Don't like the roads? Stay home from work

Open letter to Mayor Harris;

Your roads are intolerable!

I am not referring to the increased potholes from the recent deluge, but rather the unacceptable road surfaces that have existed through out your tenure.

The resurfacing of King Street was tokenism at best. So in protest of all these years of uncomfortable driving I am urging all Honolulu people to stay home from work one day. Let's make that day Friday, Dec. 24!

Find a better way to honor war dead

Your Dec. 5 editorial, "Natatorium was promise to honor war veterans," seemed to depend on emotion rather than fact. There are 279 "natatorium" entries in the Hawaii Newspaper Index. Most seem to echo your sentiments: Respect the past/honor our soldiers. I, too, agree that we must pay attention to the past so as to learn for the future and that a human life is the highest gift one can give for any cause.

However, here is a critical fact to check. How many Hawaii residents were killed in World War I? The answer will be found in the 1998 Hawaiian Journal of History, v. 32, p. 172. (Hint: less than the 279 index entries.)

Does honor demand visible tribute for small losses as well as the big ones such as Pearl Harbor and 9/11? Is current practice shifting away from gravestones and monuments which will crumble to something more practical such as the trees recently planted in memory of a 9/11 victim? Would tearing down the natatorium really "devalue a nation's word" as you claim? Could not a more suitable substitute be found?

Call Council members about leasehold bill

Bill 53 will revoke the vested leasehold conversion rights of all Honolulu homeowners and will trigger the largest mass confiscation of home equity and displacement of homeowners from their owner-occupied leasehold condominiums in U.S. history. What will that say to the world?

These homeowners desperately need the support of all of the former lessees who have already availed themselves of leasehold conversion rights and others who sympathize with their plight by contacting each Council member's office by January, to voice your opposition to Bill 53.

Bill 53 is unconscionable and is a threat to the legal right of every homeowner to achieve the American dream. Leasehold conversion rights of any homeowner should never be up for grabs, especially as a ploy to win political support and to achieve political gain. It is just plain wrong!

Please help thousands of Honolulu homeowners save their homes this holiday season by contacting each City Council member's office to oppose Bill 53.

UH should give away more tickets to games

It appeared to me that there were more fans at this past weekend's game between the University of Hawaii and Michigan State than any other UH game this year at Aloha Stadium. Was the attendance larger because of the promotion in which the UH ticket office gave tickets to UH students for free? Was it because the UH ticket office sold discounted tickets to other non-UH students?

Perhaps UH can offer the same promotion to UH students and grade-school students, among others, in order to fill other sporting events.

Wouldn't it be great for the UH Wahine basketball team to play before a larger crowd? Same goes for the other UH sporting events. Why not offer free tickets to kids who participate in youth leagues?

If students attend the games for free, I am confident they or their parents will spend money on parking fees, concession refreshments and perhaps souvenirs. Perhaps the UH administration can offer free tickets at the door on a first-come, first-served basis. Perhaps the UH administration could offer this promotion at the walk-up window until the day before the game.

Wouldn't this be a win-win for all involved? The UH student athletes would be "jazzed" as they could play before a larger and possibly capacity audience.

Warrior victories bring back believers

Bless me, Reverend June, for I have sinned and been away from the faithful for some time now -- ever since the 69-3 and 70-14 debacles.

But the last two weekends, you and your apostles -- T. Chang, C. Owens, et. al., and especially that new one dressed in black, D. FENSE -- have returned me to the fold of believers.

So I will be at your next spiritual revival come Christmas Eve, 2 p.m., at Aloha Stadium. And please, continue to set the tent on fire, as you did the last two weekends.

I guess I forgot that old adage on the gospel circuit: Which is the sign of a true winner, the team that wins every game and finishes the season undefeated, or the team that comes back from being down and stomped on and manages to win despite all the odds? We all know the answer to that.

Good luck, Reverend, to you and your apostles.

Elitists would rather ship garbage away

I'm sick and tired of so-called environmentalists talking about the "immorality" of shipping our trash to the mainland, but who've never once written a letter protesting shipping our island's trash to the Waianae Coast.

Why is it immoral to ship Oahu's trash to an isolated, desolate area on the mainland, but not immoral to dump Oahu's trash on the beautiful west side of our island?

The fact is that many people on Oahu look down on the people of the Waianae Coast. Two reasons are because per capita income in Waianae is lower and there's a large native Hawaiian population.

In short, what we have here is a case of affluent, elitist racists posing as moral environmentalists.

Loud motorcyclists shatter peace

On the morning of Dec. 6, a group of about two dozen motorcycles roared their way through my neighborhood. Apparently they had left Kapiolani Hospital, then went down Bingham Street and lower Alexander Street before getting on the H-1 Freeway at upper Alexander Street. Shame on you.

There are families and two nursing homes in the area, and we have the right to a peaceful Sunday too. Auwe!

Violent meth users threaten law officers

The recent arrest of a suspected drug user for attempted murder after he allegedly used a stolen vehicle to run over a Honolulu Police Department officer (Star-Bulletin, Dec. 3) is just one of numerous violent confrontations that our law enforcement have faced throughout this state.

Crystal meth -- known by street vernacular as meth, ice, batu, crank, etc. -- is readily available and easy to manufacture. Many meth labs have been raided by our law enforcement personnel statewide.

The drug is cheap, the euphoric high is instant and after taking just one hit, the user is hooked.

What sets this drug apart from all the other drugs of choice such as marijuana, cocaine, heroin and illegal prescriptions drugs is that after prolonged use of meth, the user has a propensity for violence and becomes very confrontational.

At this point, due to the super adrenaline rush, they are oblivious to pain, chemical mace and pepper spray, and even the new Taser subduing device at times does not work when our officers are trying to make an arrest. This is when our police officers and the public are most vulnerable to injury and even death.

Law enforcement at all levels statewide, along with all the preventive- and treatment-related social services, must continue and expedite their fight against this and all types of drug use in Hawaii.