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Here come bills pushing gambling again

The debate over the positive and negative effects of gambling continues. Several pro-gambling bills are alive at the state Legislature and more may be introduced.

As the National Gambling Impact Study Commission completed its two-year research on gambling, Commission Chairwoman Kay C. James commented, "Those who predict the debate over gambling is over are mistaken. It's actually just the beginning."

Often, when an issue like this becomes polarized, the result is an impasse. In the meantime, people are left with little help in making choices about whether to gamble, how much to gamble or how to get help for someone with a gambling problem.

There are a number of things that we all can do, regardless of our personal beliefs about gambling. They include:

Encouraging discussion among people of all ages about the risks associated with gambling.

Supporting those who choose not to gamble.

Helping those who choose to gamble to develop personal guidelines to reduce the risk of developing a gambling problem.

Sharing our concerns with those who gamble inappropriately or in high-risk ways.

Seeking information about gambling from a growing supply of literature

Robert T. Bobilin

Guarantee business owners a 'living wage'

With the state Legislature starting its annual exercise of balancing competing special interests, it is noted that an increase in the minimum wage is to be reintroduced. Yet it comes to my attention at least once a week that some small business entrepreneur is earning less than the minimum wage, often working 60-70 or more hours each week.

In a spirit of equity, it is hoped that our lawmakers will include a provision to guarantee business owners an income at least equivalent to the minimum wage as well as a reasonable return on their investment.

That should be done before any increase is considered. Otherwise, fairness and justice suffer as employees (if any) get paid more than the owners do.

Don't owners deserve a "living wage?" If not, does anyone? If so, does everyone?

Richard O. Rowland
Legislative Action Chairman
Small Business Hawaii

Fluoridation or safe drinking water?

Whether to fluoridate our drinking water, already one of the best in the country, should not be an issue. Fluoride is a poison. Don't believe me? Check your fluoride toothpaste regarding contacting the Poison Control Center.

Common sense tells us that fluoridated water will result in long-term build-up of poison in the land and ocean, an environmental no-no. It would be like spraying pesticides, then years later finding it in our water, fruits, vegetables and seafood.

Haven't we learned from the toxic build-up of lead and pesticide in our water? We need to be creative with non-toxic alternatives. Please, keep our drinking water safe.

Adrian Chang

Quotables "It turned out to have eyes -- an enormous octopus, a wonderful creature. She inspected me while I inspected her." Sylvia Earle NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC'S EXPLORER-IN-RESIDENCE Describing her sighting of a 6-foot octopus while diving in a one-person submersible in the Auau Channel between Maui and Lanai "We could have set up this business in Silicon Valley. (But) we wanted the quality of life we could only find here in Hawaii." Lambert Onuma OAHU-BORN AND -RAISED CEO OF PACIFIC INTERNET EXCHANGE CORP. Unveiling a $100-million plan to start a Honolulu- based high-tech venture that may put Hawaii on the map as a premier provider of Internet switching services

Ultimate plan is to develop Ala Wai

Why all the hand-wringing over the loss of the Ala Wai Golf Course? True, we don't need another park -- which is precisely the reason the powers-that-be want to put one there.

First, the golf course is turned into a park. Then, a year from now, somebody says, "Oops, you were right. We don't need all this extra park land. Guess we should sell it to some developer to help pay down the city's debts."

It will go from the most-used municipal golf course in the world to a major Waikiki development. And we thought these guys weren't so smart.

There is so much wheeling and dealing behind closed doors in this town that most of us fail to see the hidden agenda before it's too late. In a few months, though, we can change this by throwing these rascals out of office.

B. Bonifacio
Kapolei

Guns are best form of self-defense

It's not surprising that a high percentage of Hawaii residents, polled shortly after the Xerox shootings, favor additional restrictions on firearms ownership.

The Gallup Poll shows consistently (over 60-plus years) that about 50 percent of Democrats say "yes" to those questions in a poll.

Perhaps the next poll question should be worded like this:

What would you do if you or your loved ones or colleagues were ever threatened with lethal force (murder, rape, maiming or kidnapping) at home or work?

A) Dial 911.

B) Dial 911 while holding your loaded self-defense firearm and gathering your loved ones or colleagues behind a defensive perimeter.

C) Wish you had taken lessons in self-defense with a firearm.

If you answered C), call us at L.I.F.E. (Lessons In Firearms Education), 396-4604.

Ardie Cooper
President, L.I.F.E.
Kaneohe

People must protect selves from government

The purpose of owning guns is not to hunt deer or protect yourself from criminals, although these are obvious incidental benefits. The purpose of the Second Amendment is to protect us from our own government.

The Declaration of Independence says that if any form of government becomes destructive to our rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, "it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government...to effect their safety and happiness."

If our present socialist-leaning government ever became a socialist totalitarian regime, it would be advantageous to have a gun.

Ownership of firearms is the ultimate symbol of freedom, trust and liberty. If we curtail this right to the extent there is no difference between restriction and confiscation, then government of the people and by the people will soon become meaningless, and the American experiment in self-government will eventually fail.

Bruce Wong

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