Letters for May 23, 2016

• Say no to another tax increase • Maintaining friendships

Say no to another tax increase

How any of our council members can still try to hurt our most vulnerable citizens, the elderly on fixed incomes, with this regressive tax is beyond comprehension. Medicare costs went up, Social Security didn’t get COLA this year and yet JoAnn is trying to push her agenda for more buses and bike lanes on folks who will never use these services.

Many kupunas are primary caregivers to their grandchildren during the day and will not ride buses to do their many errands. The county must find other ways to fund road maintenance projects and not on the backs of folks who literally count their change at the checkout counters.

There is no COLA for seniors and no aloha for JoAnn’s GET increase. Just say no to Bill 2610!

Deborah Nantais

Kapaa

Maintaining friendships

As a former Naval officer there was a strictly enforced rule in the ship’s Officers Wardroom.

The rule was in three parts. You could not discuss politics, religion or women in the Wardroom. If you started to do that, the senior officer present would ask to stop or leave. The reason for the rule was to prevent disrespect of officers who felt differently, and enforcing the rule avoided that loss of respect of your fellow officers.

This is a good rule to consider now as our national politics are so extremely divided. At the present time many of those favoring Clinton think that those favoring Trump are idiots. The reverse also applies.

If you feel a compulsion to talk politics with family, friends and co-workers you may want to think about the risk of losing that person as a friend. William Falk, the editor of The Week magazine, put it very well when he wrote: “Speak not of it to people who disagree — or you may never speak to them again.”

Joe Frisinger

Princeville