Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.

Legal gambling would have disastrous effect

"Gambling: Way to pay for long-term care?" (Rep. Calvin Say, Other Views, Star-Bulletin, Nov. 16). "Casino gambling...to pay for free, private, long-term-care insurance for Hawaii residents."

"Hawaii residents could buy...insurance...That fee would be refunded entirely by the state...by using the proceeds from casinos licensed in...Hawaii."

Don't make me laugh! This is no refund because a lot of the people who would get the refund will be the very people you will find at the casinos "trying their luck"!

I have seen it in my 25 years in Chicago -- folks who could not pay their utility bills or rent -- buying $20, $100 worth of $1 lottery tickets for a one in several millions chance at winning millions! Result: violence, divorce, crime, bankruptcies, foreclosures...

Yoshie Tanabe
Waipahu

Wahine need short-sleeved uniforms

As their season ends, I have a query about the University of Hawaii women's volleyball players: Why do they wear uniforms with long sleeves?

I cannot fault our wonderfully successful Wahine. Yet opposing team members look cool and crisp in their short-sleeved tops, while ours just look hot. Some roll up their sleeves to upper-arm tightness.

Between plays, UH players are constantly pulling and tugging at their tops. By the end of the game, win or lose, the girls are bathed in sweat.

Back in the early days of volleyball, it was a coaching belief that long sleeves would muffle the sound of the ball when contacting the arms of the receiving bump. The officials presumably based their calls on sound as well as sight.

Those were the days of the simple 4/2 offense and defense -- four spikers and two setters. Today's highly specialized game of jump serves, quick sets and step outs demands greater movement on the part of players. Greater movement means more perspiration.

So why make that perspiration smolder under long sleeves? Get our girls into cool, crisp short sleeves. They'll win even more games next season.

W.W. Robinson

Press should start being nice to Bush

I sincerely hope that the national media, despite their obvious bias against George W. Bush, will take a cue from Al Gore's gracious and patriotic concession speech and seek to unite a very divided nation. Somehow, I doubt they will.

The pessimist in me predicts ever more mean-spirited political cartoons, slanted editorials and articles unsubtly putting the worst possible spin on a Bush presidency, even before he has taken the oath of office.

It's one thing for the media to call for unity after what came close to a constitutional crisis. Whether they will honor their own platitudes remains to be seen.

Greg Shepherd

Give teachers smaller classes instead of raises

Our best teachers don't want more money. They know that, with a smaller student-to-teacher ratio, student grades will improve and their own jobs will be made easier. Hence, a raise!

Steve Soden

Quotables "We can largely prevent transmission from an infected mother to an infant, whether we intervene during pregnancy, at delivery or after birth." Dr. Marian Melish PEDIATRIC INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST AT KAPIOLANI MEDICAL CENTER On how a prenatal screening procedure is urged during pregnancy to help stop the transmission of the AIDS virus from mother to newborn "I told him I'm going to do my best to try and beat him but, if he gets elected, we can work together." Governor Cayetano On what he told George W. Bush before the Texas governor won the presidency

Veteran reporter covers the difficult with ease

I commend Star-Bulletin reporter Helen Altonn for her accurate reporting of subjects ranging from the academic to the scientific. Regularly, she writes timely articles on genetics, cancer research, sociological problems and outer space astronomy, among other topics.

None of these is easy to explain in a newspaper piece. When she interviews professional people she must listen well, asking insightful questions. This information is added to her own research on the topic, resulting in a final story that is well-rounded, clear and interesting to read.

I look forward to her reports. Mahalo, Helen Altonn. And mahalo to David Black for saving the Star-Bulletin.

Patricia Harwood

56 years later, decisive battle is not forgotten

It was 56 years ago this month that I was assigned to the 386th Bomb Group, 555th Bomb Squadron as a 2nd lieutenant, co-pilot. The 386th Bomb Group, called the Crusaders, was flying the B-26 Martin Marauder.

It was bitterly cold in northern France -- supposedly the coldest winter in 100 years. We were at Station A-60 near the town of Beaumont-sur-Dise, France.

The German Army launched its attack in the Ardennes (the Battle of the Bulge) on Dec. 16, 1944. For seven days all the medium bomber groups were grounded by the weather. It was almost like an Arctic white-out.

On Dec. 23 the weather broke and the 386th went out twice. The weather was good for four days and the group flew seven missions.

On the night of Dec. 22, all personnel not flying the next day were on the runway and taxi strips clearing out the ice and snow. Also, from Dec. 16, crew members not flying because of weather were guarding the airfield from German English- speaking paratroopers who we understood at the time were trying to infiltrate and sabotage our aircraft.

The plan for the medium bombers was to destroy the enemy's means of getting troops, equipment and supplies to its armies in the bulge. The back of the German offensive was broken after four days of good weather.

The troops on the ground bore the brunt of the German effort to crush the Allied armies on the northern front. Fortunately, the weather cleared.

It was the largest battle ever fought by the U.S. Army in the history of our country. The United States' order of battle that bitter December 1944 and January 1945 consisted of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th Armored Divisions.

Also the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 9th, 26th, 28th, 30th, 35th, 75th, 76th, 78th, 80th, 83rd, 84th, 87th, 90th, 94th, 99th and 106th Infantry Divisions; 17th and 101st Airborne Divisions, 8th and 9th Air Forces; they were under the III, V, VII, VIII, XII Corps, XVIII Airborne Corps and all under the 12th Army Group, First U.S. Army, Third U.S. Army, First Allied Airborne Army.

This letter is to remember all of those who fought in the Battle of the Bulge (Ardennes) -- those who died, those who were wounded and those of us who survived.

We remember and we shall not forget.

Christ P. Zivalich Jr.

---

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.