Other stadiums have reasonable rules

At an UCLA-Washington game Oct. 13 at the Rose Bowl, my cousin entered the stadium with a canvas bag containing peanuts and seven unopened bottles of water for her party of four. Each person is allowed two liters of water. Like Aloha Stadium, they have strict rules: no umbrellas, no cans, no glass bottles and you have to take your hats off as you enter the gates.

My daughter recently attended a baseball playoff game in Seattle. At Safeco Field, fans are allowed to bring in an empty bottle and outside food in their bags.

While it is necessary to take precautions, I believe the Aloha Stadium authorities should use more common sense.

Gloria Kanemoto

[Quotables] "They can use my bank, they can use my bills, they can use any envelope -- it's really scary." Johnny Potter Waikiki resident, on the threat of receiving mail tainted with anthrax "I know this is safe. It's from my mother." Bonnie Rostan University of Hawaii student, on the package she picked up this week from the Maikiki postal station "Where else does this happen that you can conduct an investigation of someone without telling that person about it? This is something that happens only in Iraq or China or the former Soviet Union." Ray Chuan Kauai resident, on the secrecy surrounding the suspension of Kauai Police Chief George Freitas

Justice can be an arbitrary matter

We need to question the "justice" in our judicial system. One publicized example is the one-year sentence with five years probation meted out by one judge for a death caused by a man driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol.

Compare this with one unpublicized example of a five-year maximum open sentence with a two-month mandatory minimum sentence meted out by a different judge to a 27-year-old man who tampered with his apartment electric meter (for which he had immediately paid an inflated bill determined by Hawaiian Electric).

The reality of these sentences means that the drunken driver will definitely be free to resume his life in a year, although on probation. The second man, on a theft charge for meter tampering, could wait in Halawa for months beyond his minimum two months before the Parole Board hears his case and determines how long he'll be incarcerated. The board becomes the judge and jury on the open sentence. There is no equality and fairness in the punishment that depends on the judge, the attorney one can afford, and the Parole Board rather than on the severity and circumstances of the crime.

Until one gets tangled in the web of our legal system, the average person is not aware of the complications and consequences of laws and judicial procedures and the inability to challenge decisions. Will this area ever be investigated, audited, highlighted in the news media and possibly changed?

M.H. Au

Schools neglect regular children

Yup, it's sad. A special education class might have one teacher for one student while kids who may make a difference in the future are the ones who are really being neglected. Is this the way to build a great society?

Jim Curtice

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