Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co., what are you thinking? I was in traffic next to Kahului School on a recent morning. Black snow was falling on me and the schoolchildren. Some of them are the children of HC&S employees. The statistics say that some of those children have asthma, which is very likely exacerbated by cane smoke. And HC&S sends letters thanking us for understanding how important this all is. Really? Just to be clear, many of us don't understand.
The idea that this company hasn't chosen another path to harvest cane - or chosen other crops that might even be better for us than sugar - over all these years shows a tremendous lack of initiative and desire. There is so much more that an intelligent, caring company could do with its land, or at least learn a way to improve the harvesting process to eliminate burning.
I don't want to see any jobs lost, just progress made in a world that is different than it used to be.
Of course, it isn't really about the cane at all, is it? It's about a company in business to make money and worshipping that god over the people that live here.
Don't be threatened by the future, embrace it and make a difference growing food or fuel crops and you would be admired for being progressive and help us solve our food security issues at the same time.
Maury King
Kihei
