A sure way to keep Coach Jones in Hawaii

How do you keep University of Hawaii football coach June Jones here in Hawaii for another contract? Easy. Present to Coach Jones an offer he cannot refuse. Go Warriors!

Get rid of Frazier but keep Coach Jones

Athletic director Herman Frazier should be the one to go, not coach June Jones. Not only did Frazier drop the ball with the 2007 schedule, he didn't show respect to all the fans who had to go elsewhere to buy tickets for the Sugar Bowl or had to wait on a waiting list simply because he took it upon himself to give back thousands of tickets because he didn't think the people of Hawaii would go to the Sugar Bowl. Big mistake!

But the biggest mistake of all was his delay and unenthusiastic approach in trying to keep Jones here in Hawaii. I can only hope the people of Hawaii will speak up and let the university know how unhappy we will be if Jones ends up going to Southern Methodist University because Frazier and the university dropped the ball by not trying their hardest to keep him here. Nine years of turning our program around. Going 12-0 in the WAC and then going to a BCS Bowl game. To have to start all over again would not only be heartbreaking for next year's team, but it will hurt the fans, the state and ultimately the university.

The logical thing to do is get rid of Frazier, find a qualified replacement and give Coach Jones the facilities and respect he and the team have so long deserved.

The fans are there so get going, UH

I think the most shocking thing I learned watching the Sugar Bowl was that coach June Jones, in his final and greatest season of his contract with the University of Hawaii, had not even been offered a renewal. There was no offer on the table to keep our coach, no prospect for a new coach, and the recruiting season that could define the next four years of UH football was fast approaching.

I hope that this season and even the loss at the Sugar Bowl were used to encourage the scheduling of quality opponents for the UH Warriors in the future, but looking at the history of missteps, miscalculations, bad judgment and bad calls by the UH athletic department, I question its willingness, ability and commitment to maintaining an NCAA-level sports program at UH.

I graduated from UH in 1979 and have been a lifelong fan of Rainbow Warrior football, Wahine volleyball, Rainbow Warrior volleyball, Rainbow baseball, etc. They are the only game in town. And, while there might have been a question of popularity and fan support for the sports program 15-20 years ago, I think that is in the past. Public support for UH sports, the only game in town, is now clear and compelling. Get with it, UH athletic department. It's about the entire state.

Warriors quarterback a son of Hawaii

Long after the University of Hawaii football season is over, we the fans will remember not the game, but courage, dignity, humility and the character displayed of quarterback Colt Brennan this season.

Never judge a future boss or employer by the way they act and perform when things are going great in a company or organization; when things go bad, look into their eyes and see what type of character comes out of the box. Look at how much character Brennan displayed after the Sugar Bowl. He never blamed others! He apologized for not winning. We all saw him give 110 percent.

In the next 50 years, people will remember the character of individuals, legends will be spun from these stories: UH football team, called the fighting Deans, winning against Oregon State under a rainbow, thus the name, UH Rainbows; Hartwig Freitas running for a winning touchdown beating Nebraska at Lincoln, 6-0 in 1955.

People of Hawaii will remember Colt Brennan, the true son of Hawaii, until they're 60 years old.

Godspeed, Colt Brennan, favorite son of Hawaii you represent well!

More to the story of city and 'Lion King'

Because of the immense pride Honolulu Hale has always taken in our superb Honolulu Symphony, we are distressed at the level of misunderstanding that has arisen in connection with "The Lion King's" recent use of the Blaisdell Concert Hall.

When first approached by "The Lion King" producers, the city began discussions with symphony management on ways to minimize the impact of temporary relocation to other venues. Our efforts to help the symphony even included arranging a major six-figure cash compensation offer from "The Lion King," which the symphony management inexplicably declined.

The symphony's financial difficulties go back many years. And its recent well-publicized management problems also predate the "Lion King" visit.

The Hannemann administration has worked hard to help preserve this cultural asset, with cash grants and other assistance, and will continue to do so -- for the sake of the people of the city and the state, as well as for the musicians who are sacrificing more than anyone to make possible live performances of the great classics.

We would also hope that the state would release funding it is holding back that would help the symphony to better deal with its financial problems.

The rousing success of the run of "The Lion King" proved that Honolulu residents will support first-class Broadway theater. As Mayor Mufi Hannemann has stated, we believe we can have both a successful symphony and theatrical productions staged at the Blaisdell concert hall, and that both are important for a vibrant and thriving arts experience for our residents.

We invite the symphony management to join us in reassuring the public that we all seek the same goals and that we'll work together harder to achieve them in the future.

So it's not the thought that counts ...

I love Christmas, but I love my wife more. This past Christmas sent me on an adventure of frustration looking for the perfect handbag for my wife. It could not be just any hand bag. It had to be the hand bag.

It had to be one that my wife could embrace, love and befriend. It had to be one that would look attractive when slung over her shoulder or when just sitting on the floor beside her, one that would be suitable for almost any casual and even formal occasion. It has to stand up and not collapse in an exhausted heap when placed on the floor or on the desk. The straps had be adjustable so that with a quick sweep of her right hand she could reach into it as it was hanging over her right shoulder while her left hand was holding the objects she intended to purchase. It had to accompany her anywhere. It had to be large, but small. It had to organize everything she put into it in a disorganized fashion. It had to quickly, and with little effort, display her credit cards, her cash, her cell phone, her identification cards, her reading glasses and her gum and mints. Everything had to be easily accessible, but inaccessible to unauthorized hands; it had to be attractive but unattractively practical. It had to contain all of those things from past Christmases that she had not had enough time to sort through and dispose of. It had to be a refuge for those items she could not decide whether to take with her and continue to contain those items she could not decide to discontinue taking with her.

An extensive internet search could not satisfy my need to feel and see the items, so I went from store to store, looking high and low, wishing this was larger and that was smaller, this was black and that was leather, rejecting this and that, and as the frustration mounted, I began to feel as though I were looking for a surrogate husband. When I came around to refusing to be replaced by a handbag, I was able to settle on something less than perfect.

Now, after Christmas is over and the handbag has been unwrapped, I still wonder if she appreciates how perfect that handbag really is. It is said that it is the thought that counts; I say that it is the suffering.