County split
Unwise choice
Wednesday, August 12, 2009 8:23 AM HSTMy comments are in response to your article of July 22 headed "Whith county split unlikely, Kona woman turns to organizing."There are two major issues I wish to address. The first is Susan McGeachy, who is attempting once again to rally the community to help themselves. I don't know Ms McGeachy but I remember her efforts on behalf of a neighborhood water system to right a mess created by a nonresponsive government. In the blog she is being attacked as a realtor that no longer is making big bucks, though she appears to have some credible credentials. In reality whatever she is or isn't doing to make a living is not the issue.The issue at stake is once again the nonresponsive government.
I keep wondering what has to happen for us to stop the name calling and differences we may perceive and look for what we have in common with Ms McGeachy, who obviously willing to put out a lot of her time and energy to help you, not where you might not agree.This is true of anyone who is willing to give of their time and talents. I would stop before saying "community organizing," because that term really leaves a bad taste.And when we were short sighted enough to follow along with Hilo leader's plan for single-member districts -- we sealed our fate.We, those few who vote, allowed ourselves to be lead into a pit that would be difficult to crawl out of. If real thought were put into the plan in West Hawaii, anyone would see that when the population or political will shifted Kona would be sitting pretty with at-large voting. Ms McGeachy's plan would be a snap. Or, she wouldn't need to be planning and plotting. She would be out registering voters and seeing to it that they voted. Everyone can vote in this state. No excuses.And, since we are now on the subject of voting, we voted against, not for, the North Kona council seat. And look what we got. Mr. Kelly Greenwell has always been a colorful figure in this community and has come up with some outrageous ideas. He has garnered very few votes in his earlier attempts to secure an elective office. But when all the stars are aligned and you don't campaign, lay low and watch from behind your rock, it is amazing what can happen.What we had was an opposing candidate with an agenda. Obviously many felt that it was not correct to put a 2 percent off the top of our tax money toward anything other than what our government is supposed to do -- health and safety. A majority of those voting (40 something percent) felt this was a serious enough issue to vote against the candidate and for the loose cannon.So, we have a loose cannon who is just being himself. Bringing terrorists of any branding to Hawaii Island is not a popular idea. It doesn't matter what we think; it sounds good to him.Now he is playing the race card. Shame on Mr. Greenwell, but he is just being himself. This is not new with him. I was blown away that we had actually voted in a person who was not going to be an acceptable representative for North Kona.My question now, taken from the article, why is Mr. Greenwell on his way to Washington on my dime or at all? And, how would anyone in Washington know that West Hawaii would prefer their own government unless he told them? Who is he meeting with now and what crazy ideas does he have up his sleeve?There is so much more to this story and we would all appreciate it if this paper would start asking some hard questions. We are crying for investigative reporting.Millie TanakaNorth Kona
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