Brainstorm! Challenge

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Get creative to prevent on-field brawls

The brawl after the Hawaii/Houston football game on national TV certainly is a major embarrassment for the University of Hawaii. Here's one suggestion to prevent future brawls:

Have the coaches, conference officials and officiating organization agree to a new rule whereby the referee has the discretion during the final two minutes of the game to invoke, let's call it "Code XYZ," which would be the official's timeout. The announcement "Code XYZ" on the PA system requires each head coach to signal to the officiating crew his acknowledgement that after the horn indicating the end of the game, each team has, say, 25 seconds to get all players and coaches on the sidelines and off the playing field.

Then, the referee signals the visiting team to go to the lockers while the home team waits on its sideline. The referee signals when the home team may proceed. The captains from each team can meet at midfield with the referee for customary pleasantries while this goes on.

A violation would mean a $20,000 fine and other censure by appropriate parties.

So simple. It's amazing that the many highly paid people who are responsible for brawls are so obtuse and take so long to learn to take steps to prevent future brawls. Why, they should become legislators or government officials!

Alan T. Matsuda
Honolulu

Warriors are great at keeping tourists away

Mahalo nui loa to Coach June Jones and his team for repeatedly demonstrating our aloha spirit to the world.

Unemployed tourist industry workers salute you, but not with a shaka!

Rico Leffanta
Waikiki

Best Christmas gifts cost nothing at all

Right before Christmas

expecting grouchy crowds and stress.

Went to Tamura's Market and found they're the best.

During the stress of the season, what did I see?

Tamura's Market employees smiling at me.

Not the fake smiles practiced and taught.

Smiles that were genuine, real, not bought.

The workers at Tamura's with smiles on their faces

raised my spirits while I went through my paces.

Thank you, Tamura's, for helping me see

that gifts aren't always found under a tree.

Kevin Uyeda
Mililani

Food free-for-all was monstrous waste

As a Hawaii ex-pat I feel qualified to write to the paper and express my opinion. The Makiki Christian Urban Winter Camp and all those who participated in a game of Food Monsters (Island Images, Star-Bulletin, Dec. 27) should be ashamed of themselves. With the increasing number of children going to bed hungry each day, the food for this game could have been put to better use. Food should never be used as toys. A big "auwe" to all of them.

Robert Rodrigues
Melbourne, Fla.
Former Hawaii resident

Lingle's tax hike idea weakens Republicans

As a taxpayer in Hawaii, I was angered to find I agree with Rep. Neil Abercrombie's characterization of Governor Lingle's proposal to allow counties to increase taxes. She raised the idea as a way for Honolulu City & County to pay for a rail-transit system.

The anger came when I realized that as damning as Abercrombie's comments are in their accuracy, they overlook the damage her actions did to the people of Hawaii and the Republican Party. Specifically, she cut the legs off of Republicans in elected office who previously provided principled opposition to more taxes in a state whose per capita taxation is nearly the highest in the nation. How can Republicans now credibly oppose other tax increases when it was the Republican governor who first reached for more taxes to spend in pursuit of re-election?

Now it feels like tax increase proposals are surging like water through a burst dam. My real property assessment increased above the highest price ever paid for a like unit in my condo. I note proposals to increase the real property tax rate, and then see those quickly followed by moves to push up vehicle taxes. I don't think this sudden activity is a coincidence.

Here's hoping the Republican Party soon sheds its "New Beginning" role as the governor's alter ego, and resumes its commitment to broad principles intended to benefit all the people of Hawaii.

George L. Berish
Honolulu

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[ BRAINSTORM! ] What should the city do with the elegant old sewage pump station? It's empty and fading, and now it's taking a beating from all the construction going on around it. The O.G. Traphagen-designed sewage pump station on Ala Moana Boulevard, more than a century old, is a monument to the glory days of municipal architecture, when city fathers took such pride in their community that even a humble sewage station became a landmark structure. Millions of tourists drive by it every year, and it's an embarrassing reminder of how poorly Honolulu treats its historic landmarks. Over the years, dozens of uses and excuses and blue-sky speculations have been suggested for the striking structure. Now we're asking you, Mr. and Mrs. Kimo Q. Publique, what should the city do with the elegant old pump building? Send your ideas and solutions by Jan. 15 to: brainstorm@starbulletin.com Or mail them to: Brainstorm! c/o Nancy Christenson Star-Bulletin 500 Ala Moana 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210 Honolulu, Hawaii 96813 Fax: Brainstorm! c/o Nancy Christenson 529-4750