Off the News: Learning from Hibiscus Drive horror

The detailed account of what happened on Hibsicus Drive on Jan. 19, 2020, is a horrifying reminder of the dangers facing police officers when they must confront armed, unhinged individuals. Officers Tiffany-­Victoria Enriquez and Kaulike Kala­­ma were killed that day, shot by a man who also fatally wounded his landlady, set fire to her house and badly wounded a neighbor who tried to help. The man, Jaroslav Hanel, died as well.

The incident will become part of a training course for Honolulu police. For the community at large, it emphasizes the debt we owe these officers.

Menstrual hygiene products in school

One sad thing about Senate Bills 2456 and 2821, to require all public schools to provide menstrual hygiene products to public schools, is that this need should take state legislation to fulfill, and is not simply handled as a budgetary matter by the state school board. Only five states have such laws, but this state has a single school district, so it should have been easier.

The second is the poverty among Hawaii school families that makes this an item schools must provide, but that’s what facts show.