HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0143.035 2014-2016Murashige, Laura
From:
Matthew Potts <matthewcarterpotts@gmaifcom>
Sent:
Wednesday, May 13, 2015 5:31 PM
To:
Council Testimony
Subject:
Roundup spraying
Aloha from Hilo and Pahoa
My name is Matthew Potts and I have been living on the big island for almost twenty years now. I moved to your
beautiful island in the summer of 1997 to open up the Borders Bookstore in Hilo. I fell in love with the community here
and was made to feel truly welcomed. Since that time of arrival I have had the pleasure of touching so many lives of the
local people by providing them with information education and entertainment in the form of books music movies and a
place in the community to gather together. As you know Borders has since closed all of it's stores globally. Although this
was a sad day for me it has given me the inspiration to ask myself what 1 want to do with my life and the answerthat the
universe gave to me was life changing. I now own and operate a bed and breakfast in downtown Hilo and have a 2.5
acre organic farm located just outside of Pahoa. I'm living my dream. Self employed and successful I have been serving
my guests avocado bananas coffee pineapple papaya honey goats milk cheeses and many otherfruits and vegetables
that 1 have worked hard to produce organically by myself.
I come from a life of farming in Kansas and I'm too familiar with the pesticides and use of roundup there. I'm shocked
appalled and dismayed that it is being used here in paradise. I came here in part to escape those toxins. I have recently
been diagnosed with Kate onset type 1 diabetes due to a foreign agent attacking my pancreas. My doctors tell me they
won't know what that agent is until after I die. My partner of seven years has developed an aggressive form of cancer
forcing the surgical removal of his prostate and 16 lymph nodes that were found to be cancerous as well. We strongly
believe that the use of roundup is contributing to our healing process and our general health. Please consider my
testimony when making your decision.
Sent from my iPhone
cnmr-. No. 143.36
.Ref. To: +-16iti
",-MAY 1.&JQJ?._—