Editorials
Wednesday, July 17, 1996
Turning away ticket buyers
for UH sports
UNIVERSITY of Hawaii Athletic Department officials are apologizing for what can only be described as an idiotic policy of making it hard to buy season tickets for UH sports. Letters to the editor have described policies that resulted in UH ticket office employees refusing to sell two season tickets for football because the deadline for sales to the general public had passed, and another refusal to sell memberships in the Wahine Volleyball Booster Club because a limited number of seats had been designated for the boosters.
The handling of the football request was particularly egregious because the woman who made the request said it was for her father, who had been in the hospital when the deadline for sales passed. Still the ticket office refused to make an exception. At a time when the UH football program in particular has been experiencing sharply declining attendance, it makes no sense to turn down someone who wants to buy season tickets. Similarly, a group like the Wahine volleyball boosters should be given priority over occasional ticket buyers, because these are the sport's best customers.
Responding to these complaints, football coach Fred vonAppen called it "another black eye" for his program. He said anyone who wanted to buy a season ticket should be able to do so, regardless of deadlines. Athletic Director Hugh Yoshida said he would review the ticket policy.
We hope so. You don't turn away people who want to buy your product when there is no shortage of it. Anyone who has seen the empty seats at Aloha Stadium during UH football games knows what we're talking about.
Political expenses
LOOSE interpretations of state rules have allowed politicians to aggrandize themselves with contributions that were supposed to be spent on their campaigns. Stricter rules, such as those proposed by the state Campaign Spending Commission, are needed to stop the practice.
Campaign expenditures should be specifically linked to a campaign activity to be regarded as valid. The proposed guidelines seem to require such justifications. Enforcement will be the real challenge.
Breast implant fiasco
ANOTHER example of the high cost of litigation: the fiasco of breast implants. In the nearly 30 years that silicone breast implants had been on the market, more than a million women had received them. The implants were marketed without proof of safety; it was not until 1991 that manufacturers were required to submit safety data. The silicone breast implant industry has been destroyed through litigation and negative publicity. Those who disapprove of the implants for other reasons will not mourn the industry's demise. But the same sort of thing can happen to any product if the courts continue to let hysteria replace sound science.
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Rupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor