Graffiti on the streets
is the biggest desecration

There's no respect for the dead when someone paints the cemetery. There's no respect for the living when someone paints the neighborhood.

Why is everyone so gung-ho to catch this person who vandalized our cemeteries when the same crime is being perpetrated around us every day? Brazen punks tag their names and gang affiliations in our neighborhoods all the time.

I asked some of my co-workers and friends if they thought this latest crime was on the same level as graffiti in the streets. Surprisingly, most said no. They said that the desecration of the cemeteries was far worse. I disagree.

For the last few years we have been watching graffiti grow like cancer. Yet I don't remember such a public outcry. It takes an incident like this to wake up the community and to catch these people.

We also need creative punishments:

Banishment from Hawaii.

Prison in Alaska.

Serving on clean-up crews with plenty of news cameras rolling.

Public humiliation by printing their photos with small biographies and their crimes in the paper, next to the obituaries.

Andrew Coffey
(Via the Internet)

Jackie Chan movies are
far worse than X-treme fighting

X-treme fighting seems to be getting a good bashing lately. It's been called a "blood sport" and has been accused of causing children and adults to become more violent. But it does just the opposite.

If a child sees this type of fighting, he/she may join a martial arts school and, in turn, learn many valuable lessons such as courtesy, integrity and perseverance.

Most of the matches end up with a hug or handshake. These people are professionals and they are testing their abilities against other professionals.

X-treme fighting should not be banned. If you don't want your kids to watch it, don't order it on Pay-Per-View. It's just like an adult movie. Why should irresponsible parents take away my enjoyment of X-treme fighting?

How about picking on Jackie Chan movies instead? I'm sure that kids get more violent ideas from watching these films than from X-treme fighting.

Matthew Ornellas
Ewa Beach
(Via the Internet)

Female athletes are slighted
at Punahou track event

At the Punahou Relays track and field meet tomorrow, the annual "Hawaii's Fastest Human" and "Hawaii's Fastest Team" competitions will be held. These competitions do not allow female competitors the chance to showcase their talents, or receive their deserved notoriety at one of the biggest track meets in Hawaii.

Indirectly, we are telling young girls in Hawaii not to compete in sports. Even if a female athlete is better than male counterparts within her own athletic area, she will not reap the same benefits, attention, rewards, etc., as a male who may be faster than her, but not necessarily better in terms of national rankings.

Until there are competitions that give both genders equal rewards, the Punahou Relays can only be considered a sporting event that perpetuates already extreme inequality in athletics.

David T. Mayeda
(Via the Internet)

Clinton's sins are
more compelling than Furhman's

Was I the only person who was surprised to see Mark Fuhrman as the subject of the lead story in Monday's first edition? Page one, and above the fold, no less.

It amazes me that your paper features dated news about a relatively unimportant person when there are real news stories out there. Many of us would appreciate some credible reporting of the ongoing revelations about the corruption of the Clinton administration.

We have an incumbent president who has totally discredited and politicized the FBI, the INS, the Attorney General and AmeriCorps; who has participated in illegal fundraising, who has turned the White House into an expensive hotel; who dodged the draft; has sold the security of his country for money; and who, his own party admits, is "an exceptionally good liar."

And new reports on Clinton surface every day, so there is much to choose from. If the Star-Bulletin wants to concentrate on old news, how about updates on Vince Foster? Or Paula Jones? Or the White House Travel Office? Or all of those files in the White House? Or...

Robert R. Kessler

We can curb bickering
with a one-house Legislature

One more reason we needed a constitutional convention is so we can restructure the Legislature. Who says we need two houses, especially when they seem to produce the same bickering gridlock we see in Washington, D.C.?

It's especially interesting that this gridlock is produced despite Democratic Party control of both houses. So, because the governor and courts can provide the checks and balances, why not save some tax dollars by getting rid of one house?

I would kill the House of Representatives so we don't have elections too often.

James Ko
(Via the Internet)

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