

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Basic Problems with All-Mail-in voting

Dear Editor,  September 2, 2020

Apart from the obvious potentials for corruption, there are other problems with Hawaii's universal vote by mail process that do not receive the air time they deserve. One is the concept of a secret ballot. The Hawaii state Constitution guarantees that every citizen's vote is secret. Article II; Section 4 is explicit: "Secrecy of voting and choice of political party affiliation or nonpartisanship shall be preserved." Mail-in voting jeopardizes secrecy of voting.

The standard system of voting 'does' guarantee a secret vote: You go to the poling place; show your ID and sign the roster to prove you are qualified. Once proved,  they give you a generic ballot enclosed in an envelope; you go to a booth; remove the ballot from the envelope and check off the candidates of your choice; return the ballot to the envelope; and finally, deposit your ballot into the ballot box (machine) with your very own hands. No one else touches it. Your vote is counted right then and there. Nobody but you knows that that vote is yours.

With the mail-in process, who knows how many hands your ballot passes through before it reaches the ballot box? Your signature is on the outer envelope, making it impossible to guarantee that your name will not be associated with your vote somewhere along the way. This departure from the constitutional mandate could probably be challenged in a court of law.

What was wrong with casting a secret ballot on election day?

There is another problem that strikes at the core of our fundamental democratic process: Voting is the sole responsibility of the citizen. The coupling of rights and responsibilities is the bedrock of the very idea of 'government by the people'.  Any citizen who does not undertake the responsibility of voting surrenders their fate to those citizens who do undertake that responsibility. Normally, that responsibility means getting to the polls one day in every two years, and going through the process of casting your vote. Not much to ask. The sad truth is that many people forgo their right and responsibility to vote. Nonetheless, that's how it works.

Now, with universal mail-in voting, the government usurps the citizen's  singular responsibility; first by sending the ballot to the citizen's mailbox (whether he wants it or not.) Then by taking responsibility for transporting the completed ballot through a government agency--the postal service. Then by having votes counted by the clerk's office--another government agency.

This usurpation of responsibility blurs the distinction between "the government" and "the People".  The idea of 'government by the People' is diminished and we begin to move towards 'government by the government'--the very thing that the founders of this nation were painstakingly trying to avoid. Once government usurps citizens' responsibilities, expect the usurpation of rights soon to follow.

When the Hawaii legislature and Governor Ige established the universal mail-in voting in 2019, without the consent of the People, they demanded that people of the state place their trust in their governance. The problem is, government was never meant to be trusted. If it could be trusted, we would not need any provision in the Constitution for a guaranteed private ballot. Come to think of it, we wouldn't need a Constitution.  In fact, we wouldn't even need to vote.

The only responsibility of government in elections is to make voting accessible to the people. It is not for the government to solicit votes or even encourage voting. That is the job of the candidates or their political party. While voting is the sole responsibility of the citizen. By distributing and collecting ballots through the mail at their discretion, government has robbed us of that responsibility.

Add to that the obvious potentials of corruption with all-mail-in voting, and we should see that we have much to fear.

Richard Morse

Kilauea, Kauai

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Security guard approached me and asked if I had any pants to put on

Dear Editor,  September 1, 2020

On August 28, I went to the Bank of Hawaii main branch in downtown Hilo and was discriminated against.

I own a Hawaiian rock wall building company in Ainaloa called, Ma’ka’imoku Sr. and Sons Rock Wall Builders. I am a Descendant of King Kamehameha I. And I am 50% native Hawaiian. 

Our uniforms consist of wearing malo as part of the job description. After work this particular Friday, I went to the Bank of Hawaii and stood in line like everyone else to cash my paycheck. I was in my malo, because I just got off work. And Pahoa BofH was closed. This is what brought me to the downtown branch in the first place.    

While I was standing in line in my malo, a young local security guard approached me and asked if I had any pants to put on? I replied, "no."  He then guided me to the front door and had the bank manager come talk to me. While I was standing at the front door, I noticed that there was no signage about a dress code.

When she approached me, I handed her my check and I.D. and she said, "wait here" soon after, I then was guided to a private booth. 

I am Hawaiian 365 days a year. Not just during Merrie Monarch season or during other Hawaiian ceremonies. That is discrimination to not allow me to wear my Hawaiian clothing around and about town where I want and when I want. This is racism. Because I take great pride in my heritage and culture.

Mahalo nui loa,

Franklin Ma’ka’moku Sr.

Descendant of King Kamehameha I

Pahoa, Hawai’i