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Tom Foley shouldn't have been pardoned

Is it just me or has Governor Cayetano gone crazy? By pardoning Tom Foley for his 1995 fatal drunken-driving accident, Caye-tano is sending the message that he just doesn't care anymore because he is not going to be in office in two years.

More important, Cayetano is sending the message that, just because Foley was a good guy before, and that he was a "model inmate," it was OK for him to kill another human being. I most certainly hope not!

Furthermore, what is this business of wiping Foley's record clean? The governor, in essence, is asking all of us to forget this tragedy. I, for one, will not.

Isaac H. Tejada

State needs to do more for mentally ill

Why would the state, which is ranked 51st out of 50 states and the District of Columbia in its care for the mentally ill, close down the highly successful Diamond Head Lifeskills program in East Honolulu, which serves 300 people with mental illness?

The state plan states "transitions are extremely critical and should be carefully managed. Individuals should be actively involved in transition plans and decisions." But without any input from Diamond Head, they were told to be out by Aug. 31.

Health Director Bruce Anderson proposes to move the program's administration to Lanakila and its services to the Honolulu Clubhouse, which currently has a three-month waiting list. Neither site has the capacity to properly serve these 300 people.

The state plan professes to serve these people "in their community" yet there will be no services for East Honolulu. Where is the continuity of care?

Moving out the mentally ill to use the space for administrative functions is ludicrous. Anderson is trying to fix something that isn't broken. Instead of dismantling a successful program, he should be expanding it in other areas. No wonder we're ranked 51st!

Pauline Arellano
Member,
State Planning Council on Mental Health

Anti-environmentalists show their ignorance

I am 18 years old and a volunteer at the state Department of Land and Natural Resources. One of my jobs is to file news clippings, including opinion articles in your newspaper.

As I read many of them, I've noticed a substantial number of people who feel that efforts to maintain and repair the environment are wasteful and politically motivated. Their extremist attitude is startling.

Take the July 12 letter from Bruce Wong, "Man's activities are part of natural selection."

Wong believes that, since most wildlife play no critical role in paying his bills, we should do what we please with them in the name of industrialization and progress.

Assuming that people like Wong understand the significance of endangered species in ecosystems, fine. Maybe the Earth's natural environment and its wildlife aren't all that important. Once all the algae is dead and the trees are gone, we can always produce mass quantities of oxygen in huge factories around the world.

Of course, everything I just wrote is jibberish to anti-environmentalists. They believe the atmosphere is immutable.

My point is this: We can build that coal-burning power plant, and drill for oil in the Alaskan wilderness, and decimate the tropical rainforests, and drive the whales to extinction any time we like. But there's no going back.

A dead forest is a dead forest, and the Earth's natural environment not only is irreproducible, it is irreplaceable. Someday, far in the future, Earth and Mars will be twin planets. The question is will they be green or red.

Eric Lundin

Quotables "Most people would say 'shame on you.' But, outside of that scandal, Clinton doesn't have a downside." James "Kimo" Apana DEMOCRATIC MAYOR OF MAUI COUNTY Who believes that the president's relationship with Monica Lewinsky is his only flaw "The president did something lecherous in a staid place; the congresswoman merely tried to do something staid in a lecherous place." Maureen Dowd NEW YORK TIMES COLUMNIST On the failed attempt by California Rep. Loretta Sanchez to hold a Democratic fund-raiser at the Playboy mansion

Drivers of TheBus deserve a raise

I'm an avid bus rider. I even sold my car because TheBus system here is awesome. The drivers are the best. I lived in Chicago where the bus drivers yell all the time. And safety? Let's not go there. In Hawaii, TheBus drivers have that unique spirit of aloha.

Yet they are now faced with a dilemma (Star-Bulletin, Aug. 9, "TheBus workers seeking more pay"). You see, their company leaders are cheap and their union leaders are afraid of their own shadows.

So I'm not surprised that the drivers have pulled together to voice their opposition to the rhetoric that comes from the union and Oahu Transit Services. They just need to remember that they will get whatever they want if they stay united and put a little hard work into it.

If they strike, I will support them 110 percent. I wish them luck and pray for their success.

Nancy V. Morolt

Criticism of zoo is based on politics

As a volunteer at the Honolulu Zoo, I was initially puzzled by Martin Halsey Grubb's claim that he was "appalled, embarrassed and very disappointed" by the neglected state of grounds and animals on a recent visit with out-of-town guests (Letters, Aug. 10).

I have taken a number of visitors to the zoo in recent years, and their response has always been one of delight and enthusiastic appreciation. As a volunteer, I have often heard our zoo praised by tourists, some of whom have expressed surprise that it compares favorably with larger, better known zoos in their home states.

Grubb's description simply does not match the Honolulu Zoo I know so well. So I was puzzled --until I got to his last sentence, with its gratuitous attack on Mayor Harris. "Oh, of course," I thought, "it's an election year!"

Mark Wilson

Honolulu Zoo animals look healthy

I totally disagree with letter writer Martin Halsey Grubb's negative statements about the Honolulu Zoo. My residence is near the zoo so I visit its grounds once or twice a week with a critical photographer's eye for beauty and the interesting flora and fauna that I enjoy so much.

The paid staff and extensive number of volunteers do a great job of maintaining the grounds. The animals have always looked healthy to me and I have an extensive file of photos to document their condition.

Ed Helmick

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