Page 2 - Hawaii Island MidWeek - April 6, 2022

2 HAWAI‘I ISLAND MIDWEEK APRIL 6, 2022
Dear Darah,
I wanted to share this with you and give special recogni- tion to a community service event that was done in Hilo. Twenty-five Hawai‘i Island dentists received free PPEs for their offices, coordinated through Ha- wai‘i Dental Association. We could not have completed this task without the community service of the Hawai‘i Coun- ty Fire Department Recruit Class No. 50.
All Fired Up Over Timely Service
IChange Reaction
selves with respect, dignity and honor. Special thanks to fire recruit chief Springer and fire Chief Kazuo Todd for making this possible for us. To Mayor Mitch Roth and the Hawai‘i County com- munity, rest assured, these recruits are the added assets to their fellow firefighters who are protecting and maintaining our
Karen Halemanu Hilo
What an amazing and successful event! Kudos to the Hawai‘i County Fire Department Recruit Class No. 50 and chiefs Patrick Springer and Kazuo Todd for their selfless acts and for put- ting the service of others first.
Darah Dung hosts “The Pet Hui” and “Island Driver,” both on Spectrum OC16.
’ve suggested before that change is good — as long as it’s good change. You know, if the change works for me, my family, team, bank account, interests, tribe,
community, species — yeah, then it’s worth it. According to Gallup pollsters, Congress currently has a 20% approval rating. Odd, since the same people asked if they approve of the job Congress is doing annually are often the very same people who vote biennially. The Con- gressional approval rating was 9% in November 2013, so one could argue that Congress is now over twice as popular! But good luck changing the “system,” which has been befuddling people for years as voting numbers sag. Intransigence, tribalism, self-preservation, false bravado,
island community. Well done!
you name it, we see it regularly.
It’s a bit of a different situation at the state level, as
cruits were organized and made the dis- tribution task seamless. As the afternoon approached, the Hilo rain was also on time. Recruit Bergner took it upon him- self to purchase several rolls of plastic to protect the PPEs. He declined to give us the receipt or an amount.
our local legislators are part-time legislators — right or wrong. While most of them do work year-round, the an- nual legislative session lasts for just 60 working days and in that window, some 2,500-3,000 bills are proffered, but only about 10% pass into law. There must be a smarter way and a better use of limited time. Yet, 46 of 50 states have part-time legislatures, and some meet for only 30 days a year!
The recruits were relentless, focused and persevered to complete the task with uniformed precision, and carried them-
Then there’s the fact that many of our local legisla- tors have “outside” jobs. While understandable from a financial standpoint, this would seem to create potential conflicts of interest among other concerns. Having outside jobs arguably keeps legislators grounded and in touch. Being in touch is a good thing, but having your fingers in the pie? Not so good. Outside skills and knowledge abso- lutely come in handy when discussing and deciding upon major issues where inside expertise can be helpful. But how often do legislators recuse themselves when issues being voted on strike too close to home?
We do have some rules and an ethics commission, so this is not to suggest anything other than perhaps it’s time to revisit “the system.” Maybe we should pay higher sala- ries to full-time legislators? Might that relieve some angst about a constant crossing of a moving line as bills evolve? Maybe it’s time to revisit oft-suggested legislative term limits, though that would remove historical perspective and innate knowledge, plus limit the people’s right to choose. Many questions. Perhaps it’s time to look at ad- dressing a confounding, unwieldy, archaic and sometimes stifling system of democracy here and elsewhere.
Think about it ...
Fire recruit Chief Patrick Springer was approached and consented without hesi- tation. They orchestrated three groups of approximately eight recruits who showed up promptly. Filled to the brim, the first group emptied a huge Matson contain- er and organized each distribution into pods for pickup. They set up tents, tables and chairs. The second group arrived to lead each pod into the vehicles. The third group finished loading vehicles, broke down tents and cleaned up. The fire re-
Fire recruits rallied to the cause and helped deliver free PPEs during a service project on Hawai‘i Island. PHOTO COURTESY KAREN HALEMANU
Dear Karen,
Fill in the blank cells using numbers 1 to 9. Each number can appear only once in each row, column, and 3x3 block. Use logic and process of elimination to solve the puzzle. The difficulty level ranges from Bronze (easiest) to Silver to Gold (hardest). Answers are on page 7
RATING: SILVER
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