Profiling needed in airline security

We have finite resources to spend on security.

Every time we spend them to search an old woman, an 85-year-old congressman, an airline pilot, Secret Service agents and others for whom the possibility of uncovering a terrorist is likely extremely low, we have spent part of our capital that cannot be used to check out a "reasonable" suspect.

Airline security without profiling is a costly, inefficient, useless endeavor.

Arthur Y. Sprague

HHL plan will pay off for cable makers

Judging from the June 4 article on fiber-optic cable for Hawaiian Homes Lands ("Fiber-optic firm taps federal gold mine"), it seems that the scam also will benefit some of the fiber-optic cable manufacturers who of late have found themselves in a sea of cables with no customers.

I believe further research will find that one or more of those companies will be bailed out of their financial blackhole by this amazingly clever and sinister raid on the public purse.

Raymond L. Chuan

Fiber-optic network on its way to nowhere

The story about a new fiber-optic system for Hawaiian Home Lands provoked some hilarity and outrage around our table. I wouldn't mind my $10 a year going to provide high-speed Internet access to rural households that actually exist, but all that material going out to nonexistent homes? What a waste.

A better solution would be a satellite connection for each house ($2,000) and the rest of the money for a roof to mount it on. Who's doing the accounting?

Russell Archibald

Working in school cafeteria was privilege

This is in response to the person who wrote to Kokua Line (Star-Bulletin, May 30), asking whether students who handled food in school cafeterias needed TB tests and went on to say where she came from on the mainland students were paid to work in the cafeteria.

Maybe that's what's wrong with many youths today; they expect to be paid for any service they are asked to provide.

I recall with pride and deep appreciation my cafeteria experiences while a student at Aliiolani Elementary School many years ago. Although I don't recall the names of paid workers, each one left a clearly meaningful impression with me. After leaving Aliiolani to go on to Jarrett Intermediate, I was so happy to see the familiar face of the same woman who had supervised the cafeteria at Aliiolani was at Jarrett.

She brought the same high work ethic she instilled in even more young people who were privileged to work in the cafeteria. I say privileged because not everyone got to do it. Grades and behavior had to be good, and I worked hard, as many did, to earn the privilege.

Cathy Bruning

Democrat Case sounds more like a Republican

I've read two articles in the Star-Bulletin about gubernatorial candidate Ed Case and the more I read, the more Case sounds like a Republican. Is he really a Democrat?

I've been a Republican for 47 years and he is one of a handful of Democrats I've encountered who has said that the government should have a minimal amount of intervention in the business sector, that some of the fees, regulations and taxes that keep business (especially small) from growing should be removed, and that government should be shrunk.

If I weren't a life-long Republican, I'd vote for Case in a heartbeat. Maybe he should switch parties. He sure sounds like a "compassionate conservative."

Fred Cavaiuolo

Democratic Party puts people first

The State Democratic Convention made it clear that while Hawaii's Democrats are often divided, we share a common theme: people first. This is the spirit of aloha.

Other parties may put big business or church or profit motive first, but Democrats take care of the needs of all citizens, and for 50 years we have succeeded pretty well.

It is easy to complain and to criticize; it is more difficult to build a kind and fair society. We have heard how former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Steve Forbes from New Jersey would like to change the face of Hawaii.

I experienced New York City after Giuliani "cleaned it up," and a large price was paid by minorities, when people of color were discouraged from walking the streets. As for Forbes and New Jersey, there are lots of very wealthy folks in New Jersey, but it is the ugliest and most polluted place I have ever been. Is that the vision that we wish for our aina?

Diversity and disagreement are inherent in Democrats because we welcome all types of people with all types of views. But in the end we work together because we love our beautiful Hawaii and our aloha spirit and we know that Democrats are the folks who put people first.

Jonathan Starr

Thanks to all for graduation event

Kalaheo High School's Project Graduation was a great success this year.Ninety-eight percent of our graduates participated in this alcohol- and drug-free, after-graduation cele- bration. It was gratifying to get support from parents, teachers and students, and heartwarming to receive great corporate sponsorship as well.

I'd like to thank some of our generous donors, including Mike McKenna auto dealerships for donating a car as our grand prize, and the Harold K.L. Castle Foundation, Friends of Hawaii Charities, Ameron International, the Honolulu Police Department, Castle Hospital, Hardware Hawaii and HMSA for supporting the youth of Kailua.

Tina Shaffer
Chairwoman Kalaheo Project Graduation

'Net is not evil, but some who use it are

While I do not disagree with the intent of the May 27 editorial on the proposed "kids.us" domain name extension, purportedly a safe-haven for children using the Internet, I beg to differ with some of the assumptions of the editorial writer and the law's drafters. I know what you meant by the editorial, but what it said painted a different picture in the reader's eye.

The headline, "Domain would shield kids from evils of 'Net," portrays the Internet as evil. The Internet itself is inanimate and incapable of harming a fly. There are bad people who use the Internet for bad intent. There are bad people who ride TheBus. Let's not forget this.

The second paragraph -- "A Kauai couple learned of the dangers of the Web last week ..." -- makes a false assumption, too. The couple did not learn how dangerous the Web is. The couple's teen daughter met an evil Internet user while using a specific service of the Internet, a "chat room." Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is but one component of the Internet. It is a service that allows anonymous person-to-person contact or instantaneous relay of messages between two or more people.

The Internet also hosts the Worldwide Web (WWW or Web pages and sites); Post Office Protocol (POP or e-mail) among many other useful services.

There has been a bit of hysteria lately concerning the Internet and its users. It is important to separate bad people from the tools they use. Bank robbers use automobiles to escape from a crime scene. Do we then describe laws that would shield us from the evils of cars?

The chat room or IRC would seem to be the culprit in the cases you cited, but much of the thinking surrounding the use of the Internet shows a lack of under- standing of the Internet or its scope. It indicts the entire entity and does not address or recognize the root problem.

The new domain will provide some control for Web sites under its auspices, but I doubt that this would prevent those inclined from going outside the new domain to get to the services -- and people -- that can lead to real harm.

The last line of the editorial says it all: The new domain would "enable parents to set their children's browsers so their kids only surf within the .kids domain." Think about it: If parents had provided proper supervision in the first place, the cases of harm cited in the editorial would probably never had occurred.

Blaine Fergerstrom

Editor's note: Blaine Fergerstrom is a former Webmaster at the Star-Bulletin.

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