Air fares discourage inter-island travel

We cancelled our neighbor island visits recently because of the high cost of air fares. Hawaii needs an entrepreneur with vision, foresight and compassion for local people to come up with a mode of transportation, such as an inter-island ferry system or another smaller airline similar to the former Mahalo Air, that can offer lower fares.

The state also should get involved to insure success of the chosen mode of transportation by initially subsidizing the planning and start-up costs.

Toshio Chinen
Pearl City

Airport security lax in ignoring backpack

I went to the airport recently to put my children on a plane to the mainland. On the way from the second-floor parking complex to the terminal I noticed an unmarked backpack hanging on a pillar that supports the elevated roadway that circles the airport.

As a Marine, I am constantly put through force-protection and anti-terrorism training, so perhaps I am a bit more cautious than others, but what happened here was disturbing.

I notified airport security as well as a Delta airline agent as soon as I reached the terminal. Both thanked me calmly, which I thought was appropriate so as not to alarm people unduly.

As I returned to the parking complex I passed the pillar where I first saw the backpack. More than an hour had passed, but there it was. No police, no bomb squad, not even an attempt to move it to a secure area -- nothing.

I returned to the terminal, found two security workers and asked them if they would come take a look at something. We walked to the bag, and I asked if this looked a bit out of place.

Their response was, "Oh, yes, but it is probably just an employee's bag or something."

What year was it when the backpack exploded at the Olympic Games in Atlanta? What parking garage was it in New York that experienced an explosion years before two planes flew into the buildings towering above? What was the name of that ship in Yemen with the big hole in its side?

How many buses, coffee shops, subways, airplanes, how many bags and backpacks carry the tools that can take the lives of innocent people?

Alan J. Clyne
Kaneohe

God and heterosexuals create gay people

City Councilman Mike Gabbard, founder of the Alliance for Traditional Marriage and Values, wages another attack on the evil gay forces of America, those homosexual doctors, nurses, servicemen and others who will bring immediate destruction to all mankind if they are allowed to marry ("Gabbard starts marriage petition," Star-Bulletin, Aug. 11).

Protesting by the conservative right(eous) will not stop the growing population of homosexuals. Ironically, God and heterosexuals are creating them; homosexuals can't. Now, how do you treat your homosexual children? Love and nurture them, or condemn them to lives of discrimination?

Perhaps this is why God created homosexuals -- to test your compassion for them.

You were allowed to get married, shouldn't your children be allowed the same dream? Marriage is beautiful and should be inclusive, not exclusive.

Steve Leong
Aiea

Face it, some people don't like broccoli

Mike Gabbard still doesn't understand that a person's sexual orientation is neither a choice nor a behavior to be governed by his moral code. Whether a person is homosexual or heterosexual is a product of biology; choice doesn't enter into it.

I never chose to be a heterosexual. I am attracted to women simply by my nature. I never deliberated the options and neither did Gabbard or anyone else.

In fact, humans are incapable of choosing their preferences. Think about it. I prefer muted over bright colors, dissonant over consonant tones, savory over sweet flavors. I prefer many things without making cognitive choices.

We can choose whether to wear sneakers or slippers, walk or drive to work, or whether or not to join a church, but these are decisions based on our deliberation of the circumstances. I prefer broccoli over peas, but this is not a choice I made; I simply do not like the taste or texture of peas.

Gabbard needs to get down from his pulpit of perceived superiority. He's no better than any homosexual. Heterosexuals need to begin openly supporting equality for all citizens, including those who prefer peas.

Mitch Kahle
Honolulu

State isn't prepared for impact of fish farm

The state Board of Land and Natural Resources' decision to grant the application of Kona Blue Water Farms an ocean lease may compromise the livelihoods of local fishermen, ocean enthusiasts, marine-related businesses and our critically important tourist industry ("Fish farm gets OK to use cages off Big Isle," Aug. 10).

The structures are not in place to monitor and control the pollution that likely would result from intensive fish farming. One only needs to look at the difference between the fisheries in Alaska, where farming has been prohibited for many years, and those in British Columbia, where a proliferation of fish farms has had serious consequences.

A public backlash against farmed salmon has started, and if Hawaii is seen as a fish-farming location it could easily harm the flow of tourism to our state. After all, who wants to visit Hawaii to witness the industrialization of our precious coastlines?

Last month, the Environmental Working Group reported high levels of PCBs in farmed salmon, definitely a health concern to anyone who consumes farmed fish. Is this the type of negative publicity Hawaii will soon encounter with pen-raised ahi, kahala, mahimahi, opakapaka and other deep-water species?

Gwen Ilaban
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii