08-17-2010, 11:08 AM
For what it is worth, I stopped off at the Aquarium Store on Kea'a after work on the same day everyone started complaining about the helicopters. As I drove by the firetruck/ambulance graveyard behind the airport I saw the helicopter that has been described in the recent helicopter posts with several men in paramilitary clothing standing around it looking at what looked like maps. I would guess they are the crew who have been making everyone's days so peaceful lately.
It seems like anytime people bring up helicopters the reactions fall into 2 camps: those who say it can't possibly be Green Harvest and must be line checking, or search and rescue, or lava tours, and those who say all helicopters must be the feds. We have lived all over Puna and I have seen activity by helicopters that is clearly tour copters, line checking or search and rescue. These copters all fly in patterns that clearly support interpreting their actions as being one of those activities.
I have also seen ones who were flying in ways that could have no explanation other than "Green Harvest". There is really no other reasonable explanation for having 3 different helicopters, none of which were our county search and rescue helicopter, flying tight circles over a residential neighborhood, far from any tourist attractions or the high voltage wires they do line checks on, for hours at a time until they move on to another neighborhood and do the same thing.
You don't have to be a pot grower to be annoyed or disturbed by this sort of activity. It is a minor nuisance for some, and a major problem for others. If I was a night worker who slept days, or a person dealing with health issues, the activity over our house that my husband observed yesterday would have been far beyond an inconvenience. I know what line checking, tourist helicopters, and search and rescue all look like, and I accept them as being part of our society's fabric. But the "Green Harvest" style helicopter activity is so intensely disruptive to so many that I really cannot see how any possible benefit could outweigh the costs carried by us all.
Carol
It seems like anytime people bring up helicopters the reactions fall into 2 camps: those who say it can't possibly be Green Harvest and must be line checking, or search and rescue, or lava tours, and those who say all helicopters must be the feds. We have lived all over Puna and I have seen activity by helicopters that is clearly tour copters, line checking or search and rescue. These copters all fly in patterns that clearly support interpreting their actions as being one of those activities.
I have also seen ones who were flying in ways that could have no explanation other than "Green Harvest". There is really no other reasonable explanation for having 3 different helicopters, none of which were our county search and rescue helicopter, flying tight circles over a residential neighborhood, far from any tourist attractions or the high voltage wires they do line checks on, for hours at a time until they move on to another neighborhood and do the same thing.
You don't have to be a pot grower to be annoyed or disturbed by this sort of activity. It is a minor nuisance for some, and a major problem for others. If I was a night worker who slept days, or a person dealing with health issues, the activity over our house that my husband observed yesterday would have been far beyond an inconvenience. I know what line checking, tourist helicopters, and search and rescue all look like, and I accept them as being part of our society's fabric. But the "Green Harvest" style helicopter activity is so intensely disruptive to so many that I really cannot see how any possible benefit could outweigh the costs carried by us all.
Carol
Carol
Every time you feel yourself getting pulled into other people's nonsense, repeat these words: Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Polish Proverb
Every time you feel yourself getting pulled into other people's nonsense, repeat these words: Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Polish Proverb