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Differing views on Elian story

Miami family forced government to act

Every word of outrage expressed by the Miami "family" of Elian Gonzalez against the raid by the federal agents more accurately describes the actions of that same "family" and their fellow Castro-hating supporters that forced Janet Reno's hand.

To keep a son from his father for so long -- disgraceful! How could they do that to the boy? Thank you for ending that part of this sad ordeal, Ms. Reno!

Rich Stacey
Makiki

Armed raid on family shamed the country

I am thoroughly ashamed of my country for allowing the Gestapo-like raid on the Miami house and the seizure of the tearful young boy.

I am sure that the ghosts of the Gestapo, old Soviet NKVD, and WWII Japanese Kempei-Tai agents would admire the methods used by the marshals, INS officers and Border Patrol people.

With only a bit of sarcasm, I suggest allowing all members of the raiding party to add to their uniforms the hammer and sickle and/or the swastika.

I left the Marine Corps after 39 years of service with a sense of honor and pride in the dignity of my country. I no longer feel so honorable and proud.

Clifford R. Robinson
Lt. Col., USMC (Retired)
Kailua

People flee Cuba for U.S., not vice versa

In your Friday edition, How Tim Chang exhorted readers to ponder the advantages of life in Cuba when compared to life in these United States.

Thousands of people flee Cuba by risking their lives in various ways. What I don't see is reciprocal human activity going the other way. Chang also mentioned the magnanimity of Castro to "release" 10,000 Cubans to enter the United States -- thousands of Cuban criminals is what he forgot to add.

Bruce Wong

So much for human rights abuses in U.S.

The next time people self-righteously condemn some country for human rights abuses, we should take that picture of the murderess of Waco's storm troopers terrorizing that child and throw it in their faces.

James M. Hykes

Don't force immigrants to leave this country

I am an immigrant like Elian Gonzalez. For Elian to be forced to return to the country that his own mother chose to give her life to leave is an injustice.

Imagine fleeing from a place that has engulfed your dreams, rejecting your culture, place of birth, the life that you had built, all for the promise of hope. Isn't that what America is built on?

Now imagine having to tell a child, or a 30-year-old father of three who is working three jobs to feed his family back home, to leave this country. What kind of world do we live in?

Any good, hard-working individual should be given a chance. How would you feel if you were in their shoes?

Pedro Haro

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Quotables "I was crying. I didn't know what to do. I was wishing they would drop him on the corner someplace." Rowena Lazo MOTHER OF 4-YEAR-0LD LOUIE Describing her distress after the car containing her sleeping son was stolen outside Oahu Market in Chinatown. The boy was later found unharmed at the Liliha Burger King a few blocks away. "The volunteers at the memorial said they've heard tourists say after viewing the film, 'That's why they put the Japs in the camps.'" James Tanabe WAIPAHU RESIDENT Explaining why he led the successful movement to alter a film shown to visitors at the Arizona Memorial, which included narration that said, "General Short believed the great danger was not air attack, but saboteurs hiding amid Hawaii's large Japanese population."

Leaders won't save drowning program

The impending destruction of the University of Hawaii Marine Option Program is the full equal, in abject idiocy, of the UH's 1996 decision to cease sponsorship of the Law of the Sea Institute (LSI).

Where do ocean scientists think the input for their programs is coming from? How do political leaders think they will train and motivate the young talent needed to operate a modern ocean society?

They're eating their seed corn, just as they did with LSI, and each of these unkind cuts has its cumulative effect on the direction of our archipelagic economy.

The decision is renewed evidence of grievously misdirected priorities at the highest levels of leadership, both inside and outside the university. Relief from this kind of failure can come only at the ballot box.

Scott Allen
Kailua

Detractors should try doing public-sector jobs

I was unlucky enough to read your April 8 issue and see the slightly misinformed letter by Donald Allen. In his commentary, he uses an outstanding statement made by Sir Winston Churchill and tries to apply it to a recent arbitration decision about government employees.

Allen seems to think that government employees like me do not earn our pay. I cannot speak for others, but anytime he wishes to spend some time performing my duties in the corrections division of the Department of Public Safety, I will gladly take the time off.

In fact, I make the same offer to state legislators. Only then would they realize the enormity of the task required of corrections officers each and every day.

Dennis M. Corrigan

Helm should be recognized for his work

The Hawaii Academy of Recording Arts should recognize a long overdue tribute to the late great George Helm for his lifetime commitment to Hawaiian music, his excellence in teaching Hawaiiana and his efforts in stopping the U.S. military's bombing of Kahoolawe.

Helm's great falsetto voice is in a class with few others. His music will live forever in our hearts, as will his courageous heroic efforts to stop the bombing of Kahoolawe. Finally, 17 years after his death in 1977 (he was only 26), the bombing on Kahoolawe was stopped.

Still, no recognition. Only Jon Osorio has paid homage to Helm with a song that he wrote.

Ron C. Perreira

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