Leave quarantine decision to scientists

Is it not bizarre that efforts are actually being made by lay persons to change our rabies quarantine laws (Star-Bulletin, Jan. 11)? Animal lovers and legislators are certainly not competent to make decisions requiring knowledge of veterinary medicine, pathophysiology and virology.

Quarantine decisions in this critically important matter must be left to those whose expertise is established by their training and experience.

Frank L. Tabrah, M.D.
Emeritus professor of Community Health
University of Hawaii School of Medicine

Premier's DUI arrest shouldn't be publicized

Your Jan. 11 police mugshot spread covering the DUI arrest of British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell was shoddy and backwater journalism.

Do all DUI arrests get such coverage? Maybe they should, but this one got coverage because "this time we nabbed a biggie." Campbell has apologized and will pay for his mistake. The Star-Bulletin should do the same -- to Campbell and to its readers for this embarrassment.

Mike Tuggle
Kaneohe

In Canada, we treat DUI more seriously

On Jan. 10 the premier of British Columbia was caught speeding in Maui and was eventually charged with drunken driving. He was fingerprinted, photographed and eventually let out on bail. He has a court date this coming March. The Canadian news media are reporting that drunken driving in the state of Hawaii is a misdemeanor. In the province of B.C., impaired or drunken driving is a criminal offense. In a TV interview, Campbell repeated that he is sorry for his actions but it is a misdemeanor.

There have been many fatalities in both countries as a result of an impaired driver, and Canadians have been refused entry into the United States because of an impaired driving conviction because in this country it is a criminal offense.

Why does the state of Hawaii treat DUI so leniently?

Ed Bradbeer
Port Moody, B.C.
Canada

Police need Lingle's help to secure pay hike

The police union SHOPO endorsed Linda Lingle for governor. The endorsement had a very high profile in her gubernatorial campaign. It is time for her to "stand and deliver" on her promise to raise their pay statewide.

This much-needed pay raise would stop the attrition of our highly qualified officers from going to better paying jobs on the mainland, especially the Pacific Northwest.

Police Chief Lee Donohue is calling for a pay raise comparable to what the San Diego Police Department pays its personnel. Lingle -- the state -- has the four controlling votes in the contract negotiating process. It would be ill-advised for her to renege on this promise.

Steven T.K. Burke
Co-chairman
Hui Ana O Maka'i (Honolulu Police Retirees)
Pearl City

Pledge to Hawaiians isn't easy to fulfill

The Jan. 9 letter from Jan Hamaguchi, "Lingle is doing a fine job so far," said, "On Hawaiian entitlements, the governor is following through on her promise." The promise referred to was the immediate payment of $10.3 million to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, made at the OHA-sponsored gubernatorial debate a few days before the November election.

Lingle was quite specific in stating that there existed a state account with adequate funds from which the governor could make this $10.3 million payment, an amount which both candidates believed to be undisputed.

Mazie Hirono stated she would immediately go to the Legislature for necessary legislative action, which Lingle stated was not necessary. Now, however, Governor Lingle says there needs to be legislative action to make this payment.

Lingle is an experienced elected office holder in Hawaii and should know her facts before making a promise. Or was it simply a pledge designed to get Hawaiian votes? Hirono's position was not popular at the OHA debate, but it was honest.

Ed Greevy
Pearl City

Israel also employs terrorist tactics

President Bush has learned that jingoistic bluster and branding countries as "evil" are popular ways to legitimize his tainted presidency. But he cannot take on the evil actions of Israel.

Israel manifests its evil via illegal settlements, Israeli-only access roads, massive and disfiguring fences, barbed-wire barriers and checkpoints to harass, oppress and humiliate the Christians and Muslims of Palestine.

Via its state-terroristic tactics, many more Palestinians than Israelis die: a ratio of 12:1 in the week before Christmas (per Reuters); about 3:1 overall since the current intifada began. But the cowardly mainstream U.S. media report only the occasional suicide bombing by individuals deranged by hopelessness and rage; the Israeli government's day-by-day murders of Palestinian girls and boys are ignored or relegated to throw-away lines. And Americans fund the state terrorism of Israel in the astounding amount of $5 billion per year.

Robert H. Stiver
Pearl City

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