Sandwich shop story brings back memories

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw your article on Sunday regarding "Couple treats customers as family." Before I read the article, I told my family we met this family on one of our trips from Honolulu to Los Angeles several years ago. We sat in the same area in the airplane and started talking. Andy Rodrigues told us about his sandwich shop. He talked about his family. They were on their way to a church event here in the mainland. Very nice people. We hope to go to their shop when we go back to Honolulu.

Mahalo for a wonderful article about local people and their businesses. I never thought I would connect with them again. Aloha to Andy, Norma and family.

Oil rights do not go to Alaska residents

As an Alaska resident, I feel the need to address the inaccuracies in the Sept. 15 letter "Oil rights based on residence, not race."

Unlike in other states, property owners in Alaska don't have subsurface property rights. The subsurface rights are leased to the oil and gas companies. If there was a giant pocket of oil beneath just my property, I wouldn't get a dime out of it. The right to drill for and recover the oil would be leased to an oil company.

What people might be thinking of is the Permanent Fund Dividend, which gives all residents a share of about one-third the earnings (both royalties and investments made by the PFD Corp).

[ QUOTABLE ] "The girls (in class) are much more vocal about their ideas. The boys are just sitting there thinking, 'When's lunch?'" B.K. Cannon Fifteen-year-old Kailua girl, describing one possible reason why girls in Hawaii and across the nation are outperforming boys in academic pursuits

Boxer should have held Hawaii flag

Brian Viloria won the WBC junior flyweight crown and unfurled the Philippine flag, after defeating Eric Ortiz of Mexico City.

I am the son of an Italian immigrant, and a longtime resident of Hawaii. Had I won the WBC junior flyweight title, I most assuredly would have unfurled a Hawaii flag.

Where does Brian Viloria live? Waipahu, Hawaii, the 50th state. Hawaii, where his relatives, friends and compadres also live.

For those who would say Viloria is from the Philippines, he should have unfurled two flags: one from the Philippines and the other Hawaiian. Hawaii deserves it. He is a resident of this state, and Hawaii most certainly deserved recognition.

We deserve better nominee than Roberts

The Bush administration's strategy for ensuring John Roberts' confirmation to the Supreme Court has been clear from the beginning: secrecy, secrecy, secrecy.

Bush continues to refuse Senate demands to see just 16 highly relevant public records from Roberts' time as deputy solicitor general. This unprecedented resistance is all the more outrageous after Bush elevated Roberts' nomination to the post of chief justice.

Judge Roberts came to the hearings last week prepped with a comprehensive strategy for withholding information. He refused to comment on his past positions as a lawyer or his basic legal philosophy on protecting fundamental rights. As New York Sen. Charles Schumer put it, "You agree we should be finding out your philosophy and method of legal reasoning ... but when we try to find out ... we don't get any answers."

These hearings were Roberts' last opportunity to allay the concern of the people. He was articulate, well informed and polite, but through his refusals, evasions and the Bush administration's secrecy, he failed the test.

A tale of two cities coping with disasters

To paraphrase an old book, "It was the best of times; it was the worst of times." Compare the leadership of New York City (9/11) with the lack of leadership in New Orleans (hurricane). Compare the mayor of New York City with the mayor of New Orleans. Compare the governor of New York state with the governor of Louisiana. Compare the police and fire departments of these two cities during a disaster. Of course, the usual suspects of Hawaii (the boot-licking liberal lackies, the limousine liberals, and the beads-and-Birkenstocks bunch) can't wait to blame President Bush. Of course, Hawaii's liberals are politically correct and won't question the lack of leadership of the mayor of New Orleans (person of color) or the lack of leadership on the part of the governor of Louisiana (female).

Why did approximately 200 New Orleans police officers quit? Why was the mayor of New Orleans in Houston for a photo op during the weekend of Sept. 10? Why is the governor of Louisiana in Baton Rouge? Why were New Orleans police officers looting and not protecting the citizenry of New Orleans? Where was Louisiana's congressional delegation?

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