Give visitors a way to recycle papers, cans
As a first-time visitor to Hawaii, I have spent one full week here enjoying the wonderful scenery and discovering new things. However, I have had a very difficult time trying to find a place to recycle anything, including your paper when I have finished reading it. I am amazed that the local communities have done nothing to advocate recycling in Hawaii. Along the beaches, there are no recycling bins. Everything goes into the trash (including beverage containers, for which I know Hawaii only recently began collecting a deposit -- one great step in the right direction!). I found the same situation almost everywhere I went.
Where is the pride? Please respect your environment and help make it easier for visitors (and locals) to recycle limited resources.
Craig Wenzl
Monterey, Calif.
Sharper TV pictures are in public interest
Last month, KGMB broadcast the Kamehameha Schools Christmas concert in "high definition" to those areas where available. Thank you. The vast majority of viewers have cable hookup but were unable to view the program in Hi Def.
I believe the airwaves are licensed in the public interest; isn't it in the public interest to get up and running with Hi Def as soon as possible? The argument between television broadcast stations and Oceanic Cable needs to be resolved.
The easiest would be that the Hi Def signal be provided to Oceanic cost free and that Oceanic does not charge the viewer additional to receive the signal. KGMB and KHON both have programming provided to them in Hi Def with 5.1 surround sound and these signals should be provided.
I don't think it is in the public interest for us all to start putting up roof top and apartment lanai antennas to capture the Hi Def signals. Sooner or later you are going to be required to provide those signals. I think this is one of the reasons that radio and television stations should be locally owned. Hi Def is exceptionally better in sound and picture quality. All of the major network stations are equipped to broadcast in Hi Def.
Robert L. Zimmer
Honolulu
Grant, volunteers made CD possible
Regarding "Official asks if taxpayers paid for mayor's tunes" (
Star-Bulletin, Dec. 27), I would like to express my sincere appreciation to City Councilman Charles Djou for keeping a watchful eye on the city's expenses. If you have listened to the eclectic mix of vocalists, arrangements and superb recording quality of the Royal Hawaiian Band's Christmas CD, you would ask the same question, too.
Thanks to the Hawaii Tourism Authority grant and the many volunteers, this Christmas project became a reality for everyone to enjoy during the holiday season.
The Royal Hawaiian Band has several recordings available, however; this album became a popular selling item because of the support and promotion from Mayor Mufi Hannemann. He understands that any great city in the world deserves great music.
Steven Agasa
Royal Hawaiian Band Shop Steward, Unit 03
Honolulu
All lost troops should get Ford treatment
I could not help but wonder, while watching the nation honor and mourn the late President Gerald Ford, why we could not honor our sons and daughters who gave their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan at the U.S. Capitol, too. Their caskets should lie in state there for a day or two and have the nation's highest honors bestowed on them. A grateful nation would have a chance to mourn and offer a prayer. Their immediate families should be given an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., to receive the public's condolences and appreciation. The president and Congress can also pay their respects.
The brave soldiers who have already perished should have all their names there, too, since it is too late for them to receive the same type of services.
We should treat our fallen heroes the same as we treat our government officials when they pass on. After all, they made the ultimate sacrifice.
Gary Takashima
Waipahu
Watada nothing like pacifist heroes
Letter writer Gerhard C. Hamm (
Dec. 24) who wrote, "Watada is destined for great future," was wrong to compare 1st Lt. Ehren Watada to perhaps the three greatest nonviolent champions of the 20th century -- Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela.
All three of these great men started from outside the system, wanting to change it, enduring incredible hardships, unlike the coward who suddenly got cold feet when his orders came through (cold feet from within the system).
Gandhi, coming from South Africa where he had started a similar crusade, tried to throw off the unjust yoke of the British empire: MLK, enduring the death threats and the incredible hate of the white South, still preached nonviolence (a courageous act in itself); and Mandela, weathering 20 years in prison, still had the courage to challenge the people who had put him there when he got out.
These three were all outside the system, destined to change it. Watada was inside the system, on the payroll, where his training was paid for by the U.S. government. No, Watada shares no semblance to these three heroes of the 20th century.
Many of us do not agree with the war, but cowards' actions don't solve anything.
Chip Davey
Honolulu
Other annoyances are worse than cell phones
Such silliness -- i.e., the idea of banning cell phone ring tones on buses. My God! What does it hurt to have a cell phone ring now and then? It breaks the monotony. And what difference does it make whether a passenger is talking to a companion or to someone on the phone?
There are many worse things we put up with on the bus ... air-conditioning set to the threshold of pain, graffiti, purses banging legs, women putting on makeup or brushing their hair in your face, bugs and cockroaches crawling up your leg, bus timing beepers, drunks, tourists, unwashed bums and much more. I say restrict the driver from using a cell phone; not the passengers.
Ray Graham
Waikiki