Slurs against some groups are acceptable in Hawaii

So now we must censor our private conversations? Duane Chapman's son was obviously out to try to make some money off his old man when he recorded his phone conversation and provoked his father into getting angry. So what if Chapman used a racial slur in his private conversation? How many people here say "f---ing haoles" or use other such racial slurs when talking about mainlanders? Should your conversations be recorded, sold and broadcast?

And yes, Chapman uses some rough language when dealing with potentially violent criminals and smokes cigarettes in the same episodes where he shares his Christian beliefs. So what? How many regular Sunday morning Christians can honestly say they live their lives perfectly?

As Jesus Christ said, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone."

Our phone conversations should be private

Once again the media take something totally out of context because it involves blacks. I listened to the tape with Dog Chapman talking to his son and he is explaining that when people use the N-word it could cause him to lose his career. At no time did I hear him call this girl the N-word.

I am sick and tired of someone having a private conversation and someone is taping it to give the media. Isn't that illegal? We can no longer talk to our kids without being recorded? If it were me no one would know the better, but because Dog is talking to his son it is taped.

He does too much good in Hawaii and in the United States to be crucified for this. I urge everyone to hear the tape and you will agree that he is telling his son that if he dates this girl people will use that word and it will be bad for business.

Haole shouldn't bring mainland prejudice here

I was hurt and offended when local people said Dog Chapman was white trash. I defended him. I thought that although he could be course and rough, that he really cared about downtrodden people. He acted like he wanted to help people change for the better. But now he has shown he is the typical bad haole who comes here to make money and bring his mainland prejudices here. Dog, this is why they say, "Haole go home."

Poor bounty hunter just can't catch a break

What's all the flap about "Dog" Chapman's use of the N-word? Newsflash, people: the N-word is still alive and well in the American lexicon, just underground.

The poor Dog has more karma than Gandhi. His daughter was killed in Alaska four hours before he married Beth at the Grand Wailea. His show is pure TV ratings crap. Praying before the capture, his entourage can be seen coming for miles so any felon has time to ditch it. He and his family give prayer service and Freudian analysis on their way to the pokey.

Why do I watch it?

Legal raceway would prevent street deaths

Another senseless death from street racing occurred on Oct. 31. Ironically, this accident occurred in Kunia, where thousands of acres of former pineapple land now lies fallow.

Our Legislature is not known for taking timely and decisive action even on issues of unarguable merit, but here's a suggestion: We need a replacement for Hawaii Raceway Park.

Less then two years ago, well-developed plans for a world-class raceway park were sunk. This facility would have brought significant revenues to the state and provided a safe, legal release for young people and others for their need for speed.

As we contemplate yet another death from the results of this failure, it is important to remember that those well-developed plans still exist and continue to be advanced by the Oahu Motorsports Advisory Council. Those plans could be virtually cookie-cuttered from the previously proposed site at Barbers Point and be dropped intact onto 350 acres of now vacant Kunia-area land.

This idea clearly has merit. Therefore, the chances of action on it are probably next to nothing. What a pity.

Visiting families rely on vacation rentals

I visited Oahu for a family vacation in March. I brought my family of seven with me for the first time. We rented a vacation home on the North Shore and had a wonderful time.

We intentionally stayed in a vacation home instead of a hotel. We wanted to get away from the crowded hotel scene.

I can't believe that you are entertaining the idea of limiting vacation rentals and thus requiring visitors to stay in hotels. We liked the privacy and the quiet of the vacation home.

It would affect my decision whether to plan a return visit if short-term vacation renting is no longer available.

Let's limit damaging publicity about B&Bs

Hawaii's cash cow -- the tourism industry -- might be in big trouble, and our legislators don't seem to be doing much about it. At least two major national and international travel magazines, Conde Nast Traveler and Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel, have lengthy articles in their current issues advising potential travelers to Hawaii of the B&B and vacation rental situation in our islands and issuing warnings about the uncertainty of finding affordable places to stay.

The granting of licenses remains a big issue. My suggestion is this: Pick a time period, say two or three years, and issue licenses to all vacation rental property owners who can show they paid all taxes and fees during that time period. Shut down the others.

Lesser species ruin the nighttime peace

What flaw in the law is it that allows some people to become interminable disturbers of the peace with total exclusion from any sanctions for their absolute disregard for the peace of mind of the entire populace?

It's about 5 a.m. as I write this. I am not sitting at my keyboard at this time because I am an early riser. But this morning as almost every other morning, noon and night, some disrespectful derelict in a wreck of an automobile has spent all his drug profits on a sound-blasting boom box on wheels and has determined it is his right to crank up the volume so as to deafen every citizen within a two-block area in every direction wherever it goes. Although I live on an upper floor in a closed, air-conditioned apartment, the entire room is thumping and vibrating with the vulgar sounds of gangsta rap. If it were a feral rooster, I think I could shoot it, but this noise comes from a species far below the intelligence of a wild chicken so it's somehow protected from extermination.

Think about this: Have you ever heard this primitive thumping and looked into the car whence it came and ever (and I mean ever) seen anything other than some total loser? Then it proceeds to give you stink eye for having the gall to even glance in its direction, as if to say, "Go ahead, say something and I will rip you apart." Oh by the way, they are all tourists, aren't they?

Give peace and happiness a chance

"I want a laptop, a PSP, a new game ... oh yeah, and peace and happiness." This is how some Americans think, according to "Computers top world peace on Christmas wish lists" (Star-Bulletin, Oct. 16).

As a freshman in high school, what hope does this give me? We're at a war in Iraq; President Bush claims to want world peace; many Americans claim the same thing. But, oh wait! It's Christmas time, so I want a laptop! Peace comes in second, then happiness comes in third. Do we not want peace and happiness in our lives? We only want laptops and electronic devices?

I'm not writing this letter to put anyone down, it's just something to think about. Electronic devices are expensive and won't last forever, but peace and happiness are priceless.

Akaka bill vote gives Hawaiians hope

It is encouraging that the U.S. House passed the Akaka Bill by a 261-153 vote (Star-Bulletin, Oct. 25). Maybe someday, it will be passed fully by Congress and become law with our president's approval. The Hawaiian people deserve to have their own government like the Native American and Alaskan nations! Imua for this important bill's passage.