Editorials
Tuesday, April 22, 1997GRAFFITI is a blight wherever it occurs but nowhere can it be as outrageous as in a cemetery. With seven cemeteries on Oahu desecrated over the weekend, the vandals have left many people hurt and incensed. At the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl, damage is estimated at $20,000 to $25,000. Cemetery desecration
requires tough penaltyWe have to wonder what sort of person could derive satisfaction from such an act. If he or she really has a grievance with society, there are acceptable ways to express it. This is not.
Most graffiti appears to be the work of teen-agers with not enough to do and a need to defy authority. If these desecrations are the work of adults, they are even more difficult to understand. When the culprits are caught and brought before a judge for sentencing, no leniency should be given. These acts hurt too many people too much.
SPORTS fans in Hawaii showed their enthusiasm over the weekend and seem likely to be rewarded by a return visit by major league baseball. San Diego Padres executives and players counted their relocated home stand against the St. Louis Cardinals at Aloha Stadium a huge success. More preparation in future years could bring ever greater dividends. Hawaii's home run
INDIA'S parliamentary elections last spring ousted the Congress Party from office and left the nation's politics in turmoil. The leader of the right-wing Hindu nationalist party, Atal Bejari Vajpayee, was sworn in as prime minister but resigned after 14 days when it became evident that he could not win a vote of confidence. He was followed by H.D. Deve Gowda, the previously little-known leader of a center-left coalition that formed a parliamentary majority with Congress Party support. India's new premier
THE ashes of 24 people, among them "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry, LSD advocate Timothy Leary and two space scientists, Krafft Ehricke and Gerard O'Neill, have been carried into space on a rocket. The ashes were contained in small metal cases that were jettisoned in space. They are expected to orbit the Earth for years before falling back into the atmosphere and burning up. A spectacular end
That's a spectacular way to end one's existence, but not a deranged one -- like the mass suicides of the Heaven's Gate cultists who thought they could ascend into space after ridding themselves of their bodies.
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
