Hilo player picked for top basketball team

I certainly have to congratulate my close friend “;Hina”; Kimitete of the University of Hawaii-Hilo women's basketball team on being invited to participate on the USA Athletes International Basketball Team, which is set to compete in the 2009 Buenos Aires Goodwill Series in Buenos Aires, Argentina this summer.

Hina's a great basketball player in addition to being a class act off the court. She has a personality that of the song “;Sara Smile”; by Hall & Oates. In the last home game against Chaminade, she went a perfect 8 for 8 from the line and 5 for 5 from 3-point range for 21 points. Such stats are amazing and close to as perfect as anybody can do.

Hina is a basketball legend at UH-Hilo and Konawaena High School and will only get better her senior year for the Vulcans. It has been a blessing to witness Hina play for the Vulcans and she has one more year of eligibility left. Hina Kimitete, what a basketball talent and more important, one great individual.

It's not about religion, it's about civil rights

I am a native Hawaiian living in Hawaii who, like all Hawaiian families I know, have gay and lesbian family members. We all agree that there is no reason that gay and lesbian couples and their children should not have equal rights. Many of my own relatives protested against gay marriage at the Capitol in 1998 and now they fully support equality for gays and lesbians.

The civil unions bill that passed out of the Hawaii House of Representatives and is now before the Senate provides equal rights to same-sex couples. Civil unions do not change the legal definition of marriage nor is any religious community required to perform or recognize them. This is strictly a matter of civil rights and providing equality under the laws of Hawaii. This bill does not go beyond the desires of the Hawaii electorate. It is consistent with the values held by the majority of Hawaii's residents who already support equality for same-sex couples.

Why no 'God is love' for gay couples?

To the “;Christian”; protest against civil unions:

Congratulations on your display of bigotry. Contrary to the Christian tenets of “;love thy neighbor,”; “;do unto others”; and “;God is love,”; your demonstration of intolerance, fear and loathing at the state Capitol the other day suggests to the rest of us who actually practice tolerance that your belief has been perverted by your misguided leadership.

Those whom the legislation benefits - by the way, in accordance with the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution - intend you no harm, nor conspire somehow to corrupt your children.

It is possible that your hypocrisy is the larger lesson in the insincere practice of your beliefs.

Not all Democrats favor civil unions

I oppose same-sex marriage. I'm “;none of the above”; from Michael Golojuch's letter (Star-Bulletin, Feb. 23): I teach biology, I think global warming is a threat and I voted for Bill Clinton twice and Barack Obama once.

I oppose same-sex marriage. I have the right to oppose it ... the people of Hawaii oppose it. He and others like him cannot dictate what I believe in.

When bills go bad, you get fireworks

New Year's Eve was another miserable occasion with illegal aerials going off all day and into the early morning. After New Year's Eve, state Rep. Roy Takumi submitted House Bill 397, which would ban all fireworks in counties with a population of more than 500,000, and HB 398, which provided for a statewide ban of consumer fireworks (firecrackers).

The two bills were heard on Feb. 5 by the House Committee on Public Safety, which removed the substance of the first bill and rewrote it. The new bill: “;Assesses a surcharge tax on the sale of consumer fireworks. Requires retailers to report on fireworks sold and requires the Department of Health to report on the effects of fireworks on young children.”; The 500,000-population ban is no longer part of it.

HB 398 passed with amendments. However, the Public Safety Committee deleted its contents and added language that allows counties to enact ordinances or adopt rules regulating fireworks that are more restrictive than the state law regulating fireworks. But HB 398 is no longer a ban of fireworks.

The new HB 397 is a joke. Increased taxes will do nothing to alleviate all the illegal fireworks. And the state doesn't need to waste money studying the effects of fireworks on children. The particulates are bad for their lungs, and loud noises are bad for their hearing.

How can the Public Safety Committee ignore the advice of police, firemen and the American Lung Association, and endanger the health of Hawaii's people?