Higher taxes will result
in fewer goods purchased

I fail to see how raising the excise tax some 30 percent is going to help stimulate our economy. While tourists are here for one or two weeks, I have to purchase products and services all year round. A tax on consumption will merely reduce consumption -- sending more businesses under at even greater record rates.

What people need are good paying jobs, and business needs the breaks to create those jobs. This package will hurt small businesses, not help it.

Victor Ching
Mililani
(Via the Internet)

Never mind advice;
Palolo needs another fire truck

In view of the Oct. 15 fire that took seven lives and burned three homes in Palolo, Honolulu Fire Chief Anthony Lopez came to a Palolo Neighborhood Board meeting.

The chief answered questions but it sounded more like a debate. It boiled down to whether a second fire truck at the Palolo Fire Station would have saved structures or lives.

The chairperson's purpose was to emphasize the need for a second truck at the fire station. This was not resolved, as the chief stated that a second truck was not needed.

Lopez suggested that the board urge that every household have a smoke detector and that people have an escape plan in case a fire breaks out in their homes.

So, Fire Chief Anthony Lopez, now that I have done what you asked, can we now have our second mini fire truck at the Palolo Fire Station?

Carolyn Walther

Convention center should use
glottal stop correctly

Regarding the "glottal goof" story in your Oct. 23 issue, I am appalled by Convention Center project director Hayashi's comment that the goof is "not unacceptable." It is unacceptable to use an apostrophe when one is conveying the Hawaiian language/history.

No research is necessary -- the 'okina should be utilized wherever there are Hawaiian names at the Convention Center and everywhere in the state, for that matter.

Ty Sutton, head of the center's design committee, said, "If it's wrong, it'll be fixed." It is wrong. So please fix it!

L.G. Crockett
Ewa Beach

Drug offenders should stay
behind prison bars

In response to Donald Topping's Oct. 25 letter, "Releasing drug offenders would ease overcrowding," I question his logic. He wrote, "I would rather have a drug merchant on the streets than a burglar, robber, rapist or even a white-collar thief."

If we think about this for a minute, we would realize that drug merchants on the street sell drugs. Many people who abuse drugs don't hold down full-time jobs; they're too busy abusing drugs.

And where do they get the money to buy drugs from the drug merchants that Topping would like to see released from prison? They steal it.

How many burglars, robbers, rapists and even white-collar thieves buy drugs from a drug merchant? One drug merchant can have a serious impact on a community.

Deciding whether or not to release prisoners early is a difficult decision. Deciding which prisoners to release early is even more difficult.

Releasing the wrong prisoners might reduce the prison population today -- but what will be the effect on the population tomorrow?

Wesley Miller
Ewa Beach

This is not competition
between two memorials

I cannot understand why the National Park Service objects to docking the battleship USS Missouri a thousand feet makai of the Arizona Memorial. The superintendent of the Arizona said in an Oct. 15 story that the Missouri would "overshadow" the Arizona Memorial. That's simply not true.

This is not about one memorial overshadowing another. Rather, the USS Missouri and the USS Arizona together will embody our country's march from the devastating surprise attack on Dec. 7, 1941 to final victory and the dawn of a new peace in the Pacific.

The Arizona Memorial superintendent also said that visitors flocking to see the USS Missouri would shatter the "quiet contemplative" atmosphere at the Arizona Memorial.

The Foxtrot 5 pier where the Missouri will be temporarily moored is already a working pier where active ships often berth. I haven't heard any complaints about the movement of those ships and their liberty boats disrupting the solemnity of the memorial.

In fact, I have been on the Arizona Memorial when naval vessels have been moored at Foxtrot 5 and, frankly, I never noticed them.

Alan S. Lloyd
Kailua

Rejoice in all the joy
that Alana brought Hawaii

I was -- like thousands of islanders -- saddened to hear of Alana Dung's passing, some say to a better place.

But through all the sadness, I was able to smile. I thought of Alana's wish that had come true. Her wish? No more tests, X-rays, needles, blood and hospitals.

I thought of the compassionate people who went out of their way to help Alana by doing what most don't enjoy: donating blood.

I thought of families who will benefit from the bone marrow drives, held in Alana's name. I thought how wonderful it was that Alana allowed us to see that what exists in us all is the ability to band together as one, with all differences aside, to aid those in need.

If we shed tears, let them be happy tears for Alana's positive affect, not of her trying life.

Warren A. Kaneshiro

Group that toppled cross
didn't care about H-3

So, where was the Hawaii Citizens for the Separation of State and Church, the group that sued to bring down the Kolekole Pass cross, when taxpayers were paying $4 million to reroute H-3 around a defunct taro patch on state land that was claimed to be a religious structure?

Robert Hoffman
Kailua

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Bishop Estate Archive

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