New regulations irk football fans

What's wrong with the Aloha Stadium managers? Purses and umbrellas are not allowed in the stadium because of new safety regulations? What are the objectives of these regulations? What are we paying the stadium staff (checkers) for?

My wife and I are season ticket holders and unfortunately we are in the Red Section open to the wonderful rain that comes over the mountains. Without our bag to carry our umbrellas, jackets and a small blanket, we have to juggle carrying them along with our food on our trek up to our seats. I guess the stadium managers are trying to lessen our burden by saying we cannot bring our umbrellas. Next, jackets will be banned along with the small blanket that my wife uses to keep her legs warm.

Let's get some common sense and help football fans be comfortable when watching the games. Don't turn off UH fans! At the last game, the family next to us was soaked because they were told they couldn't bring in umbrellas.

A determined terrorist would use the food service vehicles or wheelchairs to hide explosives. A fanatic would have it taped on his body. Are we going to be body searched next?

Ron Quizon
Pearl City

[Quotables] "When I'm on vacation (in Hawaii) it's enjoyable. But returning to coach is less than pleasurable. It's very awkward." Bob Wagner Former University of Hawaii football coach, who is back in Honolulu as defensive coordinator for Texas-El Paso in today's game against UH. "This is the single most hazardous canyon in respect to rock falls I've ever entered." Gerald Weber Geologist, testifying for plaintiffs in a civil trial brought against the state by survivors and family members of those injured or killed in a rock slide at Sacred Falls last year. "Did you just see me beat those four guys? I recommend this one to all the girls. The seat vibrates!" Danielle Freeman Customer at Dave & Buster's, on one of the video-game simulators at the new restaurant-pub-entertainment complex at Ward Entertainment Center.

First, drown all the lawyers

In regards to Leonard K. Chun's Oct. 7 letter: I must say he was very astute in noting that the proposed University of Hawaii Medical School at Kewalo Basin lies well within the tsunami impact zone.

It would be highly inappropriate to spend millions of dollars to build a medical school in an area where it could be destroyed in just moments.

I propose that rather than building a medical school on this land, a more appropriate use (and a use which I believe will garner unanimous public support) would be to build an ultra high-capacity law school.

Michael Sakalauskas, R.N.

U.S. doesn't engage in 'retaliation'

Your headline Monday, "Retaliation," was a harmful choice of words. The bombing of Afghanistan Sunday was not "Retaliation." That word refers to the process of repaying a wrong or injury in kind, to getting revenge, returning like for like. America is not a nation that willfully commits atrocities such as those done in New York and Washington on Sept. 11.

So also are we wrong if our motive is to get revenge, however much our emotions may want that. For a second thing, our response to the events of Sept. 11 did not begin on Sunday. It started on Sept. 11, immediately after it became clear what had happened.

The bombing of 31 targets in Afghanistan Sunday was a relatively insignificant part of the war ahead, and was not the beginning of military operations, which operations will be only a limited component of the 21st-century warfare.

We are well into an era of transnationalism -- not to be confused with one world government or a "new world order" -- and we need to learn a new way of putting the pieces together to make sense of this new era. Calling Sunday's events "retaliation" hinders our understanding.

Allen W. Barr

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