Question: I have noticed a small and neglected-looking cemetery on Waialae Avenue, Ewa of the Zippy’s parking lot across from Kahala Mall. There are often flowers on some of the headstones, so it appears that people still visit the graves of loved ones. Why is the cemetery so full of weeds with no apparent effort being made to care for it?
Answer: Ocean View Cemetery is not neglected, and “we do keep up” with maintenance, said Michael Chun, a legacy member and trustee of an old Chinese society that’s charged with overseeing the cemetery.
Chun was surprised to hear of your complaint, saying that there is a group of groundskeepers who regularly tend to the cemetery, including keeping the trees and hedges trimmed.
(In fact, he said “Hawaii Five-0” filmed there recently, for an episode scheduled to air Dec. 14.)
Chun said that “there shouldn’t be weeds,” because the grounds are generally dry because the water there is turned off due to problems with the homeless, who would turn on the water, then leave it running. That led to high water bills, he said, not to mention wasting the water.
However, because of recent rain, the grass has grown, Chun acknowledged, so he has scheduled the groundskeepers to return this week to take care of the overgrowth.
In addition to ongoing problems with the homeless, there are problems with people dumping trash. Currently, someone left a chopped-up coconut tree in the culvert next to the cemetery. Chun said the groundskeepers will haul that away.
Ocean View “is a nonrevenue cemetery, but we still maintain it,” he said. Chun added he wanted to say “mahalo to the mystery person who goes by and paints the (cemetery) fence along Waialae Avenue.”
Question: I have noticed, as least in my opinion, several issues that are ignored by our legislators, including the Jones Act, lottery gambling, repeal of the money-losing bottle deposit and increasing the minimum wage. Is there a website that would show where our state and federal elected officials get their campaign funds, by amount and by which organization(s) or individuals?
Answer: The Hawaii Campaign Spending Commission — www.hawaii.gov/campaign — keeps track of local campaign financing.
Go to ags.hawaii.gov/campaign/cc/view-searchable-data to find information, including names of contributors, how much they gave to candidates and how candidates spent the money collected.
The commission has a “data visualization app,” launched just last week, that has pie charts of contributions to candidates, showing what percentage of contributions come from individuals, noncandidate committees, political parties, family members, etc., as well as how much and what percentage of contributions come from out of state and in state, and from what states/geographical locations.
There also are visual charts showing how much and what percentage of contributions are less than and more than $1,000.
The commission also has a “data sets” tool to search for names of contributors and how much they gave, how candidates spent their money, who made loans to candidates and how much the loan was for, etc.
For candidates running for federal office, check the Federal Election Commission website, www.fec.gov/disclosure.shtml.
Mahalo
To a girl at Longs Kapolei. My husband was standing in back of her at the checkout, and she paid for his crutches. That was so nice of her. — Rose
Mahalo
To the woman who drove to my home to return my coin purse containing my driver’s license and credit card.
I had unknowingly dropped it on the ground at the Diamond Head craft fair. When I asked her name, she replied, “It isn’t important.” There truly are angels among us! I will extend her good will when next I am in a position to help someone. — Jonna Zane
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