Letters policy

The Advertiser welcomes letters in good taste on any subject. Priority is given to letters exclusive to The Advertiser.

All letters must be accompanied by the writer's true name, address and daytime telephone number, should be on a single subject and kept to 200 words or fewer. Letters of any length are subject to trimming and editing.

Writers are limited to one letter per 30 days.

All letters and articles submitted to The Advertiser may be published or distributed in print, electronic and other forms.

E-mail: letters@honoluluadvertiser.com

Fax: 535-2415

Mail: Letters to the Editor, The Honolulu Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110 Honolulu, HI 96802

ALOHA AIRLINES

FOR OUR SELF-SUFFICIENCY PAY MORE TO BUY LOCAL

It is a very sad Aloha to the airline, as one more true Hawai'i enterprise is devoured by the Mainland.

We keep talking about self-sufficiency, but are not about to bring it about. We keep selling out — lands, buildings, dairies.

The only way to self-sufficiency is to pay a little more, buy local, grow more local produce, support our agricultural efforts and other local businesses.

HAWAI'I WILL SURELY MISS ALOHA AIRLINES

It is a sad day for Hawai'i to see the closing of Aloha Airlines. Practically everyone has family and friends working for Aloha Airlines.

In the early 1960s, while living in the old U.S. Navy housing adjacent to Honolulu Airport, I still remember seeing the vintage Aloha Airline propeller plane arriving and departing on the airport's tarmac.

All of Hawai'i will surely miss Aloha Airlines. So, farewell and aloha.

EGG THROWING

EXPLAIN WHY TEENS DID NOT FACE ANY CHARGES

I'm terribly confused. As a driver's education instructor, what should I tell my students about throwing eggs from cars? Should I tell them that an apology is sufficient — that's only if you get caught.

I am sure I am not alone in requesting a thorough explanation as to why those four teenagers were not charged with anything.

IN LOVING MEMORY

NOT JUST TRAFFIC VICTIM, AN EXEMPLARY CITIZEN

Too often, we disparage older people as poor drivers.

O'ahu's eighth traffic fatality of 2008 was my mother. She wasn't a reckless driver or just "No. 8." She was my mom.

On Feb. 5, she was returning home from a Honolulu auto repair shop. She told me she swerved to miss debris in her path, and because of the weather and rain-slickened roads, she crashed.

Mom was no "little old lady from Pasadena." She drove to buy groceries — only during the day and at specific times when traffic would be light.

She watched her speed carefully, because she knew that if ever caught speeding, even just a little, she could lose her independence.

When I visited, she'd insist I slow down to near nothing when coming out of the mountain passes. She would remind me of every traffic rule.

She was an exemplary citizen and artist who loved the beauty of O'ahu.

Her death is a great loss to Hawai'i, and she deserves more respect than to be pronounced a "speeder," and remembered as just "No. 8."

In loving memory of Harriet B. Gilbertson.

TRAINING DEVICES

U.S. NAVY WORKS TO PROTECT SEA MAMMALS

The Navy is well aware of the fragile environment and the possible effect of sonar, radar and other training devices that may impact marine life. That is why they plan exercises to avoid major marine mammal concentration areas whenever possible. The Navy is truly dedicated to protecting marine mammals as evidenced by the $14 million it spends annually on marine mammal research.

Moreover, the Navy has coordinated with the National Marine Fisheries Service to develop 29 protective measures to minimize the potential effects of MFA sonar on marine life.

The Navy also employs a myriad of other preventive measures to protect marine life, such as: lookouts on ships; night vision and thermal imaging equipment; taking evasive action when marine mammals are spotted; establishing safety zones around ships; and listening for marine mammals.

There is no doubt that Navy training creates or affects some marine life, but the critical point is that naval training is only a small part of a much larger picture.

Many other external factors are in the ocean at any given time, including volcanic eruptions, lighting strikes, supertankers, offshore drilling and others. These factors combined with pollution, commercial shipping, fisher entanglements, disease, parasite infection, ship strikes, trauma and other natural factors lead to a rate of approximately 3,500 strandings of marine mammals every year on U.S. shores alone, according to NOAA.

That being said, the Navy is taking aggressive steps to protect marine mammals and other sea life and avoid engagement with them whenever possible and exhibiting sound environmental stewardship with our precious ocean resources.

The Navy League of United States Honolulu Council supports the Navy's continued use of the HRC for training and testing as the military commanders and the president see fit.

ENVIRONMENT

IF YOU'RE GOING TO BAN PLASTIC BAGS, BAN ALL

In all fairness, we need to ban all plastic bags. Bags for sale on grocery shelves: storage, freezer, kitchen, garbage, trash, lunch, garden, et al.

Also, when it's raining, out with those nice bags from the dry cleaners and pharmacies.

Oh, and don't forget to ban the bags for fresh meat and fish wrapped in paper, and for those buckets of hot take-out chili. Fair is fair, right?

SALT LAKE ROUTE

FIXED-RAIL SYSTEM WILL BE WORTH THE EXTRA TAX

I am looking forward to the fixed-rail system, which will run on Salt Lake Boulevard and will probably stop in front of the entrance to Foster Village where I live.

I wish it had existed when I worked Downtown during the 1980s and 1990s, as the cost of parking Downtown was prohibitive and the buses were always slow and crowded.

I believe that fixed rail will be worth the extra 0.5 percent in the general excise tax.

The City Council should vote in favor of the steel-on-steel fixed rail and stop second-guessing the expert panel's decision. If all goes well, construction will begin next year.

Thank God for a mayor with vision.

ELECTIONS

VOTE FOR MIDDLE EAST PEACE THIS NOVEMBER

We have suffered the loss of more than 4,000 U.S. service members, 30,000 wounded Americans and hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqs since our occupation of Iraq.

We are in our sixth year of the disastrous occupation. As a military veteran, I understand all too well the cost of foreign wars that financially benefit large corporations.

Our country is so far in debt that we must sell increasing numbers of U.S. treasury bonds to China, Saudi Arabia, Korea, Russia, France, England and other countries so we can avoid national bankruptcy.

We can stop the bloody and deadly occupation by supporting political candidates intent upon ending these wars.

Elected officials listen to voters. Let's vote for Middle East peace.

MOLOKA'I

CAN ALL INVOLVED STEP BACK FROM THE BRINK?

Your reports of events and consequences about Moloka'i remind me of a line from Yeats' poem "Remorse for Intemperate Speech," "great hatred, little room."

Replace "hatred," a bit too strong perhaps, with "foolishness" and you are probably closer to the truth.

Is there room, any room at all, to step back from the brink and think this through again? Perhaps the last offer calls for a sweetener that makes sense,

In addition to what has been offered the community, the developers might want to consider an endowment of $7 million up front and 1 percent of all gross income in the future to establish a community-based nonprofit to educate, inform and implement sustainability projects related to food sufficiency, jobs, protection of the environment including near shore marine ecosystems — or something like that.

Between Walter Ritte and Colette Machado, there is close to 100 years of community- building experience. It would be a pity if all of this were to simply go down the drain.

PROTESTERS ARE FULL OF ALOHA FOR LA'AU POINT

Colette Machado (Letters, March 27) claims that the "angry and unreasonable voices of a minority of Moloka'i residents caused (Moloka'i) to suffer," because these "loud activists caused the politicians to stop the (La'au) project."

This just shows how out of touch OHA Trustee Machado is with the Moloka'i people and with reality.

At the November Land Use Commission hearings, nearly 300 Moloka'i community members protested against the La'au development.

These activists were not "loud" (except in clapping after testimony), nor were their voices ever "angry" or "unreasonable."

On the contrary, they were full of aloha for La'au Point and Moloka'i, and their testimony was thorough and well-informed. Indeed, they spoke with a beautiful combination of knowledge and passion about the issue.

The large majority of Moloka'i residents (not a "minority") were against the La'au Point development.

No one wanted to see workers lose their jobs; and thus, the community tried to invite Trustee Machado and Moloka'i Ranch "back to the table" to find acceptable alternative solutions.

They never came, and now we have a crisis.

Therefore, Machado really ought to look in the mirror before casting blame on anyone else.