Letters to the Editor
New product has nothing to do with heritage
I am a non-Hispanic married to a hard-working, family-loving, passionate, sexy Puertoriqueno, like those for whom Liz Claiborne designed the Mambo fragrance. His scent is Aramis, and he isn't about to switch colognes just so that he has the "allure of Ricky Martin's hips." I'm not convinced that this new fragrance has anything to do with Hispanics and everything to do with a marketing trend.
Creating new products is what business is all about, but don't tell me that my choices are defined by my heritage. If that were the case, I would conjure up an ambiance of fog from the British Isles, plundering Vikings and German neatness when I walk into a room — phew!
Susie Nunez
'Aiea
Big Island tragedy brings danger to light
In an Aug. 14 article on the Big Island archery tragedy, Walter Wright wrote that archers "were puzzled how an accident can happen like this to a longtime archer." Yet in the same article Al Marciel, proprietor of Jimmy's Archery is quoted as saying, referring to archery accidents, "The basic rule is if something can happen it will happen," and "And if it cannot happen it will happen anyway."
These statements by archers are not very reassuring to the safety of archery ranges in our parks on O'ahu. Because of the power and lack of accuracy even in the hands of experienced and certified bow hunters of these new high-tech bows, archery ranges should not be in our public parks. Instead they should be on private land run by archery associations and promoters at their expense and liability.
Taxpayers are aware that members of the City Council, including Duke Bainam (Diamond Head/ Kahala), and Mayor Jeremy Harris are in support of archery ranges in some of O'ahu's busiest parks, such as Kapi'olani Park and the new one in central O'ahu.
The article finishes with a quote from the past president of the Archery Association, Jay Chrisman, saying, "Arrows can ricochet off something as flimsy as a twig."
Knowing that these arrows are made of carbon fiber, can travel close to a mile in the air and are powerful enough to go through a two-by-four, do archery ranges really belong in our congested parks?
Robert Loera
Scientific principles must be understood first
The glaring error in Cliff Coleman's Aug. 15 letter, "Liberal-minded folks wrong on two counts," demands a correction.
Coleman is right to say that a pitcher filled to its brim with water and ice cubes will spill nary a drop when those ice cubes melt. But this in no way models our planet's situation relative to the flooding that will accompany large-scale glacial melting, particularly in reference to Antarctica's huge ice burden (70 percent of Earth's fresh water.)
Why does his model fail? Because, unlike the Arctic ice cap, which displaces its own mass of water as it floats in the ocean (like Coleman's ice cubes in the pitcher), Antarctic ice is not floating in water but is grounded, compressing the Antarctic landmass with ice that is up to four and a half kilometers thick and that measures over 13 million square kilometers in area, roughly the size of Texas and Colorado combined.
Contrary to Coleman's mistaken opinion, changes in this massive grounded ice sheet do affect sea level directly: Each and every drop of melted run-off from this land-bound ice adds fluid to the seas' total water volume, thus overflowing "the pitcher" of the oceans. This includes the effect of deglaciation of all Earth's mid-latitude glaciers in the Alps, Andes, Rockies, etc. So we could experience a rise in global sea level of 15 feet to 20 feet — more than enough to flood many low-lying coastal regions.
Scientific principles must be correctly understood before any investigation of the global-warming phenomenon can serve us. To trivialize the process of studying such a crucial matter is foolhardy and distracts us from addressing this matter decisively.
Jack Hobbs
Money could help economy, school system
The economy in Hawai'i is one of the biggest in the nation. However, our state Legislature fails to come up with a reasonable solution to solve our dissipating economy. The subject of legalized gambling comes up every year, yet our state Legislature shoots down every gambling proposal.
Las Vegas is the No. 1 tourist attraction for Hawai'i residents, with hundreds of thousands of our dollars going to their economy. With many of our students struggling because we don't appropriate enough funds to help them, why can't we have some kind of legalized gambling in Hawai'i such as bingo, which our military bases seem to be profiting from, to show our keiki realize that we care about their education?
Robert Rabideau Jr.
A permanent place for Hawai'i artists
Congratulations to the Hawai'i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts for the formation ofa state art museum, to be located in the Hemmeter Building.
During the eight years (1990-1999) that I wrote art columns first for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and then The Honolulu Advertiser, I was aware of the need for a place to showcase the work of Hawai'i's artists. The Honolulu Academy of Arts and the Contemporary Museum present fine temporary exhibitions of art created in Hawai'i, but do not have permanent installations of this work.
Hawai'i's new museum will fill a gaping hole inHawai'i's cultural life. I particularly wish to congratulate Lisa Yoshihara, curator of the state art collection, who has been tireless in advocating and establishing this new museum.
Joan Rose
