Letters: Hawaii more than a place for vacation; Time to open barber shops, beauty salons

Bornhorst served public interest well

Thank you for your beautiful tribute to Marilyn Bornhorst (“Former Honolulu City Council member Marilyn Bornhorst dies at age 93,” Star-Advertiser, May 20). Like so many others, I am greatly saddened by her passing.

Marilyn was a soft-spoken, gracious, petite woman with a bold, grand spirit — a spirit that encompassed kindness, integrity, empathy, compassion, fairness, vision and amazing strength. She was a tireless advocate for the environment, the public interest, and quality of life for all, not only for the privileged.

Marilyn’s clarion call in a letter to The Honolulu Advertiser in March 1987, which drew attention to the impacts of a proposed housing development on the Sandy Beach coastline, is what galvanized me into action to help protect the pristine beauty of that area. Thousands of others were equally inspired by Marilyn’s call to arms and by her leadership in ensuring the preservation of this magnificent natural resource in open space.

I am grateful for all she accomplished for us, for Hawaii, on so many fronts. May her shining example of a leader for whom the public interest always came first always remain a legacy for others to emulate.

Ursula Retherford

Kailua

Hawaii will welcome law-abiding visitors

Hawaii is not vilifying all tourists. Only the bad ones. The bad ones who have no respect or care for the places they visit.

During this pandemic, everyone was advised not to travel for pleasure. The only people traveling for pleasure are the greedy, disrespectful and uncaring tourists who place what they want before anything else.

They have no compassion or respect for others. All they want is whatever they want. They are the ones making things hard for us to reopen our beautiful state. They are the ones who need to watched, cited and arrested for breaking our laws and rules. They are the villains.

Once this pandemic is over, Hawaii will greet, with open arms, all the good, caring and respectful tourists who have patiently waited for us to welcome them.

Derek Hirao

Mililani

Hawaii more than a place for vacation

In response to Grace Blair from Texas, who expressed her disappointment that “being quarantined in our hotel room is not a vacation … Until Hawaii opens its arms with aloha, we are not coming … Be reasonable” (“Visitors won’t come here under quarantine rules,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, May 13):

Blair seems under a delusion that has plagued several generations in their approach to vacationing (and, in some cases, moving) to these islands: that Hawaii awaits your arrival with hula dancers and luau, and the locals here would like nothing else than to meet any one of your desires. Come, take from these islands, it is our pleasure to serve you. We have endless resources to share.

I hope as we move through this time that the visitor industry can change to one that welcomes people who are coming to honor this place and perhaps even donate some of their vacation to helping it thrive.

Sara DiGrazia

Kailua

Extending lockdown right thing for safety

For the safety of the million people in Hawaii, I agree on extending the stay-at-home and safety guidelines through the end of June.

Some people claim their rights are being taken away. Maybe so, but you don’t have the right to infect other people. At what cost will you likely engage in daily activities and unknowingly spread the virus?

A person was diagnosed with COVID-19 the day after he attended a Mother’s Day service. Guess what: 180 people were infected by being at the service, according to officials. Would you take the chance of infecting someone without knowing that you may have the virus? Would you want to be a statistic along with the 80,000 souls who died? And so, the only option you have is to wait it out no matter how long it takes. Best to be safe rather than sorry.

John Keala

Waianae

Time to open barber shops, beauty salons

Many local people are saying that Gov. David Ige’s extension of stay-at-home through June 30 is unconstitutional. Personally, I feel like we live in a socialist country, where government is restricting your freedom of movement. Maybe the courts can confirm that.

Didn’t Lt. Gov. Josh Green say, “We already meet the standards for the green zone or the safe space, and therefore I think it’s safe to open all of our kamaaina economy right now”?

I believe it is overkill to prevent barber shops and beauty salons, with their 6-foot spaced seating already in place and mandatory face masks, to open for business. These barber shop and beauty salon owners are still going to be careful.

Melvin Partido Sr.

Pearl City

We’ve survived other epidemics

As a child growing up on Oahu during the 1950s, I survived several epidemics, including influenza, viral pneumonia, tetanus, rubella, mumps, chicken pox and two different strains of the measles. One of my classmates contracted polio, which withered her legs, resulting in lifelong disability.

Eventually vaccines to prevent these diseases became available. The human race has survived epidemics and plagues throughout history, and we’ll survive this COVID-19 pandemic. Everyone should just take a deep breath, relax, and find something productive to do at home for as long as our public health professionals recommend. This, too, shall pass.

Donald Wyand

Makiki

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