Good morning!
Last night I went to the Hawaii Kai neighborhood board meeting, I had hoped to see more of us there, but I can understand the compulsion to avoid mind numbing boredom.
I was joined by one fellow member, however as I'm sworn to secrecy, I can only say that he can be identified by his "unusual" shooting stance, and a penchant for funny hats.
The following is a brief summary;
Fire dept. report: Listed number of emergency calls, fires, rescues. Extolled the virtues of microwave safety. Speaker was questioned by Paige Altonn as to how many rescues occurred on Koko Head trail, he claimed "uhh, I don't know". Further discussion on the subject was stifled by Mr. Knudsen.
HPD report: Listed number of stolen cars, b&e's, thefts, etc. Were chastised by the board for the lack of detailed info, they practically ran from the room.
Sen. Slom passed out a flier with all of his proposed legislation and his stances on different subjects. He spoke about several different things, mostly the Pono Choices curriculum. As one of his subjects was about the Castle Doctrine, board member Carl Makino asked "what is that?" Hard to believe he's that uninformed.
Rep. Theilen reminded us about the fact that many bills will be carried over this session, something to keep in mind as many of them will effect us. She also informed us that the revenue outlook had been downgraded from the Governors rosy projection, and that it will likely be downgraded again.
Rep. Ward offered congrats to The Mayor for completing the work at KHSC under the projected timeline. Town hall meeting with him and Rep. Theilen on 2/20/14, and a beer summit at Kona Brewery HK on 2/6/14.
The Mayors rep. [ I forgot to write his name down, I'll get it next meeting] discussed the improvements at the range, berm, eyebrow, etc. He noted that the contaminate level, measured during construction, was negligible, and repeated that the cost was 94k. Once again, Paige Altonn spoke up and asked about the determination of where the "magic bullet" had come from and asked that this info be made public. Kudos Ms. Altonn!
Mr. Knudsen took over the discussion at this point, and his signals were mixed. He actually pushed for the restrooms at the range to be repaired [ !!?!!] And espoused about future improvements to the range! After that he quickly fell back into form, pointing out that further work will require more testing, asking about the safety of metal targets, the removal of targets beyond 100yds. He also used a quote from this site about "bullets suddenly raining from the sky" and referenced that these incidents have been documented since 1992. He further claimed that " it only takes a 25-30 degree angle of fire to clear the mountain" while he was speaking poorly of the new eyebrow extension. Also mentioned was the fact that in 2001 3.4 million was supposedly planned for improvements to the range, the first I'd heard of it. Mr. Ron Livingston [ hope I got that right] from the HRA spoke in defense of the improvements and the safety of metal targets when hung properly.
After Mr. Livingston spoke, Knudsen basically called out myself and the person I was with to speak. As I haven't gathered enough evidence and was just there to observe and report [ this time] I declined as did my partner. I'm not sure how he knew we were "gun guys". I can only assume that he recognized the member that was with me, as I tend to blend in like a chameleon. Next time Mr. Knudsen.
