It was inhumane to leave stranded dog

Regarding the April 10 letter "Dog-rescue money showed poor priorities":

What a sad commentary on society to begrudge the rescue effort for a dog, when it is gross human negligence that caused this reprehensible and needless act of inhumane suffering in the first place. Furthermore, it was funded by animal lovers, not tax dollars.

Bravo to the Hawaiian Humane Society for speaking on behalf of those who cannot speak for themselves.

Terry Yada
Kailua

A new twist on an old sea tradition

You know it's a sad day for tradition when the captain's dog has to go down with the ship and not the captain himself.

Craig Watanabe

'Gateway drug' theory has no merit

Deroy Murdock's "Another View" column in the April 12 Star-Bulletin was aptly headlined "Marijuana -- a gateway drug to politics." New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is only the latest politician to acknowledge that he smoked marijuana. Unlike most, he didn't add that he regretted it or that it was a "youthful indiscretion."

Many prominent baby boomers smoked cannabis and their very achievements give the lie to the "gateway" theory that smoking marijuana invariably leads to harder drugs. This theory, advanced by prominent anti-drug spokesmen like Joseph Califano, lacks logic. While it's likely true that most cocaine and heroin users have used cannabis, they also have used tobacco, alcohol and, yes, milk. Trying these other substances does not cause someone to move on to harder drugs. In fact, 85 percent of those who smoke marijuana have never used another illegal substance.

Murdock is right when he deplores the time and money spent to arrest pot smokers.

The recent Drug Enforcement Agency busts in California of clubs supplying marijuana to sick people are the latest outrage. How can Attorney General John Ashcroft authorize such actions in states where the electorate supports medical use of marijuana when our nation is supposedly on high alert against terrorism?

Pamela G. Lichty
Vice President
Drug Policy Forum of Hawai'i

Old sex cases get more media attention

A letter to the editor by Carolyn Martinez Golojuch in the April 12 Star-Bulletin misinterprets a quote made by Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo in an April 6 Star-Bulletin interview. She wrote incorrectly that the bishop "prefers to fault the state for not following up on" 1,300 cases of sex abuse in Hawaii last year. On the contrary, these 1,300 cases are the ones that have been reported to the police and that are now receiving services through Child Protective Services and the Sex Abuse Treatment Center.

What Bishop DiLorenzo said was that these current reported local cases seem to be receiving less media attention than the decades-old clergy cases making headlines now.

Patrick Downes
Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu

Cloning could lead to other horrors

According to Marianne Means' commentary ("Is there a doctor in the White House?" Ways and Means, April 12), allowing scientists to experiment using the embryonic stem cell is seen as an "advancement of a field of research with rare life-saving potential." Well, to me, creating a life to destroy it and then use it for life-saving potential is just backwards.

I am one who, along with many others, believes that life begins at conception. I also believe in the advancement of science through experiments. However, there needs to be a line drawn when it comes to morals and ethics and science. If not, where will the limit of experimentation end?

Although the government cannot tell us what to believe and whom to believe in, I am glad we have a president who knows from whom all life comes. As the president, he has the authority to do those things that will prevent "we the people" from ultimately destroying one another.

Marcia D. Howard
Makiki

Boy Scouts follow a 'godly' path

This is in response to Steven Leong's letter, "God blesses gay as well as Scouts," (Star-Bulletin, April 1).

God did not create homosexuals and as for the Boy Scouts, their oath and values follow a godly path. After God created the first male on Earth named Adam, he said it was not good for Adam to be alone. So that Adam would not be lonely, God created the second person on Earth, a woman named Eve, to be his helper.

He did not create another male with a female body inside the male body but a woman. Homosexuality is a choice.

Melvin Partido Sr.

People near and far will miss Moe Keale

It's really a sad time in Hawaii with the passing of island entertainer Moe Keale. He was such a good friend and someone who always would take the time to sit and listen and advise when I had a question or problem.

I will surely miss his music and so will the Sheraton Waikiki. Now I know he will be with Brother Iz and they can play music together. I just feel bad that I wasn't able to get home to see him for just one more time this year.

Maluhia Dolores Treffeisen
Philadelphia, Pa.

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