Police officers have right to invoke God

The issue of whether police officers should be required to take an oath is a constitutional one. The Constitution is clear on that issue and I agree with Mitch Kahle of the Citizens for the Separation of State and Church. However, it is the right of every police officer being sworn in to individually say, "So help me God," if he desires to do so.

No one, not even Kahle, can prevent them from doing so. As long as the Honolulu Police Department does not require new officers to recite those words, there is nothing anyone can do if the officers do it on their own.

In the future, new police officers being sworn in shouldn't be afraid to say out loud, "So help me God." It is their individual right to acknowledge the one to whom they are ultimately accountable. It is the right of every American citizen to do so, anywhere, anytime, and any place.

James Roller

Trust should be used to benefit Hawaiians

An article in the Sept. 13 Star-Bulletin reported that the Kamehameha Schools trust was offering to sell land in Michigan for $150 million. The land originally was purchased with the proceeds of Hawaiian land sold by Princess Pauahi's trust in 1994. I'm concerned that this money will be used for things other than funding the Kamehameha Schools trust.

It is well known that proceeds from this trust are supposed to benefit Hawaiian descendants. In the past, the Board of Trustees and judges have used trust money to educate children from other countries so they can learn to read, write and speak English. I think this is wrong; money generated from the trust should be used to educate the children of Hawaiian lineage.

I also believe that the public should elect the Board of Trustees so they can be held accountable for their actions.

Gabriel Hawelu
Holualoa Kona, Hawaii

Tourism should show more Hawaiian culture

Reading of the ending of the former Kodak Hula Show is a little bit like when a favorite TV show actor from our childhood has passed away (Star-Bulletin, Sept. 26). I've seen the hula show on each of my three trips to your beautiful paradise, most recently in 1996 with my wife and our two children. The kids loved it, we loved it again, and if it was still running we wouldn't miss it. Yes, it was a little bit corny, but also nostalgic and informative.

Coming from a family with a native Indian background, it was important for us to have our children see and hear how the Hawaiian language was spoken, and it held their interest, too.

As Hawaii turns to a more indigenous type of tourism (most welcome!), it would benefit both tourists and residents alike to tour the lesser-known sites of interest, such as the burial grounds of the kings. We explored local Hawaiian lore without all the commercial trappings and came away with a fresh appreciation for the original Hawaiian people, and would come again to do the same.

Rob and Jeanette Delaney and family
Nanaimo, British Columbia
Canada

GOP cross-over voters weren't for Hirono

Joel Kennedy's Sept. 26 letter stating Mazie Hirono had cross-over votes from Republicans was absurd. If Republicans wanted an easier victory in the general, their logical choice would have been Ed Case.

In the primary campaign, Case showed that he would not have catered to the special interests of his party (labor unions). As the gubernatorial candidate for the Democratic Party, Case would have fractured the party's base and put the unions in an awkward position, since the message from the Hawaii State Teachers Association and the Hawaii Government Employees Association had been "anyone but Case." Why would cross-over Republicans have voted for Hirono when she was the candidate that Democrats could rally around and possibly steal the election away from Lingle?

Our Republican friends consistently told us, "If you support Linda, please vote for her in the primary."

Glenn Arakawa
Kaneohe

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