I dislike the word "ban" in any form and I do not believe that anyone at any level of government has the right to 'ban' anything. When Coquis first appeared, the council sat on their hands. Many studies and environmental impact reports and millions of dollars later the Coqui is becoming diurnal and some are as big as silver dollars. In a hundred years they will be as big as Bufos. Shortly after that they will begin eating school children. Since the Council botched that job they now simply pretend Coquis don't exist and pass smoking bans and plastic bag bans in order to justify their jobs by promoting the appearance that they are doing something constructive for the community.
I consider smoking to be a very destructive behavior, but the Naeole idea is unconstitutional on it's face because it does not treat all citizens equally. Corporation Council must simply explain that to Councilwoman Naeole. If she wants to restrict something, she should try to restrict the importation of tobacco products and see what happens. The concept of selling tobacco in every store and then telling people that they cannot use it in or on their private property is as bad an idea as as banning pakololo, issuing permits to grow it and still having a green-harvest. For the money the feds puts into those helicopters they could have eradicated Coquis, eliminated invasive species and still have had enough surplus to hire a Constitutional scholar for the County Council.
Banning smoking in public places is not unconstitutional...because public areas are, by definition, not private and that restriction affects everyone equally.
State governments may allow MORE rights and freedoms that the federal Constitution specifies and local governments may provide yet MORE freedom and liberty than the state constitution allows, but never less. In Hawaii, the opposite often occurs, at least in practice.
We the People are becoming very tired of the intrusion of elected officials into our private lives and business because they cannot grasp that we hire and pay them to serve us by handling the routine and mundane tasks of providing an infrastructure that we cannot do as individuals on a daily basis. That job is to make life easier for us, not to establish mini-fiefdoms or hire surly building inspectors.
It does not include the authority to restrict our freedoms or limit our rights as citizens. All of the authority the local government enjoys derives completely from the state constitution which derives it's power from the federal constitution which in turn, derives ALL of it's power from the citizenry.
I am not absolutely certain the county can legally restrict access to public beaches or transfer stations at all, much less restrict their hours, or require that my home have solar water heating or doors or windows or even walls. Registering firearms in this county is another oppressive and time-consuming experience, but the county cannot deny me the right; they can simply make it painful.
Simply put, the more laws that are passed, and the more restrictive they become, the less likely it becomes that that anyone will obey them or that they can be enforced at all. When the Council adopts a resolution which sets out penalties, the county owns it and becomes MORE civilly liable for the resultant ramifications, not less. If you pass an ordinance it is reasonable to presume that (1) IT IS CONSTITUTIONAL! (2) It is in the public interest and the majority of the citizenry (not the majority of the Council) WANT and will abide it; (3) it is enforceable, and that (4) the Council and ancillary county departments intend and actually do, with the full support of the citizens it affects, make their best effort to enforce it.
I can envision someone making the case that an ordinance is invalid because there was no intent or ability on the part of the lawmaking body to enforce it when it was passed but I cannot imagine that changing the transfer station hours of operation somehow abridges anyone's fundamental right to throw trash on the roadway.
a hui hou
Tom Burnett
Pahoa
tc@xemaps.com
"The true danger is when liberty is nibbled away, for expedients, and by parts... the only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." -~Edmund Burke
Follow me at http://drtom.posterous.com\
http://oathkeepers.org/oath/2009/03/03/declaration-of-orders-we-will-not-obey/
No comments:
Post a Comment
Say what you think. But think first.