HC&S closure would leave void

Several years ago, I returned to Maui after living on the mainland for 17 years. As my plane descended, I was struck anew by the beauty of the waving, green cane fields welcoming me home. We are fortunate to have a large agricultural operation on Maui. The 30,000 acres of sugar cane draw in carbon dioxide and release oxygen into our atmosphere on a daily basis.

Being born and raised on Maui, the sugar industry meant a lot to my family. It represented the food on our table and my college tuition. It was where my father toiled for over 40 years. Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. is a part of the fabric of who we are as Mauians.

It saddens me to know how perilous the survival of HC&S is at present. If the company were to shut down, it would result in the loss of hundreds of jobs. Local vendors and the community would also lose a valuable business and charitable partner. It is naive to assume that local farms would fill the void left if the company closed down. Construction and development would be the order of the day. I fear that with the demise of HC&S, the Maui I grew up in and love would disappear forever.

Isles' love for Obama seems unrequited

If you, like me, call Hawaii home, please pause before we give away another Hawaii treasure as a monument to a young president—who may have left us behind.

We shouldn't change current laws that delay judging a person's life until it's over, because even God waits until we are dead to judge us. And consider:

Our neighbors honored him with a luau in D.C. His response? “;I hope everybody's got their Hawaiian shirts ...”; But only tourists call them Hawaiian shirts; we call them aloha shirts.

In Copenhagen seeking the 2016 Olympics, he told the world he “;was born in Hawaii ... lived in Indonesia”; and they should “;choose Chicago ... the city I still call home ...”;

So I ask: Has Hawaii's desire for the president to love us, as much as Hawaii wants to love him, left us like a rejected suitor who continues to pursue a love that left her or him behind?

Gov. Lingle to blame for lost class time

I remind readers that teacher furloughs were Gov. Linda Lingle's idea. Everything that has happened since then is a consequence of that.

The governor's more-recent flip-flop and attempt to blame the Department of Education, Hawaii State Teachers Association, state Legislature and the teachers themselves is simply political spin.

Police, road workers worsen Oahu traffic

California Highway patrolmen help control the traffic by not standing and watching the “;looky-loos”; look; they wave them past the scene quickly and safely.

Also, why do the construction companies working on the freeway have to start diverting traffic so far before the work site? It's so unnecessary to keep us backed up for miles.

Furthermore, the construction companies working on the pipes in Nanakuli have been working there for years; they should know where the pipes, which they break, are located by now.