Too many drivers make them targets

A blind tourist told me that he was struck three times in marked crosswalks in our aloha city. He had the go green light each time and his colored cane pointed the way. Each incident happened in broad daylight. And he always wore bright, colorful clothing.

At night I wear white gloves and white jackets and a reflective traffic vest and carry a flashlight. I also have a strobe light button that flashes red, which the police booth issued to me at the senior health fair.

Daytimes I carry a red flag and wear bright clothing and use the marked crosswalks.

But, day or night, my efforts are futile; autos "aim" for me as an attractive target.

Pushing an empty grocery cart ahead of me helps; red-light runners aim for the cart.

Something's not right about family's pursuit

The ancestral remains have been sitting at the Wal-Mart site for almost two years. Where has this ignored family been? If efforts were being hastened to quickly rebury the bones, they would have been reinterred already. Is this family worried about the ancestors' bones being ignored or themselves?

Sounds like they are in it for themselves and they clearly do not have the best interest of the iwi kupuna (ancestral bones) in mind. If this Keana'aina family did have any regard for these kupuna, the family would have fought tooth and nail to keep them from being relocated in the first place, like myself and my 'ohana have fought for and aggressively continue to do.

By agreeing to relocate their kupuna, if in fact they are descendants of these bones, they have disregarded their cultural connection to the kupuna and do not deserve to be associated with them. Shame on them.

By choosing to delay the reburial of the kupuna and choosing to relocate them, this Keana'aina family has conflicted themselves out of the reburial process, and their mana'o (thoughts) regarding the reburial of these iwi, I believe, should be totally ignored. The kuleana to care for ancestral bones obviously does not belong to them. The kuleana to malama na iwi kupuna is not given to every member of an 'ohana. It is bestowed on a chosen few.

Have more empathy for Leeward folks

I agree with Don Najita (Letters, Dec. 3) that to responsibly deal with our waste we must all come face-to-face with the garbage we're generating and reduce the amount we're producing.

However, I take issue with Najita's argument that "shipping our garbage off-island to someone else's backyard would only mask the real problem."

There's no real difference between shipping our garbage to someone else's backyard on the same island. When the people of Kailua, Hawai'i Kai, Waikiki and Honolulu put their trash out for the garbage trucks to pick up, it magically disappears. Where does it go? No one knows.

But people on the Leeward Coast know where it goes. The mountain of trash that Don Najita and others are so concerned about is not in their neighborhood, it's in ours.

So to Mr. Najita and everyone else, if you're going to be honest and consistent, then you should stop making a distinction between shipping your garbage out to our neighborhood on the Leeward Coast. You should keep your own little mountains of trash in your own community. Maybe then you'll not so self-righteously reject the option of shipping our island's trash to an isolated area on the Mainland.

Fall victim doing fine

On Oct. 16 I fell on Vineyard and 'A'ala. I wish to send a grateful thank-you to the several Good Samaritans who came to my aid. A special thanks to Roy and Carol, who drove me to Kuakini Medical Center.

I had successful hip replacement surgery and am doing fine.

Global unity requires us to speak Chinese

Your paper published an interesting article entitled "Languages threaten effort to unify China" (Dec. 5).

If we take this a step further, why not work toward one language for the whole world and for all mankind?

Since majority rules, Chinese Mandarin should be the world language. Therefore, because we are in a global society, shouldn't our educational system move to teaching, learning and living in Mandarin Chinese only too?

Lands should reward, recognize hawaiians

With respect to Moanalua Gardens or any aboriginal land still more or less in its original condition, including our stunning shorelines, the Outdoor Circle does not represent the Native Hawaiian interest in conservation. Likewise, the Sierra Club and Nature Conservancy do not advocate for Native Hawaiian interests. Neither does any county or state agency, including the OHA, DLNR or DHHL.

For decades governmental and environmental opportunists have used our good name in pursuit of their own objectives while paying only lip service to Native Hawaiian interests.

We are not in reality the stereotypical hare-brained natives who are thought wrongly by Hawai'i's Westerners and Asians to not be able to manage our own interests. Congress and federal law long have recognized our competency to manage our own interests.

We therefore urge the Damon Estate heirs and trustees to recognize and reward the actual Native Hawaiian as the wellspring of your wealth, via our aboriginal lands, and not be swayed by arguments from those who would capitalize on our tragic history for their own purposes.

Accessibility issues prove frustrating

I'm a handicapped 19-year-old young lady in a wheelchair. I go all over the place and do what I need to do. Now the majority of the places that I go are not handicapped-accessible. When I'm trying to get in and out of an unaccommodating door all by myself I get so frustrated, angry and not to mention exhausted in that short period of time. In other words, I have trouble getting in and out of the doors. All of the time I have to have someone there with me to help me out.

I think the majority of the places that people go should have handicapped-accessible doors, and there should be enough room for physically challenged people to get around. I'm sure I'm not the only physically challenged person who thinks this way.

Taking better care of Mars than Earth

Upon reading your Dec. 3 article "Mars: A river ran through it," I thought it ironic that Jeffrey Kargel of the U.S. Geological Survey states that "space travelers should act as if there once were — and perhaps still are — living creatures on Mars that must be protected from destruction or contamination ..." My first thought was how sad it is that we do not seem to hold the same consideration for our own planet.

I find it incongruous and depressing that the current administration has refused to endorse the global warming treaty, has loosened restrictions on air pollution controls and has opened sensitive ecological areas to logging and oil and gas exploration, yet we are to take all possible precautions to protect the existence of whatever life forms may exist on Mars. Heaven help us as we blunder forward, and may God forgive us.

Motorcycle gang broke neighborhood's peace

On the morning of Dec. 6 a motorcycle gang of about two dozen vehicles roared their way through my neighborhood. Apparently they had left Kapi'olani hospital and went down Bingham and lower Alexander Street before getting on the H-1 Freeway at upper Alexander Street.

Shame on you. There are families and two nursing homes in the area, and we have the right to a peaceful Sunday too. Auwe!

Critical thinking is crucial, but let's not neglect facts

In his letter of Dec. 6, schoolteacher Josh Reppun gives the impression of preferring the subordination of teaching factual information to schoolchildren to "teaching our kids the process of critical thinking."

While I am a firm believer in the need for teaching critical thinking (critical of systems of injustice and exploitation and aggression, as well as critical of methods of misleading and misinforming people), I am also convinced of the need for a democratic citizenry to be well informed about the factual realities of life and of the world around us.

Thus I am appalled by the periodic reports of incredible ignorance on the part of large portions of the American people. Consider the following evidence:

According to professional polls taken in recent years, over 50 percent of the American people cannot locate either Great Britain or Japan on an unmarked map of the world; almost 50 percent cannot locate New York or Mexico.

Twenty-eight percent do not know that the Earth goes around the Sun.

One-fourth of college-bound high school students can't name the ocean that lies between the U.S. and Asia.

Regarding foreign policy, nearly one-half of Americans believe that at least one-fourth of the federal budget goes to foreign aid, when it actually is less than 1 percent of the budget.

Surely it is desirable that students and others be able to ask critical questions, but it would be good if they could start with at least a modicum of factual knowledge.

When an ejection is an ejection

For anyone really wondering why some highly paid athletes fight each other (and now the fans) as if they are playing "anything goes" street ball, look no further than June Jones — the revered, god-like, can-do-no-wrong, look-the-other-way coach of the UH football team.

Based on The Advertiser's Sports cover story of Dec. 6, Coach Jones claims a UH player was not officially "thrown out of the (Dec. 4) game" for fighting, even though head official Frank White ejected the player for fighting.

The UH athletic department has a policy calling for a suspension of up to one year for any football player ejected for fighting. Prior to this game, Jones "had drawn a standard for the guys," telling them that if they were hit by an opposing player "they can't punch back." Without regard to department policy or Jones' "standard," this player did punch back and was ejected from the game.

Jones claims he told head official Frank White to eject his player. Say what? Since when does an official listen to a coach in determining who is ejected from a game? I can't imagine White admitting he ejected a player on the request of his coach. Jones further stated "We'll deal with him." If Jones wanted to deal with his own player, he could simply have benched that player for the remainder of the game, he could have sent the player to the locker room, or he could have suspended the player from any number of future games.

Jones now says the player will face disciplinary action. Uh ... OK. Like what? Run extra laps?

It seems to me that Jones is awkwardly trying to re-define department policy and his "standard" to allow one of his players, who clearly violated the code of conduct, to play in an upcoming bowl game.

The life lesson from the coach is clear: Poor sportsmanship will not be tolerated, and the consequence of being ejected for fighting is a one-year suspension, period — unless the coach wants you to play in the next game, at which time the coach can simply say that "up" is "down" or "red" is "green," or being ejected by the official is not officially being ejected.

This is not a criticism against the athletes, the team or UH. It's a criticism of the current culture of college and professional athletics and the "coaching" breakdowns that have put us in this spot. Do your job.