Give the big bucks to women's coach

I know it is not an original idea, but I think the new University of Hawaii president should consider swapping coach salaries, giving Warriors coach June Jones' $900,000 a year to Wahine volleyball coach Dave Shoji, whose girls always make us proud, and Shoji's $100,000 to Jones' successor.

Warrior fans deserve much better

Having been a University of Hawaii Warriors football fan for years, I must write to tell the team how disappointed I am that living in Oregon now, I got to watch two games this season on national television and in both games I saw Hawaii get embarrassed, humiliated and downright pummeled. It's one thing to get beat on the road by a better team, but come on! Being outscored 139-17 in two games? What were the game plans, go out there and lie down? I have never seen so many missed tackles and just all around bad play.

Don't get me wrong, I am, and always will be a Warrior football fan. But when they let their fans down by not even showing up for two big games, we have a right to vent.

Just to add insult to injury, I got this joke told to me by a co-worker who knows I'm a Hawaii fan: How many Hawaii football players does it take to change a flat tire? Just one, unless it's a blowout, then the whole team shows up.

I truly hope there are better days ahead for this program. Hawaii fans deserve better.

State is working to help young offenders

In her Nov. 8 letter to the editor regarding troubled youth, Dawn Morgan correctly points out that "we need to offer more basic life skills classes, more counseling, and fill our children with pride morals and values."

This is exactly what Gov. Linda Lingle is striving to accomplish as she works to find alternatives to incarceration of our youth. "Expanding" the outdated youth correctional system to include community-based group homes (not youth prisons) on the neighbor islands can provide youths with the rehabilitation and counseling they need in settings that are secure, less restrictive and closer to their families and other support units.

When Lingle visited six Hawaii girls who had been temporarily transferred to a Utah facility, the youths expressed their desire to have more basic life skills to help them succeed on the outside and reduce their chances for recidivism, just as Morgan pointed out. The administration is working to achieve this.

Lingle and Lt. Gov. Duke Aiona have no intention of "throwing away the key" when it comes to any of Hawaii's youth. They are committed to meeting the needs of our youth in positive ways that hold juveniles accountable for their offenses while helping them to become productive citizens.

Hawaiian Kingdom has many advantages

With the majority of people having concentrated on the presidential race, I think they forgot about local politics. I strongly feel we are on the brink of being "paradise lost." Things like housing costs have shot through the roof and the future for the youth seems really grim.

I strongly feel the Hawaiian Kingdom should be instituted soon so we can save what paradise we have left. Such a government also would not entail exorbitant taxes and high property costs. We could become self-sufficient as far as food goes with a big emphasis on agriculture.

And we definitely need to bring the Hawaiian culture to the forefront, which would boost tourism immensely. Take for example the Merrie Monarch Festival, which gives the Big Island a huge economic boost. Imagine hula being an everyday thing and tourists flocking to the Hawaiian islands.

Let's rise up in unity and have a better way of life for everybody and not just the rich.

War coverage part of free society

Regarding Julie Holland's Nov. 13 letter requesting the media not to print any graphic facts about the Middle East war; most of us are truly thankful to live in a country that allows uncensored news coverage. After all, isn't that a fundamental criterion of a "free" nation?

Maybe Holland should exercise another freedom and simply choose other reading materials.

I, for one, applaud our local news reporters.