Don't put casinos anywhere in Hawaii

Regarding Saturday's letter by Toshio Chinen: Interesting angle to put casinos on Molokai and Lanai. Research shows that problem and addicted gamblers increase in the areas 30 miles from casinos. Please put lots of lots of addiction counselors there, also. Actually, whether or not you enjoy gambling, legalized gambling is a very bad idea for Hawaii. The money that could pour into candidates' and lawmakers' campaign coffers could leave us open to all sorts of persuasion for casinos and lotteries all over the islands. It puts the government in the business of gambling.

When the funds from gambling don't keep up with projections, the government must promote gambling -- urging citizens to buy tickets. In other words the government itself becomes addicted to gambling.

As for those who feel deprived by not being able to go to Las Vegas to gamble, they already have a serious problem.

Mall lost shoppers on triathlon day

At 5:50 Sunday morning, May 18, my mother, brother and I were headed to Ala Moana Beach Park to cheer my sister on as she participated in the Honolulu Triathlon. Her heat began at 6:15 a.m., so we felt we had plenty of time to watch her begin the race.

To our dismay, when we attempted to park in the practically empty parking lots of Ala Moana Center, we were turned away by uniformed parking attendants who told us we were not to park there and that if we did our car would be towed, as the security cameras were watching the lots. Because the road was blocked off for the course, we had to park 20 minutes away, and we missed the beginning of the race.

I cannot imagine that Ala Moana would voluntarily give up all the revenue that more than 1,200 participants and their supporters would generate after the race, but they sure did! There was plenty of parking at the mall that early Sunday morning, four hours before the mall even opened, but there was no aloha or good will in sight.

All of us in the car will do our best to avoid shopping at Ala Moana in the near future, because one thing I have learned is that they don't want people at their mall.

Phony lawmakers keep people in truck beds

"Click It or Ticket" is in full force, and that's great for everyone's safety. Our lawmakers, on the other hand, have ignored an insanity on our highways. They are as phony as $3 bills. They created "Click It or Ticket," yet they allow people to ride in pickup beds unbelted. Pickup truck beds don't have belts because they were made to carry cargo, not humans.

During the 2006 legislative session, four women were killed in Kunia riding to work in the back of a pickup truck. They were thrown out like missiles onto the highway in a collision with a cement truck. Until today not even one lawmaker ever said or did anything to stop this insanity on our streets.

If these poor women were in a vehicle wearing seat belts, maybe one or all would be alive today. How sad.

Do you think that these politicians would allow their wives, mothers, daughters or loved ones to ride in pickup beds? I doubt it.

These tragedies will happen again, and these lawmakers should be held accountable. Last year and this year the bill to ban this practice was not even heard by the committee. If they don't care about our children having seat belts on school buses, why would they care about everyone else?

Public schools urged to give vegan option

Hesh Goldstein ("Letters," May 25) said, "When a bill was introduced in the state Legislature recently requiring the public schools to offer vegetarian and vegan meals, the only two entities that opposed were the Health and Education departments."

Goldstein might not know that the original bill, House Bill 2136, was modified to remove the opposition and passed in the 2008 Hawaii Legislature as SCR 84, "Requesting the Department of Education and the Hawaii Public School Food Service to Develop Nutritionally Sound Public School Menu Plans That Include Vegetarian and Vegan Meals."

Dumbed-down society a sign of the times

"Stollen dog!" That's what the poster, nailed to a tree on Hobron Lane, says. It reminds me of an article I read about high school dropouts. Only 75 percent of those who start high school graduate, and for minorities it's 50 percent. The Gates Foundation surveyed dropouts to find out why they didn't continue -- half said they were bored!

I came from a small rural community where we had 100 percent graduates. We played hide-and-seek, stickball, wore out the playground equipment until we were 6 years old and then went to where we wanted to be, with the "big kids" -- first grade. Look at what kids today have to put up with. Head Start at 3 years old, then pre-kindergarten, then kindergarten. By the time they are in their senior year, they have had, what, 14-15 years of school? I'd be bored, too.

Now look at the end product! Ever see the working end of a cash register in a fast-food place? If you order a Big Mac, there's a picture of a Big Mac that one touches; numbers are too complicated. Industry has come down to the level of our education system.

Now, who has that German pastry dog? Probably waiting for Christmas to return it.