Letters to the Editor for April 27

Foreign aid package isn’t about peace

What’s wrong with this picture? After reading the article, “Day for world peace” (Tribune-Herald, April 25), the $95.3 billion package of aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan isn’t anything about promoting world peace, as President Biden has stated.

Instead, this monetary package deal is actually funding the war machines that make the corrupt leaders of these countries enrich themselves by further lining their own pockets.

America needs to wake up and start using these monies to stay in the US in order to combat the nationwide problem of homelessness, critical crumbling infrastructure, and states that are affected by natural disasters.

However, our leaders in the White House are currently in a state of confusion, because plain, common sense says you take care of your own people at home first before you try to solve and tackle other nations’ problems abroad.

Prentiss Moreno

Hilo

Pairing the homeless with unwanted animals

How about we offer all of the homeless people in Hawaii County safe camping facilities on public or donated land, and offer them employment in every job the community needs done? It could have an apprentice/work-study sort of experiential learning approach.

And then, collect all of the unwanted, homeless dogs and cats from the island’s cat colonies and shelters and have a special program where the people care for the animals and provide very much-needed services for “animal control” at the least expensive cost possible .

Cats with “cat people,” dogs with “dog people,” each previously homeless — but not any more.

I call this model “Camp K-9,” as it was originally developed for homeless populations and shelter dogs facing being “put down” in shelters.

Answers to our problems are right in front of us. All we need to do is reach out to choose them.

One year from today, we could have a dozen or more such Camp K-9s and Camp Felines around the island, and no homeless on the street, no cat colonies, and only mercy killings at our animal “shelters” — meaning that 95% of the dogs and cats your tax dollars pay to kill every year would be saved.

The choice is yours! We all deserve better than we have been getting or are likely to get!

Carl F. Oguss

Hawaiian Paradise Park