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Sub maneuvers are necessary for training

The collision involving the USS Greeneville and the Ehime Maru is a tragedy, especially for the families who lost loved ones. An incredible set of unfortunate circumstances took place for the event to occur.

No sane person ever wants to be responsible for the loss of life, whether in peace or war. Any current or former Navy submariner will tell you that the actions of the captain and crew of the Greeneville were neither reckless nor malicious.

The maneuver executed by the Greeneville has its own hazards, as do many others performed by submarine crews on a routine basis. These maneuvers are unknown, unacknowledged and perhaps unappreciated by the general public.

It is a time for mourning and to reflect on our common frailty and human bond. It is a time to search for answers and corrective action, as necessary. It is not a time for rancor, or hurtful exchanges and accusations.

Charles A. Clark
Former Crew member
USS Tautog SSN-639
Stationed at Pearl Harbor, 1971-74
Hill Air Force Base, Utah

Money should be raised for commemorative bell

Since the tragedy involving the Japanese fishing boat and U.S. submarine was very sad, I would like to make a suggestion in memory of the students, teachers and crew members who lost their lives in the waters off Oahu.

The people of Hawaii should raise some money to buy a Japanese bell and bell tower to be erected either on Oahu or in the Japanese city where the students attended school. This would be a gesture of good will that the Star-Bulletin could initiate and involve all the people of Hawaii.

Ronald M. Suzuki
Former Hawaii Resident
Huntington Beach, Calif.

Worst-case scenario for civilians on sub

What if one of those civilian VIPs on the USS Greeneville had accidentally hit one of the buttons, and a cruise-missile had accidentally launched toward Oahu?

Can someone do something before this scenario becomes the real thing?

Loi P. Le

Claims in pro-gambling ad are dubious

A recent full-page ad in the daily papers said there would be only one little, teensy-weensy gambling casino, with no mob, no crime, no social problems and hardly any gambling at all. We'd hardly even notice it. It would draw Japanese tourists.

But won't we also need one for mainland tourists -- say, in the middle of that development they are planning to stick on the Ala Wai Golf Course? The 16th hole would be a good spot, although I never could play that thing.

Then, of course, we will need one more casino to pay for the increased costs of policing that gambling always brings (ask New Jersey about that), and another one to pay for the cost of the social damage that gambling always brings (ask Louisiana about that), and we can't leave Maui or either side of the Big Island or Kauai or Molokai and Lanai out, can we?

But that's the absolute limit. Cross their hearts and hope to die. You can put it in a full-page ad.

Jim Becker

Marine corps must do something about noise

I try to be a good neighbor to the Marine Corps at Kaneohe. Whenever I have a complaint about the din of the powerful aircraft that visit the base, I take it to the Public Affairs Department.

I usually accept its response that the aircraft are only visiting; that, in a short time, they will be gone. They have to practice under the kind of conditions that exist at Kaneohe, I'm told.

But when the noise is as constant as it was on one recent afternoon, or so intense that it rattles the house like it did last Friday, I have a hard time even thinking about being a friendly neighbor.

Something has to be done either by some kind of noise abatement or the ban of jets from the base.

Robin Makapagal
Kaneohe

Room tax should be based on actual cost

In your Feb. 10 legislative summary, a misstatement was attributed to me that did not reflect the essence of what I was saying.

With respect to House Bill 1589, which seeks to close a legal loophole that allows wholesalers to circumvent paying the full amount of the transient accommodations tax (TAT), exactly how this measure would affect actual room rates is currently unknown.

What we do know is that, over the past several years, the hotel industry has experienced high occupancies and increased demand for luxury rooms despite the fact that room rates have increased.

Finally, House Democrats feel that as a matter of public policy, the TAT should be applied to the amount that is actually paid by the occupant of the room, not to the volume discount rate that the wholesaler pays.

Rep. Marcus R. Oshiro
D-40th District
(Wahiawa-Whitmore Village)
Majority Leader

Editorial cartoonist is fine writer, too

I read every word of Corky Trinidad's Feb. 10 Insight article, "Adios, Erap." I had been wondering why Filipinos would elect a movie star for their president. (I wondered the same thing about Americans and Ronald Reagan.)

I knew Corky was a brilliant editorial cartoonist; I didn't know he had other talents.

Dorothy Turnbull

Waipio Soccer Park will host national event

I am so happy that the American Youth Soccer Organization will be holding its 2002 National Games on Oahu. Mahalo to Mayor Harris and the Honolulu City Council for having the foresight to build the Waipio Soccer Park, which provides much-needed fields for local teams, and is now a proven draw for national soccer events as well.

The players, their coaches and families, as well as spectators and media, will pump millions of dollars into the economy and will showcase Honolulu as an up-and-coming center for sports tourism.

Alex Smith

Quotables "Maybe more people would come if the name of the show was 'One Night in Bangkok.'" Jade Stice STAR OF DIAMOND HEAD THEATRE'S PRODUCTION OF 'CHESS' Saying the play might draw a bigger audience if it were named after its most recognized song "I was asked by the captain if I would like...to pull the levers that start the procedure called the blowdown. I said, 'Sure, I'd love to do that.'" John Hall ONE OF THE CIVILIANS ON THE USS GREENEVILLE WHEN IT STRUCK AND SANK A JAPANESE FISHING BOAT During an interview on NBC's "Today" show

Stage a boycott if Eminem sings at Grammys

I'm outraged at the decision to let Eminem perform his hate music on the Grammy Awards telecast. While he has a right to make such music, the decision to recognize his work with four nominations, and to turn the award ceremony into a platform for hate and violence, is reprehensible.

Unless this decision is reversed, my family will not be watching the Grammy Awards this year, nor will we buy products made by any of the show's sponsors. I will tell my friends to do the same.

Every day in this country, at least three women are murdered and some 3,500 are terrorized by the men in their lives. To commend Eminem's hateful music ignores the very real terror and anguish of families throughout this nation.

Do not have Eminem's message of hate and violence go unchecked on national television. I hope local TV stations will run public service announcements about domestic violence, and tell people where to call for help.

Shari E. French

Governor is a big bully to university faculty

I read that the governor considers me lazy and pampered, so I am deeply curious as to how he reached this conclusion. It certainly was not by spending a week doing my job.

I read hints that I earn more than $100,000 a year and drive a Lexus; certainly the governor has not looked closely at my W-2 statement or in my driveway.

This spin is shifting the focus away from where it belongs: on the lack of a contract for University of Hawaii faculty members, and the supreme disrespect with which we are being treated. The governor is doing this for what strikes me as personal reasons, because there is no logical one for a governor to try to run a state university into the ground.

UH has proven vital to the community since its founding in 1907. Many of our most important lawmakers, business leaders and cultural figures received their education here.

Most of our primary and secondary teachers were trained at UH.

We bring money into the state through research grants, and the significant amount of funding that the faculty has competed for successfully over the years reflects the fact that we have earned a national reputation.

Try to imagine Hawaii, or any state, without its system of higher education.

Read the Dec. 15 article in the Chronicle of Higher Education that discusses how only Hawaii has continually lost ground over the last five years. Then wonder where you, or your children, will receive a meaningful education.

Financially, faculty members can ill afford to strike. Professionally, we can ill afford not to.

I urge everyone to explain to Cayetano that his exercise of personal power and his need to show himself to be the biggest bully on the playground are not simply wrongheaded but threaten to have disastrous consequences for the state.

Louise McReynolds
Professor of History
University of Hawaii

Cayetano should give textbook money to teachers

While driving to visit schools (ostensibly to sell them textbooks), I heard on the radio about Governor Cayetano acknowledging the need for computers and "textbooks" in our public schools.

As a regional publisher of Hawaiian and Pacific Islands educational materials, I was elated that the public schools' need for textbooks was finally being addressed.

Computers are always mentioned in school needs but, as most educators know, the basics start with reading, comprehension and communication skills, and books are still the basic elemental need at the classroom level.

Imagine my consternation when I realized Cayetano was simply using the lack of textbooks in the school as a tool to hold against the teachers in their quest for a deserved and decent pay raise.

It is like a bad parent telling a child he can have a choice of one of two things that he needs. This simplistic ploy will not work. For years, the lack of money devoted to textbooks has been well known.

Where has Ben Cayetano been for the past 20 years as a legislator, lieutenant governor and governor?

To finally acknowledge a public need as basic as books and then try to hold the teachers ransom vis-a-vis the public is as transparent as it is offensive.

He should keep his textbook money and give it to the teachers. They end up buying many of their school supplies out of their own pockets anyway. All teachers in Hawaii deserve a raise, and this includes the university professors. As the self-proclaimed "Education Governor," Cayetano should realize this.

Benjamin E. Bess
Publisher, The Bess Press

Restaurant serves up dollop of social conscience

Compadres, the Mexican restaurant at Ward Centre, deserves thanks. It donated the proceeds from its well-patronized Sunday brunch on Feb. 11 to support a youth group from Hawaii on a mission to build houses and serve homeless families in Tijuana, Mexico.

It is refreshing to see the quiet and generous manner of Compadres' management and staff supporting young people as they take on a demanding project of compassion. It is not easy for today's teens (raised on consumerism) to set aside personal comfort to reach across economic, cultural and national boundaries to share and reduce human suffering.

Compadres' readiness to support the efforts of these youth will cause a lasting ripple effect of goodness. Muchas gracias!

Betty Kwong

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