Letters to the Editor
Wednesday, August 21, 1996

Natatorium could be a hit as
sand volleyball court

I'm writing in praise of Bruce Anderson's Aug. 10 View Point column regarding the Natatorium in Waikiki.

I think the Natatorium should be restored because of its history and beauty. The most practical idea is to turn it into a sand volleyball court.

This is a growing sport in Hawaii, and throughout the world. I couldn't think of a better place for spectators to watch this sport. It would draw local crowds as well as our visitors.

The Natatorium Memorial can be restored and utilized again. Everyone wins!

Kelly McMahon


Roots of Hawaiian center were
not grounded in taro

There are some historical facts that should be clarified with respect to your Aug. 13 article on the new Center of Hawaiian Studies at the University of Hawaii.

This section of Kanewai was settled by hog farmers and rice and vegetable farmers since the early 1900s. The site of the center was a hog farm until about 1950, when hog farming was barred in this area. There was never any taro grown here during this early period, contrary to what we have been reading in the newspapers.

There was always water from Manoa Stream, from a pool behind the East-West Center, to feed the old rice and vegetable farms located on the present Kanewai Park. Some of this water was diverted to the site of the Hawaiian Center to grow forage for the pigs on that farm.

There were no native Hawaiians living in this area during this period; only Japanese and Chinese farmers, of which my family was one.

There is no question that native Hawaiians lived in this vicinity in the old days. Skeletons were dug out now and then, especially at the old sand pit under the present Dole Street.

But the claim of continuous taro growing by native Hawaiians on this site is a figment of someone's imagination.

C. Hirayama
Kaunakakai, Molokai


How can anyone reason with
the out-of-control?

I was shocked and outraged after reading your front-page article on Aug. 14, which implied that Randall and Carol Kim might have prevented their murders by simply talking to their neighbor.

Having a mentally unstable neighbor myself, I understand the torment this young family must have suffered.

Just how do the good doctors suggest one talks to the type of neighbor who sits silently in his garage for hours, making wild "stink eye" at everyone who happens to pass by?

This was not a problem of kids making too much noise, or cars parked an inch too close to a neighbor's property. This was not a dysfunctional neighborhood. This was a severely disturbed individual who used the excuse of "kids and cars" to vent his deranged psychotic anger.

Gail Thorsen
Haleiwa


Don't teach kids to shoot others
before they get shot

How can letter writer Brian Chun (Aug. 15) say that four lives in Mililani could have been saved by a gun? Wasn't it a gun that killed them?

Crime has definitely sky-rocketed in past years and the future does not look any brighter. Increasing guns in our community will only encourage people to lose trust in one another.

It is unfortunate to hear people advocating the use of guns. Is this how we want to raise our children, to tell them to shoot the next person before they shoot you?

Weren't we taught to "love thy neighbor?" Gun control needs to happen today.

Regina Toguchi
Mililani


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