• Toys for Tots donation deadline is Tuesday • 2 gentle corrections • Connecticut tragedy • Cops should carry guns • Who says Kilauea Gym’s roof leaks? • Phone scam still targeting seniors Toys for Tots donation deadline is Tuesday The last day for
• Toys for Tots donation deadline is Tuesday • 2 gentle corrections • Connecticut tragedy • Cops should carry guns • Who says Kilauea Gym’s roof leaks? • Phone scam still targeting seniors
Toys for Tots donation deadline is Tuesday
The last day for dropping off toy donations at all Kaua‘i Fire Stations and Bank of Hawai‘i branches will be Tuesday, Dec. 18. This is because toys will be distributed on the 19th at the Salvation Army.
Toys can always be left at the Salvation Army after the 18th and used next year.
The Marine Corps League thanks the Kaua‘i ‘ohana for its generosity.
John Burns
Marine Corps League
Lihu‘e
2 gentle corrections
To the person who quoted Mahatma Gandhi in your letter, you are wrong. Here’s the quote: “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”
Mahatma Gandhi was greatly influenced by the passive Jain religion, whose teachings are absolute kindness to animals. Killing and eating animals hurt him deeply, according to his writings.
Also, this is the time to grieve for the children and adults who lost their lives to unnecessary gun violence. Not for expressing political/religious views, using this painful incident.
Vi Herbert
Kilauea
Connecticut tragedy
Tragic domestic and global crises keep getting worse and uglier until humanity and civilizations as a whole can’t stomach any more of it.
Then, instead of an individual, the whole body of people snaps to the point of taking action.
That’s called a revolution.
Survival of humanity and the Earth and everything in it depends upon the “human species social evolution.”
O, powers that be
So very rich, but ever hungry
Eventually you too will feel the tragedy
For some, the consequences may be fitting.
With you in control, survival is slim.
Perpetuating strife,
You are cutting off the limb
Of the precious tree of life
Upon which you too are sitting.
Please sign the gun control petition: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/546/934/954/
Donna Alalem
Kapa‘a
Cops should carry guns
Many people on Kaua’i are upset that last week at a local shopping center a police officer dressed as Santa was packing a gun.
I think it’s great the officer took time to be with our keiki. There’s a real world out there and police are there for our safety and to protect. Just a few days ago some nutcase in Oregon opened fire on a shopping center killing two people and injuring many others and of recent a deranged gunman opened fire on an elementary school in Connecticut massacring 26 with 20 being children.
I’d rather have Santa packing a gun and being alert just in case things go out of control and from the looks of society, things are out of control.
If you would like to mail sympathy cards or letters of support and solidarity to the school, the school address is:
Sandy Hook Elementary School
12 Dickenson Drive
Sandy Hook, CT 06482
James “Kimo” Rosen
Kapa’a
Who says Kilauea Gym’s roof leaks?
I volunteer coordinate the Kaua‘i Police Activities League North Shore Basketball program for the last 15 years, with usually up to 300 keiki. We book into Kilauea Gym more than any other program. So I keep a close watch on our island’s best public indoor gym.
I have watched Kilauea Gym being built, seen the patching, reroofing and maintenance, and our county system of repairs and maintenance is sad.
All year I check with the gym director to see if there are any leaks. Our program, with over 100 basketball games in the spring, cannot afford to lose Kilauea Gym; it must remain safe.
I do not agree that we need a new Kilauea Gym roof. Look back through the gym work orders: the last roof leak was over five years ago, was very isolated and probably a fluke.
The east side doors leak. Three years ago I walked through with our mayor to look at the damage to the floor.
I asked the best wood floor contractor on Kaua‘i to look.
He did moisture testing on the whole floor and said water was leaking under the floor from the side doors to the center of the floor, creating buckling.
Since then the leaks at the side doors have been minimal and the wood floor buckling has dried out.
All this was brought to the attention of county officials.
Three years ago I recommended covers over the side doors, even temporary ones. I offered, “Give us the materials and the community will build them.”
I was told they were having weekly meetings and contractors were being consulted who recommended tearing up the whole floor.
Build an overhang and weather seal the side doors. Let’s not spend more hundreds of thousands of dollars paying consultants or contractors looking for “make work” jobs.
I always worry about speaking out, because I have been threatened with having the gym closed down for repairs during our spring season.
I do not speak for Kaua‘i Police Activities League, just a community member trying to help our youth (and seniors) play basketball in a well-run youth orientated program.
Thank you, Kaua‘i Police Department, for having the best youth outreach program on Kaua‘i. A special mahalo to Chief Perry and Sergeant Mark Ozaki.
Bill Troutman
Kilauea
Phone scam still targeting seniors
Apparently, the phone scam targeting Hawai‘i seniors continues through the holiday season. Strangers are still calling older residents with a bogus story about relatives in serious trouble.
Recently, my mother received a call from a complete stranger claiming her grandchild was in big trouble in Canada. She needed to send $1,000 immediately through Western Union to bail him out of jail.
The caller said my son’s cell phone was confiscated and not to discuss this with anyone else or he’d be in more trouble. Because the caller didn’t have a foreign accent, she almost fell for it. She called me instead.
When your parents become targets of total strangers, you get that sick feeling deep in the pit of your stomach followed by anger because you realize their minds are not as sharp anymore and you can’t be with them 24/7. All you can do is talk with them often and warn them of things like this in the process.
Thank you, Chief Perry. After reading what happened to you in The Garden Island, I talked with my mom about it and that conversation prevented her from becoming another victim. I hope more people take a moment to relate our stories to their parents so phone scams like this die out.
Vincent Cosner
Lihu‘e
