How could alienated teens escape notice?

Can someone please explain how teen-agers of the "Trenchcoat Mafia" reached a level of desperation that compelled them to hurt so many people? And further, kill themselves?

Were there no warning signs? Could their parents have been so disconnected to their children that the "Trenchcoat Mafia" paralyzed a school and a community with fear and did so without them knowing?

I cannot understand how life has become expendable to so many. It is the responsibility of parents, educators and even clergy to stay in tune with children. Whatever it was that drove them to such extremes is still out there.

In the meantime, we should all talk to our kids about guns and morality. The difference between right and wrong should be taught as vigorously as mathematics.

I assume that the National Rifle Association will immediately release the automated response, "guns don't kill people, people kill people." Tell that to the father who lost his twin daughters.

The right to bear arms does not entitle anyone to use them in this manner. I am angry and intend to teach my children about these difficult issues, and I implore you to do the same.

Joahn Sperry
Wahiawa
Via the Internet

Ask Cayetano about Uwaine appointment

On April 15, letter writer Jim Fromm questioned why the infamous Clifford Uwaine has been nominated to a position of trust by the governor.

For those too young or who choose not to remember, Uwaine was the shameful state legislator who mentored, taught, supervised and advised then-law student Ross Segawa and Ross's cronies how to falsify voter registration forms and submit them in an attempt to elect Segawa. They were convicted and punished.

Apparently, Governor Cayetano views Uwaine's ways of doing things as something that the board of trustees of the Hawaii Public Health Trust Fund is in need of. As to what or whom it benefits and why, contact the governor for details.

Clifford Y.C. Chock

"This is not a Bishop Estate battle. This is a battle (involving) our highest legal officer and she has failed miserably." Marshall Ige STATE SENATOR Defending his right to vote against the reappointment of Attorney General Margery Bronster, despite his being a target of her Bishop Estate investigation "It can happen anywhere. You can't prevent it, because how do you predict human behavior?" Mel Seo DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION SAFETY OFFICER On Monday's shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., which resulted in 15 fatalities

Vision for communities deserves support

Many of the citizens of Koolau Loa are grateful to Mayor Harris for inviting the participation of our communities in the creation of a vision for our moku in the next century. Dozens of people spent hundreds of hours in this process and nominated 21st century projects consistent with the vision developed by the groups.

The nominated projects represent long-standing community needs. These include plans to control the flooding which plagues our coastline, inclusion of sidewalks and bike paths to keep our children safe from the perils of Kamehameha Highway, overdue park and playground improvements, and space provisions for town meetings.

I urge the City Council to support Koolau Loa's 21st century projects. Such support would acknowledge the genuine needs of our community, and affirm the sincere commitment of our citizens in making Koolau Loa a better place for all.

Lea E. Albert
Principal
Kahuku High and
Intermediate Schools

Without God, people like Kahle are lost

Mitch Kahle is a me-person. People who do not believe in God become gods unto themselves.

Without God, godless people become their own arbiters of truth. For if God does not exist, then the only source of truth is within "me," who in this instance is the organizer of the Hawaii Citizens for Separation of State and Church.

Alvin Nakamura

Conservatives are not friends of civil rights

Kudos to Allicyn Hikida Tasaka of the Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women for bringing to our attention the country's long and tedious march for social equality. At one time, we did not enjoy the full rights and privileges afforded to us now.

Women could not vote until 1920. Minorities could not marry whites in all states until 1967. We have come far, but not far enough. Discrimination still exists, despite laws that prohibit such behavior.

It is laughable for Richard Garver (Letters, March 31) to write that conservatives like Ward Connerly have "done more for equal and civil rights than all of the feminists put together." This decade, conservatives have sought to systematically dismantle civil rights laws, enforcement powers and government programs that promote social justice and equality.

Greater awareness of our civil rights history, as Tasaka promotes, will ensure that we are moving toward greater equity, rather than turning back the clock as Connerly did.

William M. Kaneko

Teamster drivers should count their blessings

All I read in the letters to the editor are people backing up Leo Reed and his Teamsters' stand against the producers of "Baywatch."

Let's hear from the wives of the Teamsters drivers who would have missed employment had the governor not interceded and convinced everyone to work together for the good of us all.

May Welsing

Film industry should get more tax breaks

Now that "Baywatch" will produce its TV series in the islands, the state should do more to attract the film industry here.

Sweetening the deal for this clean industry could be easy and immediate. A 3.5 percent reduction on all goods and services purchased by a film production company would be substantial. This could be accomplished by the state tax office treating film production as a retailer buying wholesale, and therefore only charging it a .5 percent gross excise tax.

The state would more than make up for this 3.5 percent loss of income by the economic benefits it would receive from this industry.

Jack Law
Via the Internet

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