Food-safety rules won't feed the hungry
Rep. Marcus Oshiro would have us believe that it is wrong to suspend food-preparation rules for free food given to homeless people by private charities (
"Another View," May 21). His reasoning? "We should be protecting the homeless, not exposing them to greater risks by waiving health protocols."
Personally, I think the homeless who benefit from these private charities might be more concerned about the risk of starving to death. But, hey, let's put it to the test. Let's put a big sign up in front of these food kitchens saying "Marcus Oshiro doesn't want this charity to feed you. He thinks there's a chance the food might not meet bureaucratic standards for quality."
Perhaps we could also set up some voter registration booths by the signs, so the homeless can have a chance to register their gratitude for Oshiro's compassionate advocacy of their best interests.
Jim Henshaw
Kailua
Article was about English, not pidgin
In
Mark Lau's letter yesterday, he stated he disagreed with Doug Carlson's "condescending" opinion of the harm pidgin will have on your life.
Lau should look up the definition of "pidgin" in the dictionary. It states that pidgin is "a simplified mixture of two languages, usually using words from one language and grammatical features of another."
Carlson's article was written entirely about the misuse of the English language and never mentioned the use of pidgin or its presumed harm to your life. Although it may be true that a mixture of two languages is required so that there may be communications between different groups, that was not the intent of Carlson's article.
I applaud Lau for realizing that not all people understand each other and that he must use whatever means he can to bring them together. However, he should not criticize Carlson for his article, which was solely about the misuse of English and had nothing to do with pidgin.
I want to thank Carlson for his article. The misuse of the English language is becoming more prevalent all the time and I fear it will get worse if we don't do something, maybe at home, in our schools or somewhere else. I don't know, but I do know we have to start somewhere.
Charles Fox
Honolulu
More Hawaiian youths should be qualified
With no disrespect intended for someone who's obviously a fine young man, I find it astounding that Kamehameha Schools Maui had to choose
Kalani Rosell because they could not find a qualified Hawaiian student. The obvious solution is to educate more Hawaiians so they are qualified to attend Kamehameha. Isn't that the very mission of the Bishop Estate?
It is disgraceful that this was not done. "Broken Trust," anyone?
Mark A. Koppel
Umauma, Hawaii
Frazier held his own during witch trial
After four hours of University of Hawaii athletic witch hunting (
"Frazier takes capitol punishment," May 22), here's my report card:
» Interim chancellor Denise Konan: Handled unorganized and irrelevant questions with ease and poise, and stood her ground when required. A+
» Athletic director Herman Frazier: They loved you a year ago, so we knew this day would come. Thanks for your continued efforts for the student athletes, coaches and programs of our university. Stay the course. A-
» Rep. Jerry Chang and Sen. Norman Sakamoto: Whatever. C
» Rep. K. Mark Takai: Misguided professional politicians just scare me. I wish the zeal in uncovering soap dispenser cost and installation date inconsistencies was applied to getting lights on the H-1 and H-2. Holding the athletic director accountable for parking lot hours? Demanding names of major donors? Enough. Note: Basing your information on "what Colt said" and "blogs" is sad. D-
» Colt Brennan: Sigh. If you were good enough to play at a big mainland college with soap and everything, I'm guessing you would have. One good year in the Western Athletic Conference does not make an NFL quarterback -- just another prima donna. F
Mike Bilby
Mililani
Sweden's approach might help drug users
Last summer my family and I visited Hawaii and since then I have read the Star-Bulletin on the Web. It is very interesting to compare your articles with what happens here in Sweden and Europe.
Robert Sharpe wrote a letter, "Criminalizing drugs is the wrong approach" (Star-Bulletin, May 21), and I have a comment because we talk about the same here in Sweden.
In Sweden, the use of marijuana and other drugs is criminalized and the use of it is lower than in most other European Union countries. But we are talking about decriminalizing it, mostly because it will be easier to help the people who use drugs if they do not risk prison. But selling drugs will still be forbidden.
Krister Svensson
Hawaii visitor
Västerås, Sweden
Ridership numbers favor airport rail route
Councilman Romy Cachola seems to be doing a fine job trying to represent his constituents, but is failing to review all the facts that would reflect rail ridership.
» Rail should be faster than the bus. Putting a station every 1 or 2 miles will cause the train to be nearly as slow as the bus and will expend enormous amounts of energy needlessly. Placing a depot every 5 or 10 miles with feeder buses would increase efficiency and speed up the route.
» The airport's interisland terminal was designed to accommodate a rail spur. The airport route would reduce the need for more parking at the airport. Approximately 30,000 workers at the airport, plus departures/arrivals figures as potential ridership exceed Cachola's constituency.
» Fund rail operations with small retail shops immediately surrounding depots similar to BART in San Francisco. Riders can shop while they wait for their ride.
Christopher Murphy
Wahiawa
What do their schools know that ours don't?
Once again I searched in vain for one Hawaii public high school to make Newsweek's 2007 list of the top 1,200 schools in the nation. With the state Department of Education's nearly $2 billion budget, it strikes me as sad and perplexing that not one Hawaii school was worthy enough to make the list.
Maybe a new approach is warranted? With so many high schools from my old residence of Fairfax County, Va., on the Newsweek list, perhaps we can consider asking that school system to adopt Hawaii's? I don't miss Virginia, but maybe we should examine other successful school systems and apply the best techniques to Hawaii.
Austin McNally
Mililani
Story didn't tell whole story about Okinawa
Mahalo for your
May 13 article on the 62 years U.S. military occupation of Okinawa; however, the article missed many crucial facts. The sensationalized 1995 rape was only one of hundreds documented; it merely broke Okinawan patience.
Focusing on Futenma Airbase is dated as its closure was promised and broken for more than a decade. What wasn't mentioned is its closure was made conditional by U.S. and Japanese governments on relocation within Okinawa; in this case, the construction of huge airstrips into pristine reef to be filled with concrete, jeopardizing endangered species and Henoko village survival. Japanese discrimination against Okinawa continues by employing their forces against civilians to accommodate the U.S. empire and contractors.
For an accurate understanding of what's happening in Okinawa, a free showing of "Sit in on the Sea" will be shown at the Justice & Reconciliation Center, 19 N. Pauahi & Nuuanu at 6:30 p.m., May 29. Witness yourself elders in their 90s leading a decade-long struggle to defend their homeland nonviolently against the continued war.
Pete Shimazaki Doktor
Hawaii Okinawa Alliance