Letters to the Editor

There’s nothing wrong with ‘Boat days’ support

Rene Mansho is getting a bad rap.

According to your Feb. 4 story, the state Campaign Spending Commission and city Ethics Commission are investigating whether she improperly used her campaign money and her city position to help promote "Aloha Boat Days." If she did this, she should be commended for putting her heart and her own campaign money into an activity that can only enhance our efforts to improve our still-lagging economy.

I would not compare Rene’s altruistic motive to help enhance our waterfront industry with other politicians who have used their campaign funds for personal benefit.

James E. Cowen

Cayetano is ruining University of Hawai‘i

It is unbelievable that the governor of this state would try to systematically destroy the most valuable institution of the state: its university.

What he wants to accomplish with his uninformed and arrogant talk and actions is beyond logical reasoning. Any other governor would be proud to have a university like ours and would actively support it .

It should be up to the Legislature and the citizens of this state to put an end to this sad state of affairs.

Klaus Wyrtki
Professor emeritus

Let’s keep lottery money in the Islands

Bravo, Doug Olivares (Letters, Feb. 16) Casinos: no; lottery: yes.

Ditto on divvying up the cash to multiple winners.

Thousands of us enter the Publishers’ Clearing House "lottery" each month, inundated with magazines and spatulas we don’t need. Sadly, while satisfying this innate urge to gamble, our money goes overseas. Let’s keep it at home.

Linda Ryan

Music community will miss Alan Bunin

Alan Bunin slipped away from us quietly, unassumingly, as was his way.

Many thousands, tens of thousands, of us will forever miss his unique style of communicating on his KHPR daily programs of classical music and the extent of his understanding of many things with deep meanings, especially his knowledge of music.

He was master of that domain and his knowledge was awesome. Yet his touch was light, humorous. Many of us will remember his acute program notes for many a concert.

A half-dozen years ago or so, when we organized the "Make Music!" festival, we were surprised to discover Alan as an accomplished violist when his group performed for our festival. Alan was not only a musicologist but a musician — a doer.

Recently, the Honolulu Symphony charged me with inviting Alan to join its artistic committee. I grieve that I was not able to reach him in time.

I hope the Bunin family will allow me, and so many of us, to join in their bereavement.

George Cassarno

Civilians weren’t cause of sub crash

In defense of Navy policy, there have been accidents on ships even without visitors aboard.

Using the "distraction defense," drivers of cars should not be allowed to have passengers unless specially licensed to do so. There are accidents everywhere or else they wouldn’t be called accidents.

The sonar room has at least five men monitoring during a watch; all five would not be distracted all the time. As stated, when the periscope observation was taken, monitors showed everyone in the area what was seen on the scope.

To blame the cause of this accident on visitors is ridiculous. Whenever an accident happens, it is easy to say, what if...? Even in a car, most people try to blame the other guy.

Donald Buote

Military accidents raise many questions

Hawai‘i made world news with two tragic military accidents. Both were due to poor leadership decisions, and the world wants to know why. Who was responsible for these unnecessary peace-time deaths?

The fact that U.S. submarines have carried 213 civilian guests in the past year and that two civilian guests were sitting at the controls of the USS Greeneville at the time of the accident show the Navy has an insane and frightening policy that must be changed immediately.

Is the Navy running its own Disneyland rides? Do airline pilots let passengers fly planes? Why are civilians allowed on submarines? Why couldn’t this surfacing operation have been done much farther out to sea?

The two Black Hawk helicopters crashed during the height of a rare downpour that gave O‘ahu over 2.5 inches of rain in a very short period of time. Why wasn’t this operation suspended during the storm? Why risk lives and equipment in zero visibility? Give us answers.

Joe Watanabe

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