Hawaiian composer was very special lady

Forget about Hawaiian or any other ethnicity; everyone in Hawaii has lost a wonderful friend in Auntie Irmgard Aluli -- a woman with dignity, charm and refinement, a real lady through and through, when real ladies are hard to find, a woman of great talent, a woman whose gracious smile was for everyone, a woman who now has taken her music to heaven to entertain the angels.

Me ke aloha pumehana, Auntie ... you will be forever missed.

Janet Sing and family
Kamuela, Hawaii

Terrorists will spend eternity in shackles

Much has been discussed recently on the shared belief of the Sept. 11 terrorists that, upon completing their diabolical mission, they would awaken to a new and glorious life in paradise.

Well, I awoke the other day with a tickle in my throat, which then developed into bronchitis. Probably as a result of my fever, though perhaps it was a revelation -- I know not which -- I had a vision: the 6,300 (plus or minus) victims of the World Trade Center attack enjoyed a brief interlude of rest before awakening to a hero's welcome in paradise. The 19 terrorists, on the other hand, awoke in shackles, to receive their sentence: painless, merciful and permanent extinction of character and consciousness.

Not exactly the reward the mullahs had promised, but hey, no hard feelings guys; you reap what you sow, and profound shame is the only just dessert for such despicable acts of cowardice.

In fact, my fever dream was likely not too far from the truth, with one notable exception: God, in his infinite mercy, will almost certainly grant those scoundrels a chance to repent their wicked ways. Whether the assassins will confess their atrocious crime and accept God's forgiveness is, I believe, unlikely.

Regardless of whether my "vision" was inspired by divinity or disease, I cannot help but wish that it might be shared with every zealot considering kamikaze martyrdom, or any form of terrorism, as a means to success of any kind.

William King
Kula, Maui

Gabbard brought community together

I want to congratulate Mike Gabbard for putting on the patriotic march and rally last Saturday. If it wasn't for him, our community would not have had the opportunity to pay its respects to the victims of the terrorist attacks and to unite at this critical time in our nation's history.

I was waiting for someone to take the bull by the horn and make something like this happen, but nobody did. The mayor, governor, legislators and city councilmen all stood idly by, while Gabbard and enthusiastic members of the community organized the event.

It goes to prove that the real strength of the American people is found at the grassroots level. Americans are known throughout the world as a resilient people who come together as one in the face of adversity.

Rich Logan

[Quotables] "(Irmgard Aluli) hugged us with her smile and great music." Kimo Kahoano Radio and television personality, talking about composer and Hawaii Music Hall of Fame member Irmgard Aluli, who died Thursday, three days before her 90th birthday. "They're on it; they're all over it." Dr. DeWolfe Miller University of Hawaii epidemiologist, on the reaction of the state Department of Health epidemiology team to the outbreak of dengue fever.

Response to terrorists is not pointless

While I agree with some of Chris Roth's comments (Letters, Oct. 1) in response to Rev. Mike Young's Sept. 16 letter that implied sending Americans to fight a war in Afghanistan is "almost pointless," I feel that Roth and the reverend need to examine the subject of war much more carefully.

Roth is correct in feeling that prior conflicts against Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan and Saddam Hussein were not pointless, but appropriate political and military actions by the United States. However, the conflict in Vietnam was an exercise in futility, based on poor intelligence, lack of national support and intervention in a foreign civil war that Americans had no business being in.

The United States played a major role in ending Hitler's meglomania and acted as a responsible ally. Imperial Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, so we didn't start that war. As far as Hussein goes, again, America responded in a NATO-supported capacity. Thus, bringing up the Viet Cong only stirs bitter memories of a wasteful period in American history.

Rev. Young is even farther away from the political and global enormity of the situation unfolding in Afghanistan as America prepares a counterstrike and extraction of Osama bin Laden. This is not a pointless war or some kind of biblical eye-for-an-eye movement. It is an appropriate military response to a military attack by a foreign entity. Brave hearts sacrificing precious souls is not pointless; only noble and in service to America so that people can continue reading the daily paper and argue about in the letters to the editors.

Finally, my biggest prayer is that this war is handled with surgical precision and minimal casualties, and that America sends a clear message that it will not tolerate cowardly terrorist attacks. All foreign aggressors should get the point.

Chas LeRoy

Stadium's no-bag policy was inconsistent

We attended the University of Hawaii football game on Sept 29 and were appalled by the inconsistent conduct of the Aloha Stadium's staff. Through abusive, Gestapo-like conduct, these staffers refused to check through anything with two straps that resembled a backpack (small leather purse type), tote bags, children with backpacks, shoulder bags (one-strap bags) and even diaper bags and golf umbrellas.

After we entered the stadium, we were further appalled when we saw some of the other fans with their backpacks, big duffel bags and golf umbrellas. If you watched the TV later, you could see the many large and even regular umbrellas in the stands. Is it logical to conclude that these fans sneaked, bribed or knew the staff, or did the staff just fail to consistently do their job? This no-bag policy seems to be just an attempt by the stadium manager to prohibit the fans from bringing in food and force them to buy the over-priced and low-quality food on sale. Nothing else makes any sense.

Many fans we spoke with are considering not renewing their season tickets and will be asking for serious corrective actions by the stadium authority.

C. Morioka, J. Takabayashi, J. Yuen, K. Yuen

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