Can we apply peacock remedy to neighbors?

The Star-Bulletin's June 9 story about the Makaha Valley Plantation Condominium resident manager getting a state permit to trap and kill peacocks is enough to ruffle the feathers of NBC, which uses the bird as a mascot.

It seems the fowl ran afoul of the law, making too much noise after hours, and achieved nuisance and health hazard status. It could be argued if the birds are going to be offed that the homeless could have them over for dinner and that it won't appear so inhumane. It won't be too long before year-end holidays will be upon us and some of us can celebrate with Thanksgiving Peacock.

Many of us have had neighbors who repeatedly blasted their stereo late into the night and allowed trash to blow out of their yard into the sidewalk and street. Do you think the state might provide us with eradication permits?

Bush's cuts would hurt Hawaii's poor, elderly

I want to thank the Star-Bulletin and reporter B.J. Reyes for the June 8 article that put the spotlight on proposed Bush administration cuts that threaten to end the ability of Hawaii's four Community Action Agencies to help the poor and aged. Let me put a personal and human face to what is happening.

I am a senior citizen who, like many others, cannot subsist on Social Security alone. Social Security would be my only source of income were it not for the work opportunity allowed for by the Honolulu Community Action Program Senior Community Service Employment Program, funded by the federal Community Service Block Grant Program.

For decades, this federal block grant program has given hundreds of thousands of lower-income Hawaii residents a chance to demonstrate their value to the community through work. Our work and dedication have given us dignity and self-worth while keeping our heads above the poverty line. It allows many senior citizens like myself the chance to maintain our independence, to remain active and to play an appreciated role in our communities.

Curtailing or ending funding for this program will have a serious impact upon thousands of Hawaii families and seniors. I urgently appeal to our political leadership both in Washington and in Washington Place to avert these federal efforts to undercut or end this program. Simply put, if the Community Service Block Grant Program is ended, I will be one of the many faces that will lose our jobs and our ability to subsist with dignity.

Honor soldiers, not hypocritical leaders

The other night Fox News had a fair and balanced debate about whether the press is against the military, citing of course the Newsweek debacle concerning flushing the Quran down the toilet. They huffed and they puffed (with proper "balance," of course, so that they radiated fairness), grumped and harrumped, pontificated, feigned shock and gasped in faux alarm at the nerve of the media to do such a thing.

Earlier, I saw Corky Trinidad's editorial cartoon about the disabled veteran at his father's grave. I had just read about the Gold Star Mothers' barring of Ligaya Lagman from membership in their organization. Lagman is a 20-plus-year resident alien Filipina whose son had graduated from high school in the United States, joined the Army, served and died in Afghanistan. She was rejected because she is not a U.S. citizen.

If the media is against the military, it is not against its soldiers. I believe the focus of the press is the military administration and the culture it fosters, the cover-your-behind, scratch-your-back protectionism that makes all generals holy angels and the ministers of defense and justice the guardians of political purity.

The government and its military arm pursue their own goals at the expense of their own constituents. They continue to ignore their treatment of the volunteer military forces, the National Guard, the disabled and maimed casualties.

We need to honor our men and women who are taking risks to guarantee our security, especially those who have paid with their limbs or their lives. At the same time, we need to focus our discontent and distaste on a military and government that tries to con us with their jargon of patriotism and service that they themselves pay only lip service to.

Longtime fans priced out of UH football

I recently turned in my notice to the Koa Anuenue that I will cancel my University of Hawaii football season tickets for next season. After 32 years (since the old stadium), I no longer can afford the price. I just happen to sit in the section dubbed the "prime section." I sat there for more than 20 years.

Funny thing has happened. Now that I cancelled my tickets, I no longer scrutinize the sports section pertaining to UH football. I just sort of skim through. Something good will still come out of this, though.

First, I will increase my annual contribution to the UH Foundation-College of Education by the cost of two season tickets. Second, not paying the ticket premium will allow several trips to visit our son and his wife in Eugene, Oregon. Third, my wife will finally get to attend Wahine volleyball.

I wonder if I will receive a thank-you note for my past 32 years of patronage? Nah, it's all about the money!

Kubo's conscience needs strong medicine

I was taught in Sunday school that there's a special place in heaven set aside for those who help others. Whether as kids we decided to volunteer for community service, help the poor or even help our hard-working parents with the chores, this would all be counted in our favor.

If so, there must also be a special place reserved elsewhere for someone who prosecutes sick patients and intimidates their doctors.

U.S. Attorney Ed Kubo stated that "physicians and caregivers can no longer rely on that excuse (a medical need) to distribute marijuana in Hawaii" and could face federal prosecution (Star-Bulletin, June 9). He also has threatened to shut down Hawaii's needle exchange programs that effectively protect people from diseases like HIV/AIDS.

Kubo might take time to consult his own conscience before attacking programs that benefit sick or dying patients or that protect the public against the spread of AIDS.

I hope the threat of an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit will at least cause him to rethink his position and that we'll hear a different, more compassionate plan from our U.S. attorney.

Kind strangers helped with tire blowout

There are times when we simply cannot survive without the kindness of strangers. When my tire blew out on the H-1 freeway Honolulu-bound near 6th Street on Sunday, May 29, I felt utterly helpless. I am an 87-year-old woman and riding with me was my husband, who earlier that day had been released from the hospital.

After the blowout, I somehow maintained control of the car and got it off to the center median, where we sat dazed. Two thoughtful young men heading home from the beach stopped to render assistance -- they were off-duty firemen. They contacted police for us, who then slowed traffic enough to drive the car, flat tire and all, across the freeway and exit off the freeway in Kaimuki.

The feeling of helplessness was terrifying, and I am extremely grateful to the good Samaritans who took time to comfort and assist us during the ordeal. Without people like them, Hawaii would be a much different place -- a place without aloha.

We never got the names of the two men who helped us, but I hope they know how much they touched our lives that day, and how grateful we are to them.

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