Convicted killer fools his audience

What? A convicted murderer and his accomplice partner want to make rules in our islands ("'Dog' Chapman testifies against bounty hunter bill," Star-Bulletin, Feb. 11)?

Auwe, Hawaii, because they found a way to get on television you are now opening your arms and letting a murder conviction lose its importance.

Duane "Dog" Chapman has received awards from city and state officials -- for what? If the Legislature adds the felon condition it will simply be adding a safety factor to an already borderline business. Bounty hunters, losers chasing losers.

Editorial put tax ranking in perspective

Many thanks to the Star-Bulletin for its Feb. 12 editorial, "Census ratings unfairly portray Hawaii tax bills." By noting that Hawaii has one school system funded by state taxes, it helps to understand why it is ranked as fairest in the nation in allocating similar funding to pupils in every state school. At the extreme other end is Texas with more than 1,000 school districts, each funded by their own property taxes. Some Texas districts receive three times as much per student as do other school districts. One enormous problem we cannot solve is our highest cost of living in the nation, affecting all of us including business, media, the counties and the state of Hawaii.

Pro-fish group ignores threat to pregnancy

The letter written by David Martosko of the Center for Consumer Freedom in which he states that pregnant women are in no danger of mercury poisoning from eating fish (Star-Bulletin, Feb. 13) is immensely frightening. Among other real concerns, mercury is thought to be at least partially responsible for the tremendous increase in autism during the last decade.

If you Google "Center for Consumer Freedom," you will find that it is funded by the food, alcohol, chemical and tobacco industries, and runs campaigns against scientists, doctors, environmental groups and organizations such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Martosko clearly doesn't have expectant mothers' best interests at heart.

Gov's tax plan helps those who need it

The governor's proposed tax relief for families earning $50,000 or less includes a one-time refund of $150 per exemption, raising the deduction to $100 per exemption to offset general excise tax paid on food and medicine, as well as widening the tax brackets and raising the standard deduction. The governor's plan is straightforward and would help those taxpayers who need it the most. We live in a great country and a wonderful state, but we are overtaxed both at the federal and state levels. It is up to the legislators to put politics aside and work with the governor to reduce the tax burden.

Don't go for cheap fix for Aloha Stadium

The state is looking at alternatives for the Aloha Stadium (Star-Bulletin, Jan. 27). At 31, the stadium is showing its age and maintenance costs are escalating. Because the maintenance costs and the cost to move the stands are in the millions of dollars, the state is looking at "fixing" the stands in a permanent configuration. Fixing it in the football configuration would be less expensive and require the least modifications, including seating arrangements; while the baseball configuration would allow more sporting events at the facility but also would require more modifications and would require a major change in seating assignments for University of Hawaii football games. The baseball configuration also would allow more seats to be built to increase the stadium's capacity.

Once again the state is faced with a doing something cheaper and easier or doing something that will have long-term benefits. Let's hope the stadium will not be added to a long list of facilities that were obsolete before they were even completed!