Saturday, March 1, 1997

'10 Most Wanted' posters
don't belong on TheBus

As a professor working with Native Hawaiian and non-Hawaiian students, I try to educate them that Hawaiian people aren't a bunch of criminals. It is difficult to reconcile a positive image, however, with the Crime Stoppers' "Most Wanted" posters on TheBus.

These posters are a reminder of vestiges from a colonial past, which viewed Hawaiians as savages and a morally corrupt people. They do a disservice not only to Hawaiians but to all residents and visitors.

These posters distort perceptions. In the latest list of Oahu's Ten Most Wanted, Crime Stoppers displays four of the 10 men as either Hawaiian or part-Hawaiian.

Since Hawaiians or part-Hawaiians make up about 20 percent of the total population, and males constitute roughly half of the adult population, one can easily see how these posters over-represent men of Hawaiian ancestry as criminals.

Crime Stoppers' 10 Most Wanted list should be available from the HPD web page, the newspapers or tabloids. But I resent being visually assaulted on TheBus by this indignity.

Morris Saldov
Associate Professor of Social Work
University of Hawaii-Manoa
(Via the Internet)

Book publisher is incensed
by Baker & Taylor fiasco

I have never heard of an entire state allowing a private, out-of-state company like Baker & Taylor to decide what goes onto its library shelves and what doesn't!

We publishers are constantly inundated with offers from companies who offer, for a price, to place ads for our books in library journals and mass mailings to the nation's librarians. It comes as a major shock that - as far as Hawaii goes - we've been flushing our money down the toilet.

Richard Sullivan
Publisher
Driving & Discovering Hawaii Books
Los Angeles, Calif.
(Via the Internet)

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Monday, March 3, 1997

Country cannot 'overreact'
to threat of nuclear waste

Regarding North Korea's proposed import of nuclear waste from Taiwan, the Star-Bulletin concluded in a Feb. 18 editorial: "Considering that the issue has to do with low-level waste that is not extremely hazardous, the South Koreans seem to be overreacting."

If they are overreacting, so are many others - including but not limited to lofty Greenpeace.

Certainly I would "overreact" too, if the waste was to be imported to Hawaii. It must be of little fun to imagine tons of "low-level" time-bombs ticking underground close to one's bedroom.

To me, the export of any nuclear or even non-nuclear waste to a foreign country is unethical.

Sun Ho Min
Kapolei

Don't wait for government
to make Hawaii better

I was saddened by your recent column by the local high school graduate faced with the dilemma: Hawaii or the mainland? I wasn't saddened by the fact that he had to make such a decision but because he felt someone else should do something to improve the economic situation in Hawaii.

Individuals must take the lead, not government. If we truly believe that others can solve our problems, then we have no real confidence in ourselves. If we have no confidence in ourselves, we'll never attempt to reach for higher goals.

Without confidence and hope, we are doomed to live off the handouts of others.

Get going, people! Get real and do something. Instead of asking "Who will help me?" ask "What can I do to help?"

Kevin Saito
Iwakuni, Japan
(Via the Internet)

Cars kill more people
than firearms in Hawaii

In recent years, people have taken a realistic look at the right to bear arms. Laws like the Brady Act and the assault weapons ban have established a safer, working framework for a peaceful society.

Unfortunately, there is a much deadlier weapon available to anyone who can afford one. Automobiles are taking lives at a frightening rate.

In Hawaii, too many of us have been touched closely by the death of a friend or family member in a traffic accident. Kahuku High School alone has had at least six of its students die in crashes in the last decade.

Rep. Cynthia Thielen recently distributed a questionnaire which asks, among other things, if Hawaii should go to a graduated licensing system as many states have done (often three levels, beginning with a learner's permit). To this, I emphatically answer, "Yes!"

But we must go even further with our approach to licensing drivers. We must have tougher testing and relicensing standards. We must stop thinking of driving as some unwritten constitutional right. Those who can't show themselves to be truly safe drivers should never be allowed behind the wheel.

We must control access to the weapons, if we ever hope to put an end to these senseless deaths.

Ken Armstrong
Kailua
(Via the Internet)

Women should be allowed
to carry guns for protection

Welcome to the real world, Diane Chang (Feb. 21, "The fatal public beating of Julia Kealoha"). What would have happened if Chang had used her pepper spray on Vestal Simeona and it didn't work? What would she do then? Chang would have become another victim of violence.

In the time that it took the police to get to the Foodland parking lot, the deed was done. Kealoha was beaten so badly that she later died.

What is the answer to such violence? Women must first realize that the law and the police will not be there to protect them when they need it.

All of the law enforcement agencies and women's groups here encourage women to become victims of male violence.

None of these groups tell a battered woman to fight back. None of these agencies tell a woman to get a gun and learn how to protect herself.

True, not all women should arm themselves -- only those who have made the decision to be survivors. These women should be encouraged and informed of when they can and should shoot an attacker.

The laws in Hawaii must be changed to force the police chief to issue concealed carry permits to endangered women. If not, Chief Nakamura must be held accountable every time a woman calls 911 for help and the police arrive too late.

Debbie Okamura

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