City should ban restaurant smoking

I support the smoking ban in restaurants as proposed by City Councilman John Henry Felix. I believe the dangers of second-hand smoke is well-known and documented. We have a duty to do what is right and not let the greed of restaurant owners dictate public policy.

Airlines have found many financial benefits since they banned smoking on flights, including decreased maintenance and cleaning costs.

If smoking is banned in restaurants, non-smokers and people with lung diseases may eat out more often.

Connie S. Patton

No-smoking flights last longer than meal

We all know the problems of secondhand smoke. We all know that most restaurants have single air-conditioning units that re-circulate the same air.

We have read that a smoking ban has worked in California in spite of the same excuses that are still being made here.

I ask the mayor, the restaurant association and our elected officials this: If people are willing to travel to Hawaii from Asia or the West Coast, and put up with not-smoking on an airline for eight-plus or five-plus hours, what makes you think they cannot handle an hour or two not-smoking inside a restaurant?

Pete Chisteckoff
Mililani

Stay home if you don't like smoking

Banning smoking in restaurants in a bad idea. Contrary to Lois Raynor's Aug. 19 letter, permitting smoking is a business decision and a personal decision. It should not be a government decision.

If a business makes a bad decision, it loses customers; a good decision gains customers. When the government pays the rent, the employees, or otherwise invests time or money in running a business then it can decide what type of customer a restaurant should cater to; until then:

"Butt out!"

No one has to go to a restaurant to eat. If smoking offends you, then don't go! If clean air is a basic human right, then go some place where the air is clean and breathe all you want. But you don't have the right to tell me what kind of air I should have in my house or place of business. The air is mine; if you don't like it, go away.

No one has to work in a place that allows smoking; work somewhere else!

I do think we should know the smoking policy of a restaurant before we go in. I thought the door-sticker idea of a few years ago was a good idea. However, I don't think it should be a law.

Have you noticed how few, if any, people sit in the smoking sections of restaurants? Even though my wife and I don't smoke, we often tell the hostess that we would like to sit in the smoking section because we get better service. Recently we sat in the smoking section in a popular restaurant and almost finished our meal before anyone joined us, and we left before they started smoking.

Charles Cleveland
Pearl City

[Quotables] "I hated to do it. The crowd was over there oohing and ahhing and moaning, like, 'You wimp!'" David Toms, on his decision to use a wedge instead of a wood while winning the PGA championship. "This is our piko, our navel. This is the beginning of life, right here." Noelani Ing, docent at Kalaupana Ohana Association, trying to preserve the painting in the former Star of the Sea Catholic Church.

Why pay taxes twice on Social Security?

I am writing this letter to inform people that we are paying taxes twice on our Social Security. I started working when I was about 13 years old and continued to work and/or serve in the military until past the age of 70. Whenever I was paid, the IRS withheld money for Social Security. And every year I had to pay taxes on that Social Security money that the IRS withheld.

After retiring, I started collecting Social Security. This is the same Social Security that I contributed to during all those years I worked.

Here is the dilemma: The IRS once again wants me to pay taxes on this money. This is money that I already paid taxes on while working. Why must I pay a tax on this money again?

Most elderly Americans are in the same situation. Let us all band together and put an end to paying taxes twice on our Social Security.

Bernard H. Jungles

Mirikitani let down all Honolulu voters

I am writing in response to a July 4 story, "Mirikitani convicted in corruption trial." I agree with the federal jury for finding Mirikitani guilty on all six counts in his public corruption case.

Although I don't live in one of the districts he represents, I am still disturbed by his actions. As citizens of this state, we vote for people to represent us as a community. We trust these people and when they abuse their position as Mirikitani did, we feel deeply betrayed. We believe these people can make a difference in our communities, and when they let us down by doing something illegal, we feel disappointed as well.

I am please with the jury's decision and that Mirikitani soon will no longer be in office. This will give the people living in his district a chance to place their hopes of a better community in someone else's hands.

Abigail C. Jacinto
Waipahu

Scattering ashes not for everyone

The Star-Bulletin writer Dave Donnelly wrote two very touching pieces recently on death and dying and in both cases, the ashes of the deceased were scattered either on land or at sea.

My mother-in-law was cremated recently and her children couldn't decide whether to bury her ashes in our backyard or scatter them at sea or off Tantalus.

Somehow, scattering seemed so disrespectful, like carelessly getting rid of garbage, and burying her ashes in the yard was like burying a cat or dog (my younger daughter's words).

I felt my mother-in-law tugging at my spirit to find her a permanent place to rest. Finally, we decided to buy a niche at a memorial park and the cost will also cover part of the burial expenses for her husband when he dies. I feel good about this decision.

Glenda Chung Hinchey

Stender better candidate for governor

The prospect of being able to vote for Oswald Stender for public office is very appealing.

He's an honest, hard-working gentleman who has time and time again proven his worth as a champion of regular people and on issues that are just and worthwhile.

Has anyone in the Republican Party considered that Linda Lingle has already lost a big one and that maybe a better ticket would be Stender for governor, Lingle for lieutenant governor, or better yet an Oswald Stender-Sam Slom team?

Robert "Rabbett" Abbett
Kailua

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