Most people could live on $87,000 a year

I was speechless to hear that $87,000 was not enough for Hawaii judges to make ends meet. Have these judges ever heard of living within your means?

Can't afford to go private school? Go public. Can't afford an expensive college? Go to UH.

I agree that judges have difficult jobs, and it seems unfair that they have not had a pay raise in a while, but don't say $87,000 is not enough to live on! You insult us middle- and lower-income people.

Roy K. Matsuyama
Lihue, Kauai
(Via the Internet)

'War on drugs' costs liberty and lives

Your Dec. 1 Newswatch article describes a pregnant woman's torment at the hands of local police following her arrest. If the course of events that led to the loss of her unborn child are, in fact, traced back to her running a red light and a police search of her car, which yielded "drug paraphernalia," then the punishment hardly fits the crime.

Instead, this scenario plays as yet another example of our eroding civil rights in the name of the voracious "war on drugs." Since when is running a red light probable cause for search? We no longer have constitutional rights as American citizens so long as the "war" demands that drug exceptions trample on our individual liberties.

To the war on drugs, this woman is just another statistic used to bolster interdiction rates. To the woman involved, the drug war claimed her child. This is an outrage. I, for one, say "enough." The war on drugs is a war on ourselves.

Priscilla Billig
(Via the Internet)

Spanking sends students the wrong message

I was very unhappy to read that state House Speaker-elect Calvin Say was proposing that children be spanked in school. Spanking children is wrong!

It won't help anything. It will just make situations worse. If we slapped a politician in the head, he wouldn't get any wiser, just madder. It is violent and wrong to hit another human being.

Mike Wedge Jr.
Age 10
(Via the Internet)

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I speak for all students when I say that corporal punishment is an AWFUL idea. If students are abused in school, our emotional and physical strength will disappear along with our self-esteem.

Being physically humiliated by a teacher in front of the rest of the class would be devastating, not only for the moment but for the future as well. Corporal punishment gives young growing minds a deep message that abuse is OK.

It is hard enough dealing with domestic abuse. Why add another disturbing influence upon us to become abusive ourselves? Don't forget human rights. Kids are people too and we deserve the same rights to protect our bodies as an adult.

Osheana Blumberg-Tashombe
Age 12
Kihei, Maui
(Via the Internet)

Cayetanos are good stewards of Washington Place

Your Dec. 2 story about the appointment of Jim Bartels as the new director of Washington Place was appreciated.

Recently I had the honor of being invited to a reception at Washington Place, and was most impressed with everything I saw. It was obvious that Governor Cayetano and his wife view their stewardship of this treasure as both a serious responsibility and an honor. They have done much to make each of us proud. To open their home up the way they have to the community shows real class. We are certainly fortunate to have them take this responsibility so seriously.

Let's have more stories about some of the wonderful things going on in Hawaii. We have a lot to be very proud of here!

I expect that Mrs. Cayetano deserves a lot of the credit for the care and beauty of Washington Place. Thanks, Vicky!

Colin M. Jones
Captain USN (Retired)
(Via the Internet)

Questions about Cayetano's remarks linger

The election was five weeks ago, but three thoughts about the gubernatorial race still won't leave me:

In 1994, Cayetano said he would abide by the voluntary campaign spending law. This year, he wouldn't -- outspending his opponent by $2 million. He said that Linda Lingle's sticking to the spending limits prevented her from matching his print media blitz on the final week. He also acknowledged that this contributed to her defeat. Did he buy this election?

The governor was quick to attack his opponent's return of $130,000 in the primary as a willful intent to violate the law. The Democratic Party immediately sought criminal charges against her. Within a week, the prosecutor's office ruled no criminal violation by Lingle. Yet it took a year and a half to investigate the governor's alleged over-expenditure of $300,000. Was his case that much more complicated than an unintentional error by a volunteer campaign worker?

During the campaign, the governor attacked his opponent as a Republican with Republican ideas. But the day after his victory, Cayetano said Lingle should join the Democrats because her philosophies are closer to his party. Are we supposed to believe this?

Paul Putzulu
Wahiawa

Republican partisanship is unfair to president

Everyone got to see our GOP representatives in action since the Judiciary Committee forum to impeach the president was shown on TV. I'm thankful my representatives were not among them.

The prejudicial and partisan way this is being chaired by Henry Hyde makes you wonder if our justice system really is for the innocent until proven guilty. GOP members rant and rave about suborning perjury, lying under oath and using Clinton's power of office to stifle evidence, yet nothing is in the realm of high crimes and misdemeanors.

The president's lawyers were not granted enough time to cross-examine or rebut, a clear unfairness. The castigation, levity and slurs that the president has undergone from the GOP were uncalled for.

Monica Lewinsky was out to snare the president, anyway she could. Men are easy targets given this circumstance.

Chris Hatico
Pearl City

Wilson is best friend of the environment

In your excellent stories this week describing a walk around Oahu, the main theme seems to be that Oahu is being trashed. Much of the shoreline is covered with ugly and unfriendly buildings and roads. The best part of the journey is Sandy Beach -- the Makapuu Beach shoreline.

This is exactly why Governor Cayetano should reappoint Mike Wilson to a second term at DLNR. During Wilson's tenure, that Ka Iwi coast was preserved, the mess on the Na Pali coast was cleaned up, many of the Kaena Point problems were finally addressed, and the problems of our collapsing fisheries were finally considered.

Environmental crimes are now being prosecuted. Think of how much worse things would be if someone without Wilson's commitment were in charge.

K. Jim
(Via the Internet)

Humans were designed to be meat-eaters

What wrong with eating meat? Please tell Cathy Goeggel (Letters, Nov. 25) to check her teeth. Humans have meat-tearing teeth.

I am a farmer. I take much pride in being a farmer, and do not attack my neighbors for what they eat. The grains that animals are fed are for animals. This misinformed, well-intentioned lady should care for her own lifestyle, and not mine or anybody else's. I am a vegetarian by proxy: I let cows eat grass, chickens eat grain, and fish eat other sea life, and then I eat them.

Gerry Magnuson
Pahala, Hawaii
(Via the Internet)

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