Show our local police you appreciate them

This is Police Week, and with it comes the opportunity to say thank you to the men and women of the Honolulu Police Department. Emergencies and tragedies should not be the spark to get the public to say "thank you for a job well done."

The following may serve as a guide for the public to express their appreciation: cards or drawings from children, letters to the chief of police, donations to the Honolulu Police Community Foundation, home-made goodies or a simple "thank you" to the next officer you meet.

Serving and protecting with aloha deserves a big MAHALO!

Cynthia Endo

Waimea Falls Park needed new operator

Thank you to the City Council for unanimously approving the mayor's selection of the National Audubon Society for a long-term lease of Waimea Falls Park. Many people are looking forward to Audubon assuming management responsibilities.

Based on Audubon's excellent qualifications, and in part because of community requests, some of those who have expressed support for Audubon to manage Waimea include the North Shore Neighborhood Board, North Shore Seniors, Waimea Arboretum Foundation, the Waialua, Koolau Loa, and Wahiawa Hawaiian Civic Clubs, the Hawaii Tourism Authority, Hawaii Senate President Bobby Bunda, U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye, former City Council members (and mayoral candidates) Mufi Hannemann and Duke Bainum, and the Center for Plant Conservation.

However, Waimea Management (the current operator) is trying to use legal maneuvers to slow Audubon's takeover of the park. While it is reasonable for Waimea Management to ask the courts to assure the selection process was fair, at some point taxpayers may grow tired of the operator of a public park suing the county government and employees.

It will be a great day for the community when the Audubon Center in Waimea opens.

Blake D. McElheny
Haleiwa

Bush did indeed fail to finish military duty

In reply to Sandra Anderson's May 9 letter to the editor, "President deserves to wear military uniform," here are some facts regarding President Bush's failure to serve honorably in the Texas Air National Guard:

After serving less than two years in the Texas Guard he moved to Alabama to work on a political campaign. He had requested a transfer to the Alabama Guard, but ignored an order to report for duty there and simply never showed up. He also never reported to the Texas Guard again after he moved back to Texas.

Bush has said that he quit flying in Texas because they were no longer using the planes he was trained for, and didn't fly in Alabama because they didn't have the planes there. The truth is, he had been suspended from flying while still in Texas after failing to get a required physical exam.

Bush states in his 1999 autobiography that after completing flight training he "continued to fly with my unit for the next several years." The truth is that 22 months after completing flight training he was suspended from flying and never flew with his unit again.

In an effort to prove he wasn't trying to dodge combat, he claims to have tried to volunteer for a Guard program that rotated pilots to Vietnam. However, in his application for the Guard, he checked the box specifying that he did not want to volunteer for overseas duty.

Beverly Johnsen
Lahaina

Property taxes should cover trash pickup

I support user fees in certain instances, but trash pickup is one of least suitable for that application. User fees should be levied when only a few members of the public use a public facility. Golf courses and Hanauma Bay are good examples. These facilities are paid for with public funds, but only a small percentage of the public uses them. We should charge residents as well as visitors for this. I would support much wider use of appropriate user fees, provided the cost of collecting them does not exceed the revenue generated.

Trash pickup, on the other hand, benefits everyone and just about everyone lives on a parcel of land for which property taxes are levied. It is these property taxes which pay for trash pickup; everyone benefits and everyone pays. No need whatsoever for a user fee.

Raise the property taxes, if you must. But don't set up a user fee for trash pickup which will necessitate a large department of accounting clerks to bill, collect and account for what is very likely to be a nominal sum.

I realize many residents consider free access to recreation facilities a birthright, but some other jurisdictions went to user fees long ago for many of these. Many of the beach and mountain parks in California charge a fee to enter and to use the facilities. What a great way for those who use the facility to pay for it, while others don't have to bear the cost.

James V. Pollock
Kaneohe

It's time to get tough with North Korea

A quick answer to any threats from North Korea should be a threat of our own: "If you use a nuclear bomb just once, even if only as a test, we will put you out of business a la Iraq."

W.W. Robinson
U.S. Navy, retired