• The power of voting • We must protect our lands • KPD needs to be sensitive with disabled people • OPA again (and again)? The power of voting As citizens of the United States of America, we are given
• The power of voting • We must protect our lands • KPD needs to be sensitive with disabled people • OPA again (and again)?
The power of voting
As citizens of the United States of America, we are given the right to vote.
This is not an event that happens every four years. Voting is an attitude. It is knowing you make a difference.
Every day each decision you make is a vote. You vote for how you will react to the situations in your life.
When it comes to our government, we suddenly feel our vote doesn’t count! To vote is to make a choice. There is no right or wrong. Voting is simply an expression of YOUR voice.
By not speaking up for your values, you are also voting. You are voting to let someone else decide your life. You give away your power and say, “I don’t know, you decide. I’ll live my life that way.” Be careful of life by default.
It is better to vote, and decide you should have made a different choice than to not take a stance.
When you are indifferent, you say one vote won’t make a difference, you lack the desire to drive down to the polls, you say you don’t understand the issues or they don’t REALLY affect you, you are STILL voting. You are voting for apathy.
Growth comes when someone votes to improve social, economic and cultural conditions.
How can one vote make a different?
Thomas Jefferson and John Quincy Adams were both elected president by one vote.
Texas, California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho were admitted into the union by one vote.
In a Munich, Germany beer hall in 1923, a recently formed revolutionary political party met to elect a leader. By a majority of one vote, ONE VOTE, they named Adolph Hitler to become the Nazi Party leader. If one additional person had voted, imagine how world history might have changed.
The only way to improve tomorrow is by voting today.
Cheri Threlkeld
Princeville
We must protect our lands
The recent meeting with Gov. Abercrombie exemplifies his attitude of “no care, no less.” Why should any sane individual believe him when he states to give PLDC a chance to do its thing, then make your judgment later? Last time I checked the chicken running around without his head on didn’t think very well also. We must stop this movement and strengthen our safety net when preserving the future of Hawai‘i lands.
Native Hawaiians don’t get this kind of sweet deal, why should the Governor and his friends? One of them is a Realtor buddy at that!
Jim Torio
Anahola
KPD needs to be sensitive with disabled people
I am a clinical neuropsychologist on Kaua‘i working with persons who have suffered acquired brain injuries. Most recently, one of my clients experienced rough treatment when arrested on an old bench warrant associated with a traffic violation and failure to complete 21 hours of community service.
The manner in which they treated her was outside of the bounds of what would be appropriate for such a minor violation, in my humble opinion, because they shackled her at the ankles, handcuffed her and treated her roughly in assisting her into the back of the squad car even knocking her head against the doorframe. She was extremely fearful and intimated. She told them that she had PTSD and a brain injury and they had no real response to it.
I am appalled that any person who tells an officer of the law here on Kaua‘i that they have PTSD and a brain injury would not be listened to and would continue to be treated with such carelessness. Persons with disabilities come in all varieties as far as the nature of the disabling condition.
Some disabilities are hidden such as brain injury or mental health problems. These persons deserve to be treated correctly and have special protections under federal law.
Our police force need to understand their special power and role in the community and be sensitive to the fact that disabled people are “at risk” people as well and as such need to be handled with more sensitivity than the average suspected criminal.
Louanne Lisk
Kapa‘a
OPA again (and again)?
Recently, thousands more of tax payers’ dollars were authorized to pay outside attorneys to defend our own. This time, I’d like to see a guilty verdict reached so those responsible get canned.
All too often, they settle out of court shielding the defendant from any wrong doing. They walk away again and again racking up more law suits along the way. As a tax payer, I’d rather pay for one big case with teeth than several little ones with gums. A definitive trial sends a message and the butt heads are gone.
Vince Cosner
Lihu‘e
