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Don't give Uyesugi so much media play

Why is the press giving Byran Uyesugi all this attention?

Timothy Leary once said that if we didn't make such a big deal about these crimes, such as putting the perpetrators on the front covers of magazines and newspapers, and making them the lead story on evening news broadcasts and talk shows, that these criminals would not achieve their goal of becoming infamous.

If you're the average Joe and want your mug on the front cover of every news magazine, just do what Byran did or what the kids in Columbine did.

Jim Rosen

Threats of shooting are never funny

I was listening to the Sports Page show on radio station KCCN recently. The subject was the status of Les Murakami, the University of Hawaii baseball coach. The discussion eventually got around to comparing Murakami's situation to the firing of Bob Wagner, former UH football coach.

Kevin Hashiro gave his opinion. The next caller disagreed with him and, while talking to Gary Dickman, Hashiro cut in on the call. Hashiro told the caller to listen to something. This comment was followed by the sound of a gun being loaded or cocked, then two shots being fired.

If Hashiro can't stand to have someone disagree with him, he shouldn't be on the air. This caller deserves an apology from the station and especially from Hashiro. Using the sound of a gun firing isn't funny.

Ed Chang

Quotables "The beneficiaries should not suffer for the abuses of lawyers. These were never appropriate charges for a charitable organization and someone should be (held) accountable." Margery Bronster FORMER STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL On the questionable legal billings of the former Bishop Estate trustees and their attorneys "You've got to be awfully naive if you think he's not going to run -- he's a cinch to run for governor." Frank Fasi FORMER HONOLULU MAYOR On whether Mayor Jeremy Harris, up for re-election this year, will resign in two years to run for governor

Barracks need funding as much as a school

I disagree with Paula Nagao's May 15 letter lauding a Department of Defense program that would take away money for military barracks maintenance and give it to the public schools in Hawaii. Your state needs to look elsewhere for such funding.

Would Nagao be willing to give up the money that she uses for her own home maintenance and give it to the schools? I doubt it.

Never mind that the barracks on Oahu are in bad repair and are overcrowded (hmm, just like the schools). Military personnel are usually stuffed into these barracks; in fact, I know of many who live four persons to a 12-foot by 12-foot room.

Furthermore, the roofs leak, the plumbing backs up and the air conditioning is weak to nil. Yet the very people who live in the barracks are the ones the military wants to re-enlist.

Since the public schools are not much better off, perhaps your politicians should give up the money that THEY use for the maintenance of their homes and offices and stop taking away from the have-nots.

Steve Bliss
San Antonio, texas (Formerly stationed in Hawaii)

Mayor Wright residents require more help

What is going on at Mayor Wright Homes? Your May 16 story on planned improvements there sounds like planned homelessness for many low-income families.

Where will the families live during construction? What will the new rents be? These families need a safe, properly maintained place to live in, not a "Mililani" development.

The "Weed & Seed" program got rid of the drugs and gangs. Now how about a proper maintenance schedule, better trash collection and some extras? Spend money on kids and education.

Corrine Goldstick

Teach common values, not commandments

There is national controversy regarding the display of the Ten Commandments in public venues. A May 13 wire service story pointed out that there is more than one version of such religious tenets, and posting any would show favor by the state towards a certain religion. This preference is prohibited by the First Amendment.

However, the idea to post the Ten Commandments stems from a social problem. The suggestion came from the demand for improved morals and values, especially in our public schools. But why must such moral reform stem from religious beliefs?

At Punahou, we have what is called "character education." Instead of teaching any one religion's commandments, pillars or laws, our school highlights a value each month such as respect, responsibility, love or compassion.

These values, with their definitions and Hawaiian translations, are posted in our classrooms. In addition, "chapels" (which champion value education rather than excessive Bible study), assemblies and class discussions incorporate these values into our daily lives.

Therefore, Punahou students benefit from improved moral education. We are able to recognize our community responsibilities, not because a religion tells us how to be good but because we learn the values rooted in all religions.

Why can't the government also provide this benefit for students in public schools?

Lauren M. Esposo

Don't begrudge medals to World War II vets

To those who harbor negative notions about the soldiers and families who will be awarded the Medal of Honor (Star-Bulletin, May 12), share your thoughts and feelings personally with these honored people and dispel all the negative notions about them.

Only then will we all understand the greatness that is the United States of America.

George T. Auyong

Anti-gun march picked odd gathering place

Isn't it ironic that the so-called Million Mom March was held in Washington, D.C., a place that boasts the most restrictive firearms laws in the nation, yet still manages to have one of the highest per-capita murder rates?

According to the Centers for Disease Control, 220 people were killed by injuries from firearms in 1997 in Washington, D.C. Yet this city bans handguns and requires all other firearms to be registered, stored unloaded and disassembled.

The organizers of the march claim that all they want is sensible gun laws. Yet the abject failure of Washington's severe laws to protect its own citizens clearly shows that infringing upon the rights of law-abiding citizens is not the way to curb violence.

Jack Paris
Kapolei

Riley Wallace has right to voice opinion

The NCAA elected to swim in perilous political waters when it voiced an opinion on the Confederate flag issue. It's a policy direction the NCAA may come to regret, though, no matter how meritorious the issues may be.

University of Hawaii men's basketball Coach Riley Wallace gave an opinion on the wisdom of the NCAA policy. The African-American Association of Hawaii reacted with strong indignation and a public call for retribution against Wallace. The association drew an analogy to the persecution of Jews and the Holocaust, no less. Then came the knee-jerk reaction of the Japanese Americans Citizens League, which also called for sanctions against Wallace.

There was one voice of reason. To your credit, your May 12 editorial appeared and gave the matter a balanced perspective. But journalism, being the profession it is, allows all points of view, as it should.

In his May 13 Volcanic Ash column, Dave Shapiro admonished Wallace to "keep his mouth shut when he has nothing useful to say -- an option he should use more often." Wow! The consequence, Shapiro said, "can crush an athletic program or a state."

An intriguing argument, but one that doesn't hold water. It would somehow seem to bypass the fundamental right of free speech and the purpose of a university in the first place.

Don Botelho
Kailua

Groups had right to share disagreement

ACLU general counsel Susan Herman would probably be surprised to know that your paper has become such an expert on the First Amendment as the result of her recent speech (Star-Bulletin, May 11). Most civil libertarians concede that interpreting freedom of speech is not always the simple, one-sided matter your May 12 editorial on Riley Wallace suggests.

No one denies Wallace's constitutional right to criticize the NCAA or other group's positions on the South Carolina flag boycott issue. He could've even weighed in on the side of Southern segregationists, had he chosen to do so. But this doesn't mean his ideas must be silently accepted.

The multi-ethnic coalition headed by the African-American Association of Hawaii clearly has the right to urge President Mortimer and the UH Board of Regents to "begin seeking a less divisive replacement as soon as contractually possible." There was no call for him to resign or be fired.

It would be a ridiculous perversion of the First Amendment if minority groups were precluded from expressing their hurt or anger to powerful entities such as the UH and its representatives because of interpretations such as yours.

Patrick J. Daley

What does Freddy Rice really want?

Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Harold "Freddy" Rice in his lawsuit over being able to vote in Office of Hawaiian Affairs elections, what is he going to do? Why, as a haole, does he feel that he should participate in the affairs of Hawaiians?

Is Freddy Rice going to attend all OHA meetings? Run for office? Or just stonewall the efforts of Hawaiians to reclaim what is theirs?

I am Japanese, born and raised in Hawaii, but I am not indigenous to these islands like the Hawaiians and neither is Rice. Since that makes a very big difference, he should mind his own business.

Russell Oshiro
Kailua-Kona

OHA Special

Rice vs. Cayetano arguments

Rice vs. Cayetano decision

Holo I Mua: Sovereignty Roundtable

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Legislators are only listening to unions

Marcus Oshiro's View Point column last Friday, "Civil service reform can't be rushed," represents where the majority of our elected officials stand and underscores the way the system has operated for years.

Oshiro was concerned that our legislators not "thoughtlessly pander to the immediate demands of a loud, clamorous faction of the citizenry." Unfortunately, this loud, clamorous faction he does not want to "pander" to is the majority of Hawaii residents, who are not members of the public employee unions.

Doug Thomas
Mililani

Public event is needed to mourn abused baby

I hope there will be a silent march, a gathering at Honolulu Hale or a rally at the state Capitol to mourn the death of 4-month-old Robert Coy III. The baby boy, son of Robert and Nancy Coy, died May 10 of injuries consistent with shaken-baby syndrome, which were allegedly inflicted by the father. Robert Coy II, 28, has been charged with murder.

I wonder how Nancy, the mother, feels about this loss. How do other mothers feel about this death? We need an event to give us an opportunity to publicly express and show our grief and outrage over the death of this innocent.

This incident, and as well as the deaths, injuries and other physical and emotional forms of abuse to infants and children, must not be filed away and forgotten.

Are we that apathetic and uncaring? What are we waiting for -- the next death?

David A. Lane

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