Those living near Bellows say this past week they heard marine training exercises taking place as early as four in the morning and lasting late into the night.
Waiamanlo residents say they’ve been bombarded this week with the noise of heavy gunfire and marine training exercises at Bellows.
"About four to five times times helicopter kept going and back forth. It makes my jallousies shake," said Geraldine Durango, a Waimanalo resident.
Geraldine Durango says she’s been woken up by the noise even before the sun comes up. "Sometimes (it’s) four or five o’clock in the morning."
"I’m thinking, ‘oh there you go again,’ last week was almost every day."
Kaneohe marines usually practice at Bellows between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m., but residents say they’ve been exceeding those regular hours.
"The late hours, it doesn’t end right on the dotted line; it sometimes, I’ve heard machine gun fire going to 11 p.m., myself," said Waimanalo resident Andrew Jamila. "And week nights kids got to go to school."
The Waimanalo Neighborhood Board says they’ve received numerous complaints and intend to discuss the issue at Monday night’s meeting.
"If people in the entire valley can hear it, it’s loud enough. Think of the residents that are right next to it and people two to three miles away also reported noise, so it’s a concern for many," said Wilson Ho, from the Waimanalo Neighborhood Board.
Marine Corps Base Hawaii says it is aware of the noise complaints, and have reminded those conducting training exercises of the appropriate times to practice.
Residents hope to work out a new training schedule that fits everyone’s needs.
The Waimanalo Neighborhood Board will meet Monday night at 7:30 at the Waimanalo Public Library to discuss the issue.
See the original article at: KHON2 Local News
