Letters to the Editor
Monday, June 10, 1996


Lots of blame to go 'round
for death of Jocelyn Arenas

Batterers walk, women die. Where does the buck stop on the murder of Jocelyn Arenas?

Does it stop with:

nÊAgencies that exempt convicted abusers from serving court-ordered counseling?

nÊProsecutors who routinely negotiate plea bargains on abuse charges to third-degree assault, a petty misdemeanor?

nÊJudges who accept these plea bargains and don't sentence batterers to jail, even though they could, but only to probation and to counseling?

nÊWe, who continually turn our minds from the headlines with thanks that it doesn't happen to us, who refuse to admit that domestic violence is not a woman's problem, not a man's problem, but our problem?

Barbara Masse



JAL flights to Kona
mark turn of century

Quietly, with the inaugural flight of Japan Airlines to Kona, Hawaii has begun to decentralize. Gradually, the neighbor islands will become the sister islands.

By the end of the next century, I predict an international airport and convention center in each county, a marine highway system connecting the islands, a strong economy, plentiful jobs and a stronger cultural appreciation.

If my fellow readers cringe at the very thought of development, let me point out that states - like people - must grow or die. One cannot save everything and avoid every backyard.

Please select those areas, habitats, rocks, marshes and sites, like Mount Olomana, that must be saved, and then protect them ruthlessly. At the same time, initiate projects, like undergrounding wiring statewide, and do them little by little.

E. Alvey Wright
Kailua



IBM's problems can be
traced to bad management

Assuming that A.A. Smyser quoted Chaminade President Sue Wesselkamper correctly in his June 4 column, her use of IBM as an example of how job security weakens a company is simplistic.

IBM, with its job security in place, was a power for decades before it fell upon hard times and started firing loyal workers. How could IBM ever become a world leader if its job security was, as Wesselkamper alleges, such a drag on creativity?

A closer look would show that IBM's recent problems stemmed from poor management, which then led to abolishing its once-proud program of security for employees.

R.C. Johnson



Conservatives maligned
more than gay community

In a May 31 column Senior Editor Diane Chang described homosexuals as "society's most maligned minority."

She must hang out with a different crowd than I do. I've read and watched far more prejudicial comments in the liberal media maligning the religious right than I've ever heard about homosexuals from any source.

John Pechauer



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