Safeway's generosity filled hearts on Thanksgiving

Mahalo nui loa to Safeway for making it possible for people to enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving turkey. I'm sure that a lot of people were able to have turkey this year only because of Safeway's generosity in offering for sale $5 and $7 turkeys! It was a wonderful way of enabling people to provide for themselves. Thank you from all of us!

Caroline Dunn
(Via the Internet)

Japan still won't face truth about Nanking

Best-selling author Iris Chang need do no more than quote Consul General Gotaro Ogawa's protest about the news coverage of her lecture, to rest her case regarding the Japanese government's inability to confront the history of Nanking.

For an official of that government to offer as evidence a statement that finds the story of the Rape of Nanking a "preposterous fable" is incredibly obtuse. To justify an atrocity of this magnitude as a "fact of wartime" is an unbelievable gaffe.

Yi Ching
(Via the Internet)

Evidence of Nanking atrocities is undeniable

On Nov. 24, Gotaro Ogawa, Honolulu Japanese counsel general, made an unprecedented personal visit to the Star-Bulletin offices to vigorously protest the newspaper's Nov. 20 stories on the lecture about the Rape of Nanking by author Iris Chang.

But much of the evidence on the six weeks of horror starting from Dec. 13, 1937, is accurate and incontrovertible. Perhaps Ogawa and Japanese historian Ikuhiko Hata are suffering from selective amnesia.

It is ironic Ogawa did not protest Japan's aggressive military invasion and occupation of China for 14 years, Japan's attack on America's Pearl Harbor, the Bataan Death March, the 200,000 Asian comfort women conscripted to service the Japanese imperial army, the secret medical experiments on Chinese and American guinea pigs, and atrocities so brutal one out of every three American prisoners of war died in captivity.

Would Ogawa rather turn back the clock and rewrite World War II history so that he can instead without conscience boast about a "Rape of China, Korea, Indonesia, and America," and force American women and girls into being comfort women -- just as the Japanese imperial army did to a majority of subjugated Korean women?

Brian D.W. Chun
(Via the Internet)

Bankruptcy rate may reach 10,000 before stock market

As Hawaii surpasses the 5,000-mark in declared bankruptcies, yet another milestone is reached under the Cayetano administration. At this rate, bankruptcies may reach the 10,000-mark before the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Not long ago, the light at the end of the tunnel was a ray of hope for Hawaii. But now it looks more and more like an oncoming locomotive. Oh, what could have been!

E. Boxley Diggs
Mililani

Wahine fans everywhere rejoice over WAC title

I read with great joy the news of the UH Wahine victory over arch-rival BYU for their first-ever Western Athletic Conference title. Dave Shoji is still "Da Man" and Na Wahine are still No. 1 in my heart! Now if I could just get the games on cable here in the Great Northwest!

Jim Duff
Walla Walla, Wash.
(Via the Internet)

Fans could do much more to boost Bows

I recently returned from my bi-annual visit to Columbus, Ohio, my home state and where I spent my freshman year at Ohio State University. OSU has always had good football teams, which usually are rated in the top 10. This is probably due to good recruiting and good coaching, plus what I believe is a great deal of community support.

From the moment you step off the aircraft you see evidence of this. The terminal is aflame with the scarlet and gray banners of OSU or the Buckeyes as the team is called. The concourse shops are filled with OSU merchandise, shirts, hats, flags, bottle openers, you name it.

About 25 percent of the homes were also bedecked with OSU flags or banners. Business establishments were likewise adorned. City buses also displayed OSU signs. I was staying near the university, and a larger percentage of homes and businesses in this area displayed OSU banners or flags.

A visit to a bank revealed OSU banners hanging from the ceiling and T-shirts for sale. But what really impressed me was a visit to a supermarket. I saw banners everywhere, plus things such as OSU hot dogs, OSU popcorn, OSU pasta in scarlet and gray, OSU sodas, potato chips and candy bars, T-shirts and sweats, and what I thought was the ulitimate; OSU ice cream, containing small peanut butter-filled chocolate footballs. In the streets and in the stores, people sported OSU shirts, sweaters, parkas and hats.

I was there when OSU lost to Michigan State, which destroyed hopes of an undefeated season. Banners and flags stayed up, however some innovative residents hung a black ribbon on or beside the flags. Despite the loss, the stadium was still filled to capacity the next week.

It is difficult to compare Honolulu (my home for more than 35 years) with Columbus due to our ethnic mix. However, in my opinion, Honolulu is sadly lacking in community support for our University of Hawaii Rainbows.

I am an alumnus of UH and have been a season-ticket holder for many years and have seen attendance decline drastically. This may be due to not winning, but I cannot ever remember the stadium filled to capacity even when the Rainbows were winning. Why? Poor coaching? Inability to recruit? Poor facilities? Or can some blame be laid on a lack of community support? I believe it can.

Why can't TheBus have signs advertising the teams, not only football, but also basketball, volleyball, etc., during that team's season? Make UH banners or flags available at a reasonable price. Increase the amount of UH merchandise and make it available in places other than the stadium concourse.

Finally, what would be wrong with Rainbow ice cream? I would buy it, and I think many other people would, too. Let the flags and banners flap in the trade winds, tie black ribbons on them if we lose, but don't sit back and complain if you have done nothing in support of the team. GO BOWS.

William G. Burlingame Sr.
Mililani
(Via the Internet)

An 0-12 season builds character

Even though the UH Rainbows went 0-12 in 1998, not one of those kids ever quit. Football hurts, yet week after week they kept limping back for more.

Hawaii may want to forget a season like this, but in years to come I'm betting this character-rich team will be one of Coach vonAppen's fondest memories.

Rich Peck
(Via the Internet)

UH should give away free football tickets

What the struggling UH football team needs is not a new coach but a jolt of energy. So, why not give away, say, 20,000 free tickets to the first game next season, so that people can see that the team is really trying?

Maybe with a full stadium cheering them on, the players may actually scratch out a win or two. And then, perhaps, these "one-timers" will be convinced to actually pay to see the team play the next game.

James Ko
(Via the Internet)

VonAppen has excelled in nurturing students

I am not a football coach. I don't presume to judge the coaching decisions or to evaluate the success or failure of men far more experienced in college football than I. What I do presume to judge, however, is Fred vonAppen and his staff's commitment to the academic and personal development of the young men with whom they are charged, as I am the tutorial and life skills coordinator for the University of Hawaii athletic department.

In my few months on staff, I've witnessed many situations in which vonAppen or a member of his staff selflessly put the academic or personal needs of a player before his own need to win in order to save his job. This has occurred more frequently than I have seen in all of my nine years in Division I athletic academic support, at any of the four institutions for whom I have worked. Time and time again, vonAppen has met his responsibility to intellectually and personally develop his players.

When you remember that UH is, after all, a university seeking to educate young people, then vonAppen has succeeded. Ask any one of his players, and he'll be the first to tell you that vonAppen cares more about each of them as people than as football players. That alone should have been enough justification to keep vonAppen at the helm of this program.

Trina Kudlacek
(Via the Internet)

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