(mostly) prohibit alcohol at County functions

[Kapoho Joe]

Uncle Billy used to set up a 'leadership tent' at the final UH Hilo home game at Wong Stadium. Sole cups galore and an obviously inebriated Mayor driving home. I am thrilled to see our elected officials attempting to curb the amount of alcohol that our taxes pay for.

[TomK]

"Really? It's either alcohol OR water? There are all kinds of fizzy non-alcoholic drinks out there. If it's THAT important, somebody can spend $5 of their own money to buy a plastic bottle of cheap vodka to spike enough punch so every dignitary can have a "toast"."

All someone needs to do now is say toasting with alcohol is sacred and then sit back and watch the ensuing carnage with a nice soothing beer in their hand...

[Jeffhale]

quote:

---

Originally posted by TomK

"Really? It's either alcohol OR water? There are all kinds of fizzy non-alcoholic drinks out there. If it's THAT important, somebody can spend $5 of their own money to buy a plastic bottle of cheap vodka to spike enough punch so every dignitary can have a "toast"."

All someone needs to do now is say toasting with alcohol is sacred and then sit back and watch the ensuing carnage with a nice soothing beer in their hand...

---

Kava, Kava! On that thought, obviously, they'll have no probs buying lavishly priced Kava, Kava! Juice for all.

Of course, most know it's inexpensive except for politicians with an unlimited expense account.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

toasting with alcohol is sacred
...
Kava, Kava!

TomK & Jeffhale, I believe you have pointed out a discrepancy in county government activities (or as some might say, not a descre-pancy, but a discre-tionary choice made in their gatherings with visiting government officials, such as meetings with our sister city in Japan).

I have not been to Japan, but have seen many of their fine movie productions. Correct me if I'm mistaken, but from samurai times to present day Japan, isn't it traditional to toast with sake in their country? If this is true, and it's culturally appropriate for Japanese officials to offer sake as a toast in their political gatherings, wouldn't Hawaiian state and county politicians wish to accordingly honor our native drink, kava kava, as they honor their invited guests?

From the link at the top of this thread:

But some testifiers involved in the county’s sister city relationships and other council members expressed support for continuing to allow such purchases when toasting dignitaries.

Because of the new policies, Chung said he was using between $300 and $700 of his own money to buy wine for an upcoming celebration of the county’s sister city relationship with Shibukawa, Japan.

"One may pretend knowledge of philosophy more successfully than that of arithmetic." -Last Aphorisms (or how about, one may pretend knowledge with an opinion more successfully than with facts)

[TomK]

The meetings between Western and Eastern cultures are always hard to resolve...

https://youtu.be/KUkjrWDv200

[terracore]

"Because of the new policies, Chung said he was using between $300 and $700 of his own money to buy wine for an upcoming celebration of the county’s sister city relationship with Shibukawa, Japan."

I saw a 5 liter box of Franzia on sale at Longs for $15. $700 worth would be over 233 liters, or roughly 7,700 glasses of wine. Either this is a HUGE venue... or our elected officials are out of touch with the box-wine drinking riff-raff that elected them.

[TomK]

Obviously, there were either a lot of people to toast or a lot of people toasting. Nothing to see here...

[alaskyn66]

Surely you can write expenses like that off on your taxes.

[kalakoa]

Surely you can write expenses like that off on your taxes.

It's called a "non-reimbursed employer-mandated expense" or some such thing.

If audited, you get to explain how the alcohol purchase was "required".

Kava, Kava!

Brilliant idea, actually....