• Lei Day should be in headlines • Trees dangerous, should be removed Lei Day should be in headlines All I saw on the news was worldwide protesting — this day is historical for protesting against each country’s government, etc. What I
• Lei Day should be in headlines • Trees dangerous, should be removed
Lei Day should be in headlines
All I saw on the news was worldwide protesting — this day is historical for protesting against each country’s government, etc. What I did not see on any news program was that May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii! Wouldn’t it be wonderful for the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) to promote Lei Day worldwide? How lovely to see exchanging a lei with love instead of protesting all around the world!
LeAnn Jackson, Kapaa
Trees dangerous, should be removed
Last Saturday (4/29) at around 8 p.m. the power in our Kalaheo neighborhood on Wawae Road went out again. This was the third time in the last two weeks. The road is lined by large invasive albizia trees many of which are over 50-feet tall. They are forced to grow out over the roadway by trees behind them. They keep dropping their branches due to wind, rot and rain. After the power was interrupted, it took me about two minutes to get out of my electric recliner and find matches to light a candle then to check on our cat who was recovering from surgery.
I didn’t hear where this branch fell — the other two I heard — so I took the car down the road to find the location. I found a loop of wire hanging across the road about 4 feet above the pavement with a tangle of branches above it. I was there about 15 seconds when a large 6” diameter branch fell alongside my car with a loud thump while the other end fell into the tangle of wires and branches.
I backed up quickly and drove home to call KIUC. After a few minutes, when they didn’t answer, I notified the police department via the non-emergency number while watching three other cars drive through the tangled wires. Stupid!
Power was out for just over three hours. We have lived here for 19 years with uncountable power interruptions and the trees keep growing larger and seeding the whole neighborhood. It cost me $5,000 to have my trees removed but it did no good; they quickly grew back.
The county has not removed these invasive trees from the road right-of-way and many of my neighbors can’t afford to remove the trees on their property fronting the road. One of my neighbors contacted the Green Energy Power Plant, and they do not want the trees from private property. Will it take the killing of some good people before the danger can be eliminated?
Please help us before we die in paradise.
Eric Campbell, Kalaheo
