Resign-to-run rule is necessary

I respectfully disagree with your March 13 editorial "Resign to run rule should be realistic." I believe it is realistic to ask any office holder to resign if he or she decides to seek a different elected office.

Is it realistic to expect someone to perform the full duties of his current office while looking ahead to another position? If someone is going to run for a different office it is only logical that his or her concentration will be on doing whatever is necessary to get elected to the new office. The reality is that something will be short-changed in the process.

I do not believe for one minute that someone can serve two masters. We get enough double talk, smoke and mirrors, and outright lies from politicians. Let's not allow them to convince us that they can walk and chew gum at the same time.

John Stewart
Mililani

Invasive measures aid pointless drug war

Your editorial "War on terror aids war on drugs" (March 20) is more of the same delusionally simplistic twaddle that continues to enable our country's knee-jerk and tragic policies.

If we can't prevent the flow of drugs into our prison gulag, find Osama bin Laden, his dialysis machine and/or the CIA operative who met with him in Dubai last July, do we really need another bells and whistles X-ray machine that "shows every inch of the contour of a person's body"? Is the emperor wearing any clothes?

The (we) flower children are still right on: Make love, not war. Peace!

Steve Reiff
Kalaheo, Kauai

[Quotables] "I'm gonna be golfing in Hawaii, and I sure would like to make par." Glen Campbell Singer and guitar player, on what else he'd like to accomplish after four decades in the music business. Campbell will perform tonight and tomorrow with the Honolulu Symphony Pops at the Blaisdell Concert Hall. "I have not seen somebody set loose so easily. It's outrageous that the judge can say 'let him dial in twice a week.' He killed somebody!" Mark Webb Attorney, on District Judge Joseph Florendo's decision to release without bail Stephen St. Clair of Kona, who is charged with drunken driving and manslaughter in the death of Jane O'Brien of Santa Barbara, Calif. Florendo required St. Clair only to telephone authorities twice a week in lieu of bail or custody. St. Clair already had four drunken-driving convictions before allegedly plowing his car into O'Brien. Webb, who is based in San Francisco, is representing O'Brien's husband, Dan Botkin, in a wrongful-death lawsuit in the case.

Put down the phone and drive with aloha

In Hawaii, I see so many people driving their cars with their cell phones in hand. Studies have proven that accidents are often caused by someone talking on a cell phone.

The cell phone diverts attention from driving and can distract the driver enough to cause an accident. If we are to keep the aloha spirit, people should not wait for a law to be passed against cell phones in cars, but should use good sense and drive safely.

Julian Hartline
Grade 8, Mid-Pacific Institute

Sovereignty a complex issue in Hawaii, too

Mary Adamski's March 17 Insight article proves how complex sovereignty issues can be.

Sovereignty in Hawaii means everything from return to the constitutional monarchy under the 1864 or 1887 constitution -- discussion is ongoing as to which one is still legal, and which involves the descendants of all subjects in the kingdom, kanaka maoli and otherwise -- to U.N.-mandated decolonization, to "nation within a nation" statusm which is currently embodied in the Akaka bill).

While you would be hard-pressed to find many Palestinians ready to say "we're doing better under Israeli domination than we were before they proclaimed the existence of Eretz Israel," many kanaka maoli believe that "statehood" is the best thing to have happened to Hawaii's people, making the issue even more complex -- oh, I forgot, it's not complex is it?

I believe Adamski should apologize to Palestinians, Israelis and kanaka maoli alike for inferring that one issue is less complicated or more, or more important to one people than another.

John McClain

Greeneville article ignored the real story

Regarding the article "Greeneville heading to Pearl Harbor dry-dock for repairs" (Star-Bulletin, March 20): Enough already with the tedious recitation of the events from Feb. 9, 2001.

It may be history, but it is certainly no longer news, and it most definitely does nothing to benefit any of the people affected by the incidents, or the efforts by the Greeneville's crew and others to bring the ship back up to the level of excellence which is the norm in our submarine fleet.

The writer effectively ignored the real news that the ship had returned from a nearly seven-month deployment, most of which was under the wartime circumstances following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The real news is what the crew of the Greeneville and many other deployed crews have gone through. That is what your readers should learn about. It is time to get positive and to "get real" in your reporting.

J.J. McClelland

DOH, DOE should dare to be progressive

"This concept of collaboration with nonprofits presents us with a fresh opportunity to try something fundamentally daring and progressive," House Education Chairman Ken Ito on Senate Bill 2662, Senate Draft 2 (Star-Bulletin, March 19).

I am a parent of a child with autism. I was saddened to read your March 14 article on "Threat or Therapy?" It only proves that so-called professionals who know little about alternative strategies are forcing our children out of therapies they feel comfortable doing.

When parents and direct providers (such as Loveland) use therapies like sensory integration, play therapy or floor time, the kids are calmer and more apt to listen and participate in activities.

Unfortunately, untrained observers think the child is being unduly restrained or abused. In fact our children crave these exercises. Federal and state laws allow such therapies.

I agree with Senator Ito that we should try something daring and progressive. Some of our children are not responding to traditional methods of teaching. The Department of Education and Department of Health need to be daring to teach all children to progress educationally.

Sing Vista
Pukalani, Maui

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