Star-Bulletin's closure: Readers react

Harris should be lauded for fighting Heco

The mayor should be commended, rather than condemned by the Star-Bulletin, for his willingness to take on Heco and its lack of environmental concern in placing huge, high-voltage lines above ground on Oahu.

The PUC has lost its credibility with the public. It has shown it is unable to adequately assess the total impacts of Heco's actions. Since it has become the utility's kangaroo court, we need another review body that is more responsive to the community.

The mayor is taking a considerable political risk here. Heco will no doubt spend substantial sums fighting his re-election. Unfortunately, the company represents the epitome of the "engineering mentality" -- number one son of "plantation mentality" -- that drives public works projects around here.

Alex Achimore
Via the Internet

Scaling the heights of political correctness

Thank God that Emil Guillermo has courageously come forward to point out man's unjust treatment of our finned friends (Sept. 16, Asian Persuasion).

For years, we've callously permitted the use of such derogatory terms as "that sounds fishy," "wall-eyed stare," "he's a cold fish" or "loan shark." Insensitive haoles have adopted names like "J. Akuhead Pupule," and a New York mobster favored the appellation, "the Tuna."

The noble albacore has been anthropomorphically portrayed as a sneeringly accented "Charlie" by a major fish processor. The intelligent dolphin is the mascot/symbol for a bunch of mud-covered Neanderthals who lack the political sensitivity with which our own UH campus is abundantly blessed. Auwe!

I'd go on, but my wife and daughter want to go out for sushi.

Larry J. Eshleman
Aiea
Via the Internet

Quotables "There should be a law that songs have a melody, more than three chords and involved the interesting development of a story." Al Jarreau Five-time Grammy Award winner Musing before his performance this weekend with the Honolulu Pops orchestra "I'm just not comfortable that they want a project. I don't think they understand business." D.G. "Andy" Anderson Hawaii developer After a meeting with the Hawaii Community Development Authority board of directors on his proposed $138 million complex of entertainment-oriented shops and attractions called Kewalo Pointe

ACLU believes in freedom of religion

James G. Borden (Letters, Aug. 30) should think more carefully before he accuses the ACLU of attacks upon his faith. As far as the ACLU is concerned, he is perfectly free to worship as he wishes, and so is everyone else. What the ACLU objects to, and I concur with, is the notion that government should promote a particular religion.

Borden's discussion of history should note that after the Pilgrims settled the Massachusetts Bay Colony, they proceeded to give the bum's rush to Roger Williams, because he disagreed with their flavor of Christianity.

Williams, banished from Massachusetts because of his beliefs (http://www.nps.gov/rowi/), founded Providence in 1636. This colony served as a refuge where all could come to worship as their conscience dictated without interference from the state.

The founders of our Bill of Rights institutionalized two ideas about freedom of religion: that government would not sanction any particular religion, and that Americans would be free to explore their faiths as they please without "interference from the state." Thank God for that.

Khalil J. Spencer
Via the Internet

Unions have right to make endorsements

David Shapiro's Sept. 11 column, "Blurred vision at UH," took a swipe at the "faculty's foolish foray into political endorsements." I think he likes to use words like "foolish faculty" and "foray" because alliteration makes him sound erudite, and is both fancy and furiously fun to say.

If Shapiro meant that the union was "foolish" by making political endorsements, well, too bad. That's what unions and other special interests do. If we were foolish, so is everybody else that does the same thing -- including the Star-Bulletin.

John Radcliffe

Synchronize those traffic lights

While dreamers within and outside government figure out more ways to spend our tax dollars to fix traffic problems, such as an underwater tunnel, I have a cheaper fix. How about synchronizing the stoplights?

Just drive along a main drag like Vineyard Boulevard, or even a medium drag like Wilder Avenue, during rush hour. It becomes immediately apparent that "synchronization" is not in the local traffic engineer's dictionary. As soon as one light turns green, the light on the next block turns red.

If it takes rocket science to synchronize the lights, so be it. The salaries of rocket scientists would be a bargain compared to building an underwater tunnel.

James Ko
Via the Internet

Accident brought out best in bystanders

On Aug. 26, our daughter's car flipped over on Farrington Highway town-bound just past Honokai Hale. She was thrown from the car, which probably saved her life. She suffered a broken neck and pelvis, but is on the mend and will make a complete recovery.

We wanted to thank all those who helped her. A good Samaritan stopped and assisted, even using his cell phone to make a call for her. Thanks also to firefighters and ambulance personnel, the police, the Medivac unit that transported her to Queen's Hospital, and the trauma team there. They all helped her through a rough time. The people in intensive care also helped her through those first couple of days.

We also want to thank everyone who wished our daughter well and offered their prayers for her speedy recovery.

Allan and Judy Rapoza
Waipahu
Via the Internet

War memorial should be reflective place

Waikiki already has a salt-water swimming pool -- the lagoon off Magic Island at Ala Moana Beach Park. Even with its five wide openings to the Pacific and plenty of water inflow, the lagoon is still filthy.

Lets restore the Natatorium's arch and, in place of the pool, create a memorial beach. A war memorial should be a quiet place for family and friends to reflect upon the sacrifices made by our beloved veterans. A beach provides exactly that kind of setting.

Jeffrey Herman
Via the Internet

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A newspaper is more than an investment

I'm dumbfounded that the Star-Bulletin is ending because it generates "only" a 12 percent return on investment, according to your owner. I thought newspapers were interested in providing news, analysis and entertainment to their readers.

Closing a newspaper because it doesn't generate a 25-30 percent return on investment is callous.

Herbert Arai
Via the Internet

Star-Bulletin was long-distance friend

My family has subscribed to the Star-Bulletin for more than 40 years. It told us about ourselves, brought the world to Hawaii at a time when there was no such thing as satellite feed, and stood as witness to the most extraordinary of centuries in a place that seemed at once removed from strife and the focus of it.

But personally, more than all of these things, the Star-Bulletin gave me the greatest gift of all: It taught me how to read.

Mahalo to all of the staff for everything they have done, and for electronically delivering the Star-Bulletin all the way to Tokyo for the last four years. My mom thought it was funny that I often knew about things happening in Hawaii, even before she did.

Joel Muraoka
Tokyo, Japan
Via the Internet

Afternoon reading will be missed

I was shocked and saddened when I saw the headlines proclaiming the closing of the Star-Bulletin after so many years of excellent investigative reporting, thought-provoking editorials and columns that adeptly conveyed the heart and essence of "our town."

How sad for Hawaii to have only one daily newspaper and one editorial viewpoint. But in a state where there is essentially only one political party, it should not be that surprising.

For 38 years, I have looked forward to reading the afternoon paper. Who has time to read the paper in the morning when you have to rush to work?

Shirley L. Nied
Via the Internet

Governor's remarks reveal his selfish nature

What a sad day it will be in October when the evening paper comes to a halt. Of the two dailies, the evening paper is better. The island needs two different perspectives on the news.

As for Governor Cayetano's comment that he couldn't "care less" if there are one or two newspapers in this town, it's obvious by now that he really COULDN'T care less about anything that might be good for Hawaii.

Very sad. Maybe he's forgotten that there are other people on this island besides himself. Next I suppose he'll say we should close down the Honolulu Symphony because he doesn't like that kind of music.

Adrienne L. Wilson-Yamasaki
Wahiawa
Via the Internet

There's no price tag on points of view

Governor Cayetano should not have said that he couldn't care less if there are one or two newspapers. Points of view do matter -- a lot.

Remember, the governor said before the 1998 election that the economy was turning around and we had millions in a budget surplus. These statements were political oratory and deserved honest debate in public forums like the Star-Bulletin.

Its demise will substantially lessen the public's right to know, and hurt informed political discourse in Hawaii.

Anson Rego
Waianae
Via the Internet

Hawaii is losing a valuable resource

Your paper has been there all my life, and it is unimaginable to think it might not be there by Thanksgiving.

Who will take your place in thoroughness and innovation? Does the Advertiser have an online version of its newspaper, an archive of issues dating back over three years, a Bishop Estate archive or archived resources as you did in the Dana Ireland trial?

It's a crying shame to think that Hawaii -- and the larger world, thanks to the Internet -- will lose such a valuable resource.

Debbie Sakamoto
Pearl City
Via the Internet

Star-Bulletin is needed more than ever

No! This can't be happening! Now, more than ever, Hawaii needs two public voices in the discussion of its future.

Charles Oldham
Hana, Maui
Via the Internet

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