Fong's bankruptcy not a public matter

I find it disturbing that the Star-Bulletin would see fit to delve into the personals of Hiram Fong and his family ("Hiram Fong Sr. blames bankruptcy filing on family feud," March 8). No one wants his personal and family difficulties exposed to the general public. Where is the discretion and the respect for privacy that a news organization such as yours should have exercised in regard to one of Hawaii's former U.S. senators?

The Star-Bulletin is not the Star or the National Enquirer. Was the article newsworthy? In my opinion, it was not; it resembled sensationalism, which is what the tabloids are noted for.

Glenn Jinbo

Irish aren't only group discriminated against

As president of The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Coalition-Hawaii, I find it necessary to respond to Dave Donnelly's March 11 column about the St. Patrick's Day parade. I have been reading his column for many years and I do not remember seeing such a blatant untruth as "Of course they were able to fund a Martin Luther King Day parade -- how politically incorrect do you think these people are?"

Due to City and County budget cuts, every parade has had to pay for street coning, "no parking" signs, barricades and off-duty police. These costs are the same for every parade -- Martin Luther King Jr., St. Patrick's Day, Toys for Tots, gay pride, the Chinatown parade and so on.

I resent Donnelly pitting one ethnic group against another. He mentions the signs against the Irish in New York and Boston. The Jim Crow laws allowed the U.S. government to practice segregation. There were signs everywhere aimed at African Americans.

Prejudice is exerted in so many subtle and unobvious ways that a minority person senses it, smells it and feels it. It's in a glance, it's in a tone of voice, it's in an attitude -- it's in a newspaper article.

Marsha Joyner

Blame corporate greed for nursing's woes

Interesting cover story in the Insight section ("Prognosis Grim," Star-Bulletin, March 9). The entire story could be summarized in two words: corporate greed.

The recent nurse's strike, like so many other strikes, focused on corporate inability to extract a pound of flesh from the workers. While the nurses walked for safe working conditions, the hospitals held out to increase their profit margin at the expense of the nurses.

Happy Women's Month!

Carolyn Martinez Golojuch

Sports writer saw Low's early potential

Sports columnist Dave Reardon wrote a column two years ago about a freshman who had just participated in the HHSAA Boys Basketball Tournament at Stan Sheriff (Star-Bulletin, Feb. 26, 2001). That young man, Derrick Low, had been on the losing team, Iolani, in the final that was won by Kalaheo. I'm pleased to see that one of the stars of that Kalaheo team, Ikaika Alama-Francis, a fine young man, is now a member of our Rainbow Warriors basketball team (Star-Bulletin, March 2).

I recall Reardon writing in that earlier column that even though the outcome of the game had been long decided, Low kept playing as if it hadn't, and that spirit was best exemplified by his making a 3-point goal at the buzzer.

I cannot forget what Dave wrote about the message Low was sending, something to the effect of: "Maybe one of these days, me and my boys, we're going to be back here and win a few of our own."

How true these words rang in my ears as Iolani won its second state championship two weekends ago after losing that one in 2001. Having witnessed Derrick and his team win both the 2002 and 2003 titles, I can say without reservation that they won as a team, treating their opponents with the dignity and respect they deserved and without an ounce of arrogance, which has become all too common on winning teams.

Perhaps Dave saw something back then that others did not. He was right!

James Kawashima

Human carelessness causes big problems

With all the fuss about the salvinia in Lake Wilson, it makes me think that we need to take better care of our land. It really saddens me to see people carelessly dump their aquarium plants into Lake Wilson, thinking no damage will be done. Now look at the big problem the city and the state have to fix, just because people did not think before they acted.

We all need to pitch in to make Hawaii a better place to live, play and grow up in.

Alan Kim
Aiea

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