Brainstorm! Challenge

---

Don't blame residents for water shortages

Why does the Board of Water Supply continually point the problem of water shortages to the homeowner (Star-Bulletin, Aug. 3)? The water usage of family homes is minimal, limited to cooking, personal hygiene and maintenance of plants and lawns.

The biggest culprits are the big businesses, tourists, golf courses, the showers at the beach parks (I suggest using restrictive-type shower heads that cannot be removed) and greening of landscapes by the state and City and County. The homeowner has to pay for the water and every family member is conscious of its use. Due to the high cost of living in Hawaii, the wasting of water and a high water bill is not the goal of the homeowner.

Let's give credit to the homeowners for trying to avoid a water shortage rather than point the finger at them every time the wells go below normal levels.

Adriano Lorenzo Jr.
Honolulu

Our rights are based on a higher morality

Bryan Mick's Aug. 4 letter, "Founders deliberately kept religion separate," mentions civil morality; what is that? Is something moral because we say so; morality by majority? The Supreme Court says it is the arbiter of morality over the citizens. Many of us admit that there is a higher morality because we keep saying there are immoral laws set by the majority or the courts. The United States is founded on, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights ..." We have God-given rights. The only other choice is rights based upon what the people in power give us. We have removed our actual rights and substituted rights that can, have and will change.

We do in fact pass almost every law based on morality, why else make something illegal? The only solid ground for morality is God and that's what the founders of the United States set out to do. The federal government, however, was excluded from selecting one Christian denomination to be in power over the others.

John Dickinson, Constitution signer and governor of Pennsylvania, said: "Kings or parliaments could not give the rights essential to happiness. ... We claim them from a higher source -- from the king of kings, and Lord of all the Earth."

Cary Mendes
Kula, Maui

'Life, liberty' quote wasn't in preamble

Bryan Mick's letter of Aug. 4, regarding the separation of church and state, was incorrect on an important point. Allow me to clarify.

The phrase "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" does not appear in the Constitution's preamble, it comes from the Declaration of Independence. It was not presented as a code of civil morality, but was given as an example of "certain unalienable Rights" endowed upon men "by their Creator." In fact, that same Declaration also directly references "the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God."

All of which makes it rather inappropriate as an argument to support Mick's position.

David R. Lusk
Honolulu

Summit taught girls tools for success

Among those of us who work with girls, there is no mystery: Take them seriously, give them the tools and information they need to make decisions and they will act responsibly.

That is exactly what the Sixth Annual Economic Summit for Girls, sponsored by Sacred Hearts Academy, accomplished from July 28 through Aug. 1 for 30 girls from 21 public and private schools. The junior high girls saw an exciting glimpse of possible careers in the field of communications and what their future world of work promises with dedicated effort.

Mahalo to approximately 20 communications professionals from our community who sacrificed their office hours to share experiences and possible career paths with the eager summit participants. Also, monetary support from the Augustine Educational Foundation, First Hawaiian Bank, the Zonta Club of Honolulu and the Soroptimists International of Waikiki helped provide snapshots of the future world of work for these young women.

Girls must be prepared for a future of economic independence to ensure that their work lives will be productive and pleasurable. A debt of gratitude is, indeed, owed to these community professionals and businesses for helping to ensure that women can have greater economic security, a better quality of life and more career choices.

Betty White
Principal
Sacred Hearts Academy

Priests' 'deviant' acts stem from being gay

Joseph L. Lemon Jr.'s Aug. 4 letter to the editor telling the pope to stop imposing a "hypocritical moral code on consenting adults" seemed to be to tell the Catholic Church how to conduct its business and ignore homosexual issues.

Lemon railed against "rampant deviant sexual behavior of (the pope's) own subjects." Well, if he picks up a paper, watches the news, or listens to the radio, he knows the pope's folks causing all the grief with "rampant deviant sexual behavior" are homosexuals -- homosexual priests.

Kevin Gagan
Mililani

---

BACK TO TOP
|

[ BRAINSTORM! ] "What can be done with utility poles and lines to improve the view from our highways? Is legislation necessary, or perhaps some sort of invention or new technology?" Send your ideas and solutions by August 14 to: brainstorm@starbulletin.com Or mail them to: Brainstorm! c/o Burl Burlingame Star-Bulletin 500 Ala Moana 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210 Honolulu, Hawaii 96813 Fax: Brainstorm! c/o Burl Burlingame 529-4750