Paper should not support binge drinking

Your June 10 "Barfly" column is not appropriate for a daily newspaper. It advocates binge drinking as a weekend pursuit, as if it is a reasonable alternative to the other entertainment options covered, such as dining out, going to a weekend festival or seeing a movie. "Barfly" promotes alcohol abuse and dependence, which kills more than 100,000 Americans each year and destroys the lives of countless more.

Statements such as "XXXX is an oasis for the active drinker" and "Sure, after four or five drinks you'll be nice and lubricated" imply that binge drinking is a safe and healthy behavior, which it clearly is not. It is ironic that elsewhere in the same edition, you continue to cover the story of those who were recently injured and killed after driving off a cliff while intoxicated. This is what might happen after you are "nice and lubricated."

Huge backpacks can hurt bus passengers

While riding the bus a few days ago, I noticed a problem that compels me to write. A standing man wearing a backpack that extended 12 to 15 inches hit a lady on the arm. A few minutes later he hit a seated lady on the head. "Oh," he said, "sorry," as if this was an everyday occurrence. Someone with a water bottle on the side of a backpack could really hurt someone.

I've seen drivers refuse people boarding with giant strollers. How about the same treatment for people wearing backpacks? They should be carried, not worn.

Watch for pedestrians -- it's only fair

I am responding to the June 8 letter regarding the new crosswalk law. The phrase "keep it fair" was used concerning pedestrians walking when the "Don't Walk" sign is flashing. How fair is it to stand on the curb trying to cross the road but no one will stop? As drivers we have the responsibility to watch out for pedestrians because when we are not in a car, we are pedestrians. Show some aloha, and drive with it in mind.

Tax money should not be spent on chandelier

It surely seems the time has come to yank the checkbook out of the hands of our legislators ... maybe the crayons they use to write the checks as well.

In a time when our taxes are being raised almost daily, the repeated explanation being that the government needs more and more of our dollars to continue crucial public services, I read now that the state is going to spend more than $600,000 to restore the chandeliers in the Senate and House chambers (Star-Bulletin, June 5).

Seems to me that the priority level of this overtly arrogant project should rank somewhere around zero. Are our representatives that far out of touch with the people? Apparently.

Let's try to transcend racial separation

I am confused by the Koa Inoa campaign. Is a person of 90 percent hated haole ancestry being sought to sign up his 10 percent Hawaiian blood? To what end?

As a Hawaiian by choice, not birth, I marvel at the grace and beauty of the hula; I relish the delectability of kalua pig and lomi lomi salmon; I rejoice in the aloha of ohana, da kine ohana brotherly love, not da kine ohana discriminatory exclusion or political corruption.

As an American I also appreciate the contributions of other diverse cultures to Hawaii and America, the greatest experiment in government yet attempted.

As a human being, I wonder if mankind will ever attain a level of civilization that will transcend the primitive institutions of tribalism, a banding together for protection from and/or domination of other groups, and religion, the myths primitive man invents to justify tribalism.

Is Koa Inoa interested in the brotherhood of man? Would the seemingly limitless money being spent to sign up, for instance, qualified homeless not be better spent on shelter, nutrition and hygiene for those same people?

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