Frank Young is one of Chevron's best

I support Frank Young's advocacy for lower pump prices and feel that Chevron's lawsuit seeking to force him to vacate the station because he has been "hurting the company" is inconsistent with the fact that he is one of the company's top operators.

My support also comes from being the recipient of his generosity. He was one of my most generous sponsors when I was Miss Hawaii 1995, initially donating gas and car washes. When he learned that I didn't even have a car to redeem those prizes with, he quickly offered to loan me one.

May Frank Young's generosity and intentions to help Hawaii's consumers continue through his family's business.

Traci Toguchi
Los Angeles
Via the Internet

Quotables "We're always against what we consider to be antitrust activities, or reducing or eliminating competition. Obviously, in this particular situation, I don't think anyone will say it's better to have one newspaper than two, as long as they are editorially independent." Earl Anzai HAWAII ATTORNEY GENERAL Saying that the state will go to court to block the shutdown of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, set to close Oct. 30 "Natives want different things. We're arguing about land and who controls that land. How do you combat racism without identity politics?" Lilikala Kame'eleihiwa DIRECTOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII CENTER FOR HAWAIIAN STUDIES Responding to longtime human-rights activist Joe Hicks of Los Angeles, who said during a visit to Hawaii that racial politics in America "keep us divided"

Pidgin must be eradicated in schools

Board of Education Chairman Mitsugi Nakashima was exactly right when he said, "If you speak pidgin, then you think pidgin, and you write pidgin." He was even more right when he said that enforcing standard English as the norm in the classroom may be difficult to police.

However, for the sake of Hawaii's students, it must be done. Right or wrong, Hawaii is part of the United States. Like it or not, English is the dominant language in this country.

Fair or unfair, our students' writing proficiency is measured against standard English norms. It must start in kindergarten, continue through grade 12, and be stressed in all classes at all schools.

Michael VonTungeln
Kaneohe
Via the Internet

Hawaiians need to speak proper English

I am Hawaiian, and grew up in a military family. As we traveled around the world, I heard many different languages and "slangs." Pidgin English was one form of those slangs.

But if Hawaiians, as a people, wish to gain the respect of the international community, we'd better learn to enunciate and use proper diction.

Maybe a class on pronunciation and speech is needed to enhance Hawaii children's ability and aptitude for speech. If we don't want to be pitied or considered inferior, and if we want our opinions to be asked for, we'd better learn to speak so the world will listen, or we'll remain a curiosity and nothing more.

Rick Losa
Merrifield, Va.
Via the Internet

Pidgin needn't stand in way of success

As a prospective fifth grader at Makiki's Lincoln Elementary in 1938, I remember being subjected to an English test, to determine my being qualified to enroll in a "standard English" school.

As I look back on that experience 60 years hence, I tend to agree with Board of Education Chairman Mitsugi Nakashima, who recently said that pidgin users probably think in pidgin, which is tantamount to sloppy, "short-cut" thinking.

But my pidgin-speaking classmates also spoke good English, probably thought in good English, and many of them went on to become leaders both in and out of Hawaii.

Richard C. Vanderburgh
Dayton, Ohio
Via the Internet

Paper chronicled importance of education

My heart sank as I read about the closing of the Star-Bulletin. It means that, at the end of a long day, my home will no longer be visited by the bylines of first-class reporters like Debra Barayuga, Tim Ryan and Gregg Kakesako. I will miss being greeted by Dave Donnelly's "Hawaii" column and June Watanabe's "Kokua Line." I will miss Pat Bigold's insightful articles about Hawaii sports.

The Star-Bulletin made a strong effort to cover education, from the Saturday "Super Student" and "Top Teacher" profiles to consistently reporting on this state's National Merit semifinalists and other important student accomplishments.

Your staff members deserve much mahalo for working their hardest through rough times, tight budgets and challenges beyond their control.

You will all be missed greatly. The loss to Hawaii is tremendous.

Cathy Lee Mosteller
Director of Communications
Iolani School
Via the Internet

Who will report on Legislature's pratfalls?

Who will report on Hawaii's greatest show on earth -- the state Legislature also known as the Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey circus, after the Star-Bulletin closes its doors?

The newspaper was one of the shining beacons in a very dense fog! Hail and farewell.

A. Locascio

Shutdown announcement

Cochran is not good poster boy for ACLU

Shame on the American Civil Liberties Union for inviting attorney Johnnie Cochran to be its keynote speaker at its awards dinner on Oct. 9. Notwithstanding its recorded telephone message that he is a "longtime advocate for the Bill of Rights," Cochran has done more than anyone to undermine faith in the American legal system with his racially polarizing tactics, police baiting and self-promoting behavior in the O.J. Simpson trial.

Overall, as his behavior in the Latrell Sprewell NBA suspension case illustrates, his mode of operation throughout his career has been to throw grenades at rather than to shed light on cases of alleged abuses, leaving bitterness and recriminations in their wake. He has continually scapegoated the police for all of the ills of this country, and smeared decent and hard-working officers because of the misdeeds of a few.

In short, Cochran's activities inevitably lead to anger, bitterness and increased racial polarization rather than the resolution of real problems that exist in our society.

Paul Wright
Via the Internet

Legislature Directory
Hawaii Revised Statutes
UH student news Ka Leo O Hawaii

---

Write a
Letter to the Editor

Want to write a letter to the editor? Let all Star-Bulletin readers know what you think. Please keep your letter to about 200 words. You can send it by e-mail to letters@starbulletin.com or you can fill in the online form for a faster response. Or print it and mail it to: Letters to the Editor, P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, Hawaii 96802. Or fax it to: 523-8509. Always be sure to include your daytime phone number.