HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0936.012 2004-2006
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HCR 1 Box 5344
Keaau, Hawaii 96749
Phone (808) 982-5094
Fax (808) 982-7324
hilodik@aol.com
August 20, 2006
Testimony Regarding Bill 300, a Ban on Consumption
of Alcohol in County Parks - In Opposition
Chairman Higa and Members of the Hawaii County Council:
I enjoy visiting our well-maintained County Parks. Sometimes I go to watch a baseball
game, other times just to kick back and relax. On many occasions, particularly on a hot
day, I enjoy a cool beer. I note that others do too. Nobody bothers me, and I don't bother
anyone else. If Bill 300 is enacted into law, we all become instant criminals. Why?
I have read that we must deprive law abiding citizens this simple pleasure - consuming a
legal substance - to make the police and lifeguards' jobs easier. I was a police officer for
6 years. No one ever passed a law to make my job easier, nor did I expect any one to. In
my view, this is a poor reason to deprive citizens of their freedom to drink responsibly -
which is what the overwhelming majority of them now do. It is a classic bureaucratic
approach to solving a problem - punish everyone for the irresponsible actions of a few.
It is suggested that one can legally drink a beer if the person has first obtained a "permit"
to do so. Has any one really thought this out? It's a hot August day, and on the spur of the
moment I decide to head over to Carvalho Park to watch a ball game in progress. I stop at
7-11 and pick up a sixer of Natural Lite. Whoops, I forgot to go to the Recreation and
Parks Department to get a permit to drink my beer. Come on, who is going to go through
such nonsense? This proposal merely adds another non enforceable law to the myriad that
currently exist.
A Councilman has stated that the law abiding citizen having a quiet beer is not the target
of this proposed ordinance - that the law will be enforced "with discretion". As a civil
libertarian and former police officer, that sends chills up my spine. You don't fix a bad
law with selective enforcement. What you do is breed disrespect for the law, and law
enforcement personnel. Bill 300 is bad law. It is a band aid approach to the real problem,
which is a lack of enforcement of existing laws regulating irresponsible behavior.
I have the utmost appreciation for the hard work and dedication of the Recreation and
Parks folks, Hawaii County Police, and County Lifeguards, but I disagree with them on
this issue. It's about freedom. Please dump Bill 300.
1Z• H4W~ 1
Comm. W.-
Ref. To. Ref. Date AUG 21 7x06