Warriors' night
to remember

UH Warriors' win a boost to Hawaii

Congratulations to the University of Hawaii Warriors for the victory over Fresno State.

The Warriors' impressive win on national television was a very big boost to Hawaii and the UH football program.

Now, only if the Warriors can win the rest of the scheduled games and the WAC championship, it will bring a little happiness to our struggling economy and end this tragic year on a positive note.

Arsenio Ramirez Pelayo

ESPN cut Hawaii's half-time show

It really disappointed me that ESPN did not broadcast the half-time time show during the University of Hawaii-Fresno State football game.

It was dedicated to our nation and the tragedies and triumphs it has gone through since September 11. A 175-piece marching band, 100 women from Drill Team Hawaii, 80 firefighters, 80 police officers, 25 cheerleaders, 40 dancers and more than 35,000 fans who stood proudly were edited it out.

This show was created specifically because the event was going to be broadcast live nation- wide. And ESPN calls itself an American sports channel.

Matthew Martin
University of Hawaii student
Band member, Trumpet

A UH fan has Warrior dreams

Nick Rolovich to Ashley Lelie was Hawaii's version of "The Catch." NFL films made famous the play when Joe Montana rolling right, threw a pass to the right-back corner of the end zone that was caught by a leaping Dwight Clark of the San Francisco 49ers. That was two decades ago.

Circa 2001, Rolovich to Lelie could be the start of another storybook season for June Jones. After starting 1-2, then losing Timmy Chang to a wrist injury, senior backup quarterback Rolovich leads Hawaii to a nine-game winning streak, a share of the WAC championship and a trip to the Silicon Valley Bowl.

Wide receiver Lelie earns first-team All-American honors and is persuaded by Jones to come back for his senior year as the Warrior's first true Heisman Trophy candidate in 2002. Meanwhile, linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa earns WAC defensive player of the year.

This team has the leadership, maturity and character it takes to win a conference and a bowl game. Support this team. They are winners.

And mark my words, we will all remember "The Catch" when thinking back to 2001.

Von Kenric Kaneshiro
San Jose, Calif. Former Hawaii resident

[Quotables] "We need to provide an opportunity, because they're out there. All we have to do is take some risks and be creative, and I think Andy Anderson has those qualities." Arlene Lum Member of "Andy 2002," a citizens' group that is urging former Republican lawmaker and businessman Andy Anderson to run for governor as a Democrat. Lum is a former publisher of the Star-Bulletin. "There was recognition that the bill was too broad and sweeping." Sen. Fred Hemmings Windward Republican, who backed an amendment narrowing the scope of an emergency powers bill designed to allow the governor more flexibility to address the state's economic crisis

Taxpayers shouldn't foot ACLU's expenses

In her Oct. 23 letter, ACLU Executive Director Vanessa Chong confirmed letter writer Tom Peter's concerns that court-awarded attorney's fees do indeed underwrite the organization's overall services. It seems like splitting hairs when she asserts "the ACLU takes no government funds in order to independently fulfill its mission."

Unless the government is no longer paid by our taxes, we still end up paying the ACLU's expenses, including rent for its downtown digs, like it or not.

Rick Loras

Torii dresses up drab patch of land

I was in the Navy during the Vietnam era and did a tour of duty at an Army base on Okinawa called Torii Station where at the entrance was a big red Japanese torii gate.

We thought the torii was outstanding. It was a great symbol of the excellent duty that was Okinawa in the late 1960s. The PX did a hot business in baseball caps and T-shirts embroidered with torii. Obviously, the Okinawan people did not have a problem with a torii being included at a U.S. military installation, and I'm sure that nobody on the island of Okinawa thought the gate had any religious significance.

The governor and the Honolulu Japanese Chamber of Commerce are on solid ground in saying that the Moiliili torii is a cultural, not a religious, edifice. Many torii throughout Japan are on things other than Shinto temples.

The Moiliili torii fits in beautifully with the massive trees and makes something special of what was a drab little patch in that neighborhood. Any torii is a reminder of Okinawa and its unique people, whom I have come to appreciate more with each passing decade.

Mike Keolomakapu'u Pettingill

Drug czar should work with the states

When Hawaii Senators Akaka and Inouye vote on the confirmation of John Walters for drug czar, I hope they remember the will of the Hawaii Legislature, which passed legislation to allow patients to use marijuana for medicinal purposes.

Our founding fathers feared a strong federal government and spelled out the federal government's responsibilities and restrictions in the Constitution. The Tenth Amendment specifically reserved all other responsibilities to the states. Self-determination regarding medical use of marijuana should be the sole responsibility of each state and its citizens.

In an administration that prides itself on returning power to the states, Walters' drug policies regarding medicinal use of marijuana would do just the opposite and would run counter to the wishes of the voters of Hawaii and other states.

A drug czar should work with the states, not in opposition to them. It should not be the policy of our federal government to arrest, prosecute and incarcerate patients whose only crime is attempting to alleviate the pain that results from cancer and AIDS treatment.

As the primary sponsor of medical marijuana legislation in Maryland, I commend the Hawaii legislators for voicing their support on this issue. Don't let the nomination of the new drug czar silence them.

Delegate Donald E. Murphy
Maryland House of Delegates
Annapolis, Md.

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