Armed security could stop campus shootings

Because we live in a country with the Second Amendment, concerning the right to bear arms, mayhem on our school campuses will not end anytime soon. Therefore, school campuses must get serious with beefing up school security big time. Well-trained armed security guards can certainly prevent mass murders.

Schools are good targets for domestic terrorists to go on killing sprees, since there are ample targets of innocent youths who are so defenseless in protecting themselves.

The United States has an estimated 200 million guns. Many can agree that we will see more school-shooting massacres.

The media continue to broadcast gruesome details minute by minute, over and over. This kind of media coverage and millions of guns on the streets is the right recipe that will spur on more copycat massacres.

The United States needs to take a good look at Japan and Germany and learn why they don't experience school massacres.

Do we blame cars for auto accidents?

Corky's editorial cartoon yesterday was very distasteful and disrespectful of all those affected by the Virginia Tech shooting. To somehow imply that a firearm chooses to drink beer and lay low until the next incident slaps all lawful gun owners in the face. If the murderer chose to kill by running his car into a crowd of people, would there be the knee-jerk reaction to ban cars? I think not.

What if one of the victims had a concealed-carry firearms license, and was able to stop the shooting by returning fire? Would there have been salute to the effectiveness of legal firearms toward crime control? Again, I think not.

In the days and weeks to follow, when we hear about restricting gun ownership, be enlightened, and respond that guns, like cars, are tools that can be used for both good or bad.

Secretary of state not worth high praise

Contrary to Sandra Puanani Burgess' glowing praise of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (Letters, April 16), Rice is actually a dismal failure when you consider she didn't act on al-Qaida warnings from Richard Clarke back in January 2001 and ignored alarms of al-Qaida attacks given by George Tenet and Cofer Black in July 2001. Rice could have prevented thousands of deaths occurring on 9/11, but instead on both occasions she blindly followed George Bush while he slept at the wheel.

Don't let lawmakers seize executive's role

I could not agree more with Rep. Gene Ward in his op-ed regarding the gutting of the governor's executive powers of appointment ("At the Capitol," Star-Bulletin, April 15). As drafted, Senate Bill 1063 SD1 HD1 would drastically curtail the individuals whom the governor could appoint as members of the state Senate, House or U.S. Senate. Ward makes the point that the leadership of the political party in power (Democratic for a number of years) would be those who decide who would be on the "short list."

This movement is bad public policy and should not be allowed. The same applies to a list of "recommended" members of the Board of Regents. Kill the bill(s).

Help give sub teachers what they deserve

Your support is urgently needed to settle the dispute between the Department of Education and the substitute and part-time teachers once and for all. They give their all educating and preparing the children of Hawaii to be the leaders of tomorrow. Let's show them today how much we appreciate their efforts.

Mahalo nui loa for doing the right and fair thing by supporting our teachers in their struggle to attain what is but their just due.

Parents, teachers know value of subs

I have been a substitute teacher in the elementary schools for the Department of Education's Leeward District for six years. I am writing this in regard to the issue of DOE substitute teachers' back pay, which will be decided in the next few weeks.

For many taxpayers without children in our school system, this issue might only seem like one more added burden on their taxes, but I want them to know the importance of substitute teachers. We are available to be in classes when at least 1,000 teachers daily are unable to teach for various reasons. We hold the responsibility of providing students with their education on that day. Parents are aware of the benefit of having excellent substitute teachers for their children when the teacher is unable to be there.

It saddens me to have seen so many dedicated substitute teachers not be given the honor and pay we deserve for the responsibility that has been entrusted to us. I love being a substitute teacher, as do the majority of substitute teachers who provide this needed service.

It would be disheartening to see this issue unresolved, and I am looking forward to the governor's support for our education system, and for the substitute teachers who are a viable part of it.

Ho made Lee's song even more memorable

I first saw Don Ho more than 40 years ago at Woolworth's at the Ala Moana Shopping Center. There he sat behind a register autographing his record album for anyone who asked. There was no false pretense. Just a guy who loved people and loved his music.

While others have mentioned him for the song "Tiny Bubbles," I will always remember his rendition of Kui Lee's song "I'll Remember You." The lyrics and Don's presentation encapsulated one's soul.

Live gig launched long recording career

I will miss Don Ho. Not for the many shows in Waikiki he put on night after night or the promotion of Hawaii that he produced day in and day out, but for one magical night I remember at Honey's Tavern in Kaneohe, where it all started, long before most of you reading this were born.

My sound engineer, Bob Lang, and I were at Honey's to record Don's first long-play record album, on the HULA Records label, of course. The album was to be called "A Taste of Honey's" and the place was packed with Don's friends and family, with Nani and Kui Lee and mother Honey and father Jimmy Ho in the front row.

The recording started with one of Don's all time favorites, "Pupu A O Ewa," and within 10 seconds every single person in the audience was singing along at the top of their lungs. For us, trying to record, it was a total disaster; for the crowd it was the beginning of the greatest party ever held.

As the publisher of Kui Lee's "I'll Remember You," it was fabulous to hear Kui sing his own beautiful song, especially since we had just gotten word that Andy Williams was going to record it, but it was even more so when Don joined in with Kui, and so the evening went.

An album to remember? Well, no, as the noise level and sing-along crowd destroyed all the tracks but four. Later we put them out on a little EP (extended play) with some great artwork by Harry Lyons, of a mean-looking bee with a big stinger, wiping honey off his lips, a real collector's item now. And that, my aikanes, was the beginning of Don Ho's recording career.

Let Section 8 tenants live where they want

I was shocked to learn that landlords who refuse to rent to people with Section 8 vouchers are not guilty of illegal discrimination (Star-Bulletin, April 17).

It is no wonder that Hawaii has a homeless crisis when the government allows this kind of housing discrimination against poor people. Who made this insane policy? And what can people do to get them fired and the policy changed?

It's time to honor vow to Filipino veterans

It is time that an incredible injustice be corrected. More than six decades ago, Filipinos made up the bulk of the U.S. forces in the Philippines when the Japanese invaded in 1941. More than 200,000 Filipinos fought a guerrilla war against the Japanese occupation forces tying down thousands of Japanese soldiers. This was a major assistance to U.S. forces.

But shortly after World War II ended, the U.S. Congress denied the Filipino fighters their full status as veterans and most veterans' benefits. They received only service-related disability or death benefits and later gained some other related benefits through lawsuits. But major benefits such as health care, home loans, education benefits, job training, handicap aids for a house or car, and pensions for low-income veterans and survivors' benefits for spouses of deceased veterans have been denied.

Some 20,000 Filipino veterans reside in the United States today, many of them in their 80s. Of these, about 2,000 live in Hawaii. It is a real travesty that so many years have gone by without these veterans being accorded equal treatment and justice. Congress must now act quickly to approve legislation supported by Hawaii's senators and representatives to right this grievous wrong, fulfill promises, and provide full and equal benefits to these veterans and their survivors.

If rail goes to airport, what about luggage?

Many persons strongly suggest that the rail transit route include the airport. This would imply that the rail transit would transport airline passengers with a large 30-inch suitcase and a hand-carry bag.

TheBus does not allow passengers with large luggage. Neither will the rail transit.