Letters to the Editor
Access is critical in fight against AIDS crisis
One possible solution to the NIMBY reaction caused by Chinatown's needle exchange program is syringe deregulation. Allow drug users to purchase clean syringes in pharmacies rather than a centralized exchange.
Regardless of the distribution mechanism, access to clean needles is critical. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 58 percent of AIDS cases among women are linked to injection drug use or sex with partners who inject drugs. Overall, 36 percent of AIDS cases in the United States can be traced back to intravenous drug use. This easily preventable public health crisis is a direct result of zero tolerance policies that restrict access to clean syringes.
Punitive drug laws compound the drug problem by driving use underground. Would alcoholics even seek help for their addiction if doing so were tantamount to confessing to criminal activity? Would putting every incorrigible alcoholic behind bars and saddling them with criminal records prove cost-effective?
In the interest of containing the HIV epidemic, let's hope America's tough-on-drugs politicians acknowledge the drug war's tremendous collateral damage sooner rather than later.
Robert Sharpe
The Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation
Decision to relocate all about money, not safety
Let's face it. The real reason the sex offender parole office moved to Alakea Street is that the state Parole Authority believes it will save the state $48,000 a year. The decision had nothing to do with ensuring public safety. Otherwise, why would they even stay at the Wai-akamilo facility without security?
When the parole administrator claimed that the office will be moving to a "second state office building in Kapolei," he omitted the fact that such a building is not even in the planning stage and is years away from being completed.
I agree that NIMBY attitudes are not constructive and that there may not be a "perfect" site. But there is such a thing as a bad site. It is one thing to place such a facility amid adults who should have what The Advertiser calls "street smarts" to protect themselves. It is an entirely different matter to knowingly placing rapists and child molesters a minute away from 500 girls.
I wonder whether the $48,000-a-year savings still will appear to be a good idea if the state is slapped with a multimillion-dollar lawsuit when one of its parolees decides to succumb to temptation and prey on one of the innocent girls next door.
Michael B. McMurdo
U.S. needs to keep eyes wide open for Pakistan
The Advertiser reported on Nov. 30 on Chief of U.S. Pacific Military Command Adm. Dennis Blair's statement during his visit to India: "India and the United States are on the verge of 'unprecedented' security and military cooperation in the global war against terrorism."
As the United States seeks international support against terrorism, focusing on European countries, press coverage has been limited at the expense of those in Asia. Witness the now-belated Bush administration's recognition of India as a concurrent major partner, whose historical differences with our ally, Pakistan, have yet to be reckoned with (three wars over Kashmir and accusations of harboring the Jaish-e-Muhammed, whose terrorist attack on Kashmir's summer capital killed more than 30 people).
The Advertiser would do well to recall the CIA director's edict of 1993: "The arms race between India and Pakistan poses perhaps the most probable prospect for future weapons of mass destruction including nuclear weapon arsenal for five years," i.e., until 1998.
Caveat emptor! Well-founded and on-going distrust of Pakistan as a prime sponsor of terrorists in India is reluctantly overshadowed by India's military equipment procurement heretofore denied by U.S. sanctions, in particular supplies such as General Electric engines for full-scale production of its light combat aircraft.
The adage: "Politics makes strange bedfellows" has now been extended to traditional enemies.
John K. Kingsley
Wahiawa
Editorial belittles residents' importance
I must take umbrage at your Saturday editorial ("Honolulu Marathon arrives at needed time) wherein you state, "So what if the gridlock keeps East Honolulu residents trapped at home for a few hours?" Your editorial writer makes it clear that, for The Advertiser, we just don't count.
So what if we have to get to work on time? So what if our personal plans are knocked for a loop by the running of the marathon through our streets? It's much too much.
The Advertiser owes its readers in East Honolulu an apology for having published this editorial.
Morton L. Brown
Cutting off coverage biggest fumble
Just like Rodney Dangerfield, the University of Hawai'i Warriors get no respect!
ESPN2's decision to cut off game coverage during the last quarter was a slap in the face not only to the UH football team, but to the state as well. To add insult to injury, the commentator said, "If the game gets interesting we'll go back to football."
This had me jumping up and down in my living room screaming and yelling. When two teams put up 117 combined points, I can't imagine a more exciting and interesting game.
The biggest fumble of Saturday's game was made by ESPN.
Michael Young
Great game cut short meaninglessly
Awesome game, Warriors! But shame on ESPN2 for cutting away from almost the entire fourth quarter.
ESPN's own announcers repeatedly said it was the most exciting college game of the year. So add the fact that unranked UH was slaughtering No. 8 BYU, and there was no excuse for ESPN2 to cut away to a meaningless basketball game.
Hopefully, UH will seek financial compensation from ESPN or at the very least get a "make-good" commitment for ESPN to air a UH game next season. Our team and our state deserve it.
Rick Ermshar
Incomplete coverage truly unprofessional
ESPN2's coverage of the BYU-UH game was unprofessional. I don't think ESPN2 would cut away in the last minutes of the fourth quarter if the game involved big teams such as Nebraska, Penn State or Florida State.
ESPN2 should give better service and respect to teams from non-Bowl Championship Series conferences, such as Hawai'i and BYU. UH rarely gets to showcase its football team with national coverage.
UH bent over backward to reschedule games for ESPN. The least they could do was to give us fans complete TV coverage.
Baron Yamamoto
Not letting fans rush field a party pooper
I was one of the lucky fans to attend the sold-out UH-BYU game this weekend. It was a great game, but I was very disappointed at the end.
It was not because of the way Hawai'i played or anything like that. It was simply because Aloha Stadium officals didn't let us rush the field.
Midway through the fourth quarter, a warning came up on the big screen stating that anybody who goes onto the field will be arrested. It was one of the main reasons why my friends and I wanted to attend the game in person — just for that chance to feel like a real football school.
It was probably the biggest win in UH history, and yet they didn't let the fans celebrate with the players on the field. Oh, well. Maybe next year, huh?
Cole Bee
Christmas gift proves to be memorable
I attended the UH-BYU football game and would like to thank June Jones, the Warriors and the UH system for a most enjoyable and memorable day.
I haven't attended a UH game since moving to Lana'i a number of years ago, so I was excited about being there for the BYU game. This was an early Christmas gift from my wife and son.
You could feel the energy and excitement in the parking lot, and once in the stadium the energy went off the chart. From the players to the fans, this energy kept mounting throughout the game. From the opening kickoff to the halftime show with the New York rescue workers and their families to the senior walk, it was an ever-increasing emotional ride. Every UH fan in the stadium was carried along on this wonderful ride and was physically spent by the end of the game.
In the great scheme of things, and especially in light of the national disaster, this was just a football game. But you can't say that to the Hawai'i fans who were whisked away for that one magical December day.
Mike Coelho
Lana'i City
Many youngsters look up to Warriors
While it is difficult to win a football game, it is even more difficult to win a game with class. The excessive celebration penalties at the UH-BYU game reveal an attitude that needs reviewing.
Two underlying messages of this attitude are: An individual's exhibitionist desires are more important than the overall team's good, and a disrespect for the opponents. The Warriors are role models for so many youngsters, and these talented athletes influence our young people about the merits of good sportsmanship or the lack thereof.
The above being said: Congratulations, Warriors, on a magical football season! What a rollercoaster ride!
Russell Stephen Pang
Victory could have spoken for itself
It was wonderful to see the Hawai'i Warriors defeat BYU so handily. But it was shameful to see so many displays of poor sportsmanship.
Such behavior as player taunting and excessive end-zone celebrations are not in line with the aloha spirit of Hawai'i.
The fact that the Warriors were beating one of the best teams in college football spoke for itself. Bad sportsmanship sours the elation of victory and sets a bad example to our keiki who aspire to play team sports.
I hope that coach June Jones speaks to those players and reminds them that such conduct on the field is unsportsmanlike. It is safe to bet that Duke Kahanamoku or Akebono never displayed such behavior. Rather, they displayed grace and dignity and defined the true aloha spirit.
Lani Kealoha
Kane'ohe
UH should be part of Mountain West
Hawai'i deserves a bowl game every year, and this year the University of Hawai'i deserves to be in it. How sad that this great team will not go "bowling," and how sad for Hawai'i that the Aloha and O'ahu bowls, with all their marvelous pageantry, are gone.
There are ways a bowl game could work in the Islands. If Hawai'i were part of the Mountain West Conference, the conference's champion then could host a bowl game in the Islands. That champion would most often be Hawai'i, BYU, Air Force, San Diego State or Colorado State. With a well chosen at-large team as the opponent, Aloha Stadium would be filled and television would love it, too.
Although it would be hard to find people as capable as Marcia and Lenny Klompus to run it, it wouldn't be hard to find someone to do a better job than the guy who let Hawai'i's bowl games die last year.
Tomas Del Amo
Boulder, Col.
UH fine without having to defect
I see that the Mountain West Conference, specifically BYU's athletic director, finds the University of Hawai'i attractive as a possible expansion candidate — the same BYU that met in secret with the other Western Athletic Conference defectors and stabbed the other WAC teams in the back. Sorry, I can't forget that. They can keep their Mountain West league.
I hope as much as a human being can that the UH leadership does not act like some abused spouse with no self-esteem who goes back to an abusive situation because there seems to be no place else to go or that no one else would show any interest.
We're just fine without them. Besides, it makes it that much sweeter when we beat up on them.
James Itamura
Fans help to make game
If there is a prize for contributions to enhance Yogi Berra's vocabulary, my nomination for the recipient is Lee Gary for the last sentence in his excellent Dec. 7 letter to the editor, which was: "After all, without the fans, the stadium would be empty each week."
Frank Lovell
