Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Jumping on the Bash Kelly Greenwell Bandwagon!

It's been more than a year since my first reasonable, thoughtful, non-inflammatory post about our Kona Councilman, Kelly Greenwell ("Kelly Greenwell: Insane or Reckless?"). Now, with his recent arrest for resisting arrest, bashing Greenwell in in fashion. I think whatever slim chance he had of getting re-elected has evaporated. Some random thoughts:
  • Has he never been stopped by the police before? How does someone get to be 69 years old without learning not to get out of the car and not to be aggressive and confrontational with the police? For that matter, how does one get to be 69 years old without knowing that "Why did you pick me, because other people were also speeding" isn't an effective defense?
  • Was it the combination of being born a Greenwell in Kona and becoming a Councilman that gave Kelly such a toxic level of entitlement? He probably considers himself one of the ali'i.
  • 35 really is a ridiculous speed limit for a four-lane divided highway with no cross streets, and 51 is a perfectly safe speed for that area. Setting up a speed gun there has nothing at all to do with safety - it's an opportunity to increase the number of speeding tickets, nothing more.
  • The police have become more military-like over my lifetime, in their treatment of citizens, but then citizens have gotten more aggressive and confrontational with the police. Sheriff Andy Taylor would have just laughed if the mayor had gotten out of his car to challenge a speeding ticket, and gently steered the mayor back to his car. Another reminder of the age we live in, I suppose.

2 comments:

Andrew Cooper said...

Have to agree with much of that, it does sound like Greenwell exacerbated the situation with his actions. It would have been much smarter to deal with the situation later through the press and at traffic court.

Anonymous said...

This guy was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. It explains his views and actions, he does'nt know what its like to struggle everyday and try to make ends meet. He needs to stay the fuck out of politics, and focus on his dead beat, dysfunctional sons!