US counties that shouldn't exist at all

[muon2]

Kalawao, HI

I'll be there 4 weeks from today, so I'll let you know if I agree with your sentiment.

[muon2]

Kalawao, HI

I'll be there 4 weeks from today, so I'll let you know if I agree with your sentiment.

Wow, that's off the beaten path. It's literally connected to the rest of the island by a mule path. You might be the first forum member to ever visit there.

I was there about a year ago. You also can hike the trail, and there’s even an airport with scheduled passenger service.

I have reservations to fly in to Molokai in the early morning, hike the trail down, take the tour, then fly out. I've seen the flight from Kaluapapa to Kaunakakai on Molokai described as the shortest scheduled passenger flight - it's only 9 miles by air. From the main Molokai airport I'll fly back to Maui that same afternoon.

I'll be making these flights, starting on the Big Island and moving west over two weeks. I wouldn't miss the chance to see all 5 counties in HI, even Kalawao.

[muon2]

Neither wikipedia nor uselectionatlas has election data for that County.

I believe the state treats it more of a precint than separate county when it comes to counting votes.

Kalawao doesn't really function like a county. The government of Kalawao is not elected, and the governor's Director of Public Health serves as chief executive for the county. Some functions are covered by the state, some by Maui, and some by Honolulu. When the last resident dies or moves, the state will presumably fold the national historical park lands that remain into Maui county.

[muon2]

Kalawao, HI

I'll be there 4 weeks from today, so I'll let you know if I agree with your sentiment.

Wow, that's off the beaten path. It's literally connected to the rest of the island by a mule path. You might be the first forum member to ever visit there.

I was there about a year ago. You also can hike the trail, and there’s even an airport with scheduled passenger service.

I have reservations to fly in to Molokai in the early morning, hike the trail down, take the tour, then fly out. I've seen the flight from Kaluapapa to Kaunakakai on Molokai described as the shortest scheduled passenger flight - it's only 9 miles by air. From the main Molokai airport I'll fly back to Maui that same afternoon.

I'll be making these flights, starting on the Big Island and moving west over two weeks. I wouldn't miss the chance to see all 5 counties in HI, even Kalawao.

Wow, you'll have been to nearly as many Hawai'i airports I have by the time your trip is done! (I haven't flown Kaluapapa (I took the mule option) but I have flown Kapalua on west Maui and Hilo on the Big Island.

You're especially going to love MKK, I think; there's no security at all, and the airlines are more like bus routes in their approach to filling seats and accommodating walk-ups.

Though I'm staying just minutes from Kapalua airport, and there are plenty of flights from there to HNL, the cost of returning the car there instead of at OGG made it cost ineffective.

[muon2]

I just completed a visit to Kalawao county and I would conclude that it should continue to exist - for now. You either have to fly or hike (foot or mule) to get down the 2000 ft cliffs (I hiked down and flew out), so it's quite isolated from Maui county so it's not like it would be immediately integrated if Kalawao didn't exist. It also has a clear reason to be maintained as it is as long as their are patients resident there; the youngest of the 7 is 77 Reas old and runs the gift shop. It is also entirely under jurisdiction of the National Park Service, so any future permanent residents will likely be federal park workers, as are 40 now.

The NPS would like to increase the number of permitted visitors after the last patient dies and increase the facilities accordingly. The Catholic Church likes this idea since two saints did their work there. The Hawaiians, and particularly those fromMolokai or with ties to the patients are generally opposed, since they like the minimal num er of visitors. Based on my visit, I tend to side with the NPS to increase the visitor count somewhat - perhaps from 100/day to 400/day. Remaining state functions could be transferred from the Health department to Maui county at that point.

[muon2]

I just completed a visit to Kalawao county and I would conclude that it should continue to exist - for now. You either have to fly or hike (foot or mule) to get down the 2000 ft cliffs (I hiked down and flew out), so it's quite isolated from Maui county so it's not like it would be immediately integrated if Kalawao didn't exist. It also has a clear reason to be maintained as it is as long as their are patients resident there; the youngest of the 7 is 77 Reas old and runs the gift shop. It is also entirely under jurisdiction of the National Park Service, so any future permanent residents will likely be federal park workers, as are 40 now.

The NPS would like to increase the number of permitted visitors after the last patient dies and increase the facilities accordingly. The Catholic Church likes this idea since two saints did their work there. The Hawaiians, and particularly those fromMolokai or with ties to the patients are generally opposed, since they like the minimal num er of visitors. Based on my visit, I tend to side with the NPS to increase the visitor count somewhat - perhaps from 100/day to 400/day. Remaining state functions could be transferred from the Health department to Maui county at that point.

Interesting take. I think I read that Kalawao would be absorbed back into Maui once the last patient dies - did you hear anything about that?

Personally, I’d support splitting Maui County into a separate county on each of the three islands.

The problem is that Molokai (7 K) and Lanai (3 K) have little population between them compared to Maui (144 K). I doubt the state has any interest in creating administrative units with such a small population. Kalawao was a pre-existing condition dating from before US annexation.

[muon2]

Daggett County, Utah has no logical reason to exist an could just be merged with Uintah County.

I was in both Daggett and Uintah last summer. As a person collecting counties, I would have been happier if they had been one, but I can see why they are separate. Daggett is all about the Flaming Gorge reservoir, and if anything is more like WY to the north. Uintah is Dinosaur NM near Vernal and reservation land west of that.

[muon2]

Forsyth County, Georgia.

No, Ware County GA shouldn't exist. It's a pain to look at.

I've researched this a bit but never gotten an answer as to why the county lines in a basically unpopulated swamp region are so oddly drawn. Does anyone know?

I stayed overnight in Waycross earlier this month and visited the Okefenokee swamp the next morning. From what I could tell the problem is not Ware, it's Charlton. Charlton was created in 1854 from Camden, but in each of the two following years land was transferred from Ware to Charlton. What I don't know is why the transfer of the swamp to Charlton didn't extend all the way south to the FL line which would make for more normal looking shapes.