Letters for Thursday, June 4, 2020

Signs are a great idea

During my 15 years of volunteer work for suicide prevention I never thought of signs in yards. This is a great idea. In 2008 when Maize Hirono helped me establish Kauai’s suicide prevention task force The Garden Island Newspaper would not print the word suicide.

I had asked them for over a year to abolish that policy and provide information to prevent suicides. Thanks to Michael Levine, who worked as an editor here for a couple years, heard my concerns, kept his word and got rid of that policy to not print the word suicide.

He wrote an article about the Congress on your Corner event I went to in order to speak with Maize Hirono about the suicide problems on Kauai and our lack of resources to help people considering suicide and survivors of suicide. We have come a long way since then.

Thank you to The Garden Island newspaper for printing this article. By printing this article with these pictures this you are saving many lives.

Carla Hart, Lihue

Still committed to Kauai

By now, it is known that I am not running for the County Council this year.

It was a difficult decision, made for personal reasons. I want the people of Kauaʻi to know that while I will not be running for office, this does nothing to diminish my commitment to the island community that we all love, and I look forward to working with everyone as we navigate these very difficult times.

I have been greatly moved by the outpouring of aloha and caring that the people of Kauaʻi have shown for each other every day since the COVID-19 virus hit our island. We have survived hard times before, and I have faith that our courage and aloha will give us the strength and know-how to bring us to the day when we will thrive once more.

JoAnn Yukimura, Lihue