Thank you for your excellent reporting on the Kamehameha Schools abuse case (“Broken trust, shattered lives,” Star-Advertiser, Nov. Opens in a new tab26) Opens in a new tab.
While not involved in that case, as an attorney who has represented survivors of childhood sexual abuse, I have seen the benefits to survivors, child safety and institutions in shining a light on these situations.
However, it was disheartening to learn that Kamehameha Schools and its attorneys are seeking to block the survivors from speaking publicly. The survivors’ accounts of abuse have been kept quiet too long for many reasons, including fears of retaliation or not being believed, embarrassment and shame.
Many survivors do not find the courage or the opportunity to speak the truth for many years after the abuse. The survivors’ accounts are theirs and lessons for us all. Any effort by Kamehameha Schools to quiet them is causing further harm to the survivors and demonstrates a tendency toward a pattern of secrecy in which abusers find the cover of darkness to act.
Mark Gallagher
Kailua
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OK with missing out on Kamehameha
I often wished I had Hawaiian blood so I or my children could have had the chance to attend Kamehameha Schools. Beneficiaries of the Bernice Pauahi Trust experience valuable things most of us will never realize.
What I can’t shake from Rob Perez’s incredible reporting is the response by Michael Chun, former president of the school, when asked during a deposition if he could have done something regarding Dr. Robert Browne’s misdeeds (“Broken trust, shattered lives,” Star-Advertiser, Nov. Opens in a new tab26) Opens in a new tab. He answered, “Doing nothing is doing something, right?”
My family is OK now with having attended public school.
Mark Ida
Salt Lake
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Monster houses haunt communities
Gordon Pang’s article on monster houses mentions some of the problems posed by the massive structures (“Monster madness,” Star-Advertiser, Nov. Opens in a new tab27) Opens in a new tab.
They tend to create community parking problems and stress aging sewer systems. They are usually ugly. Monster houses also increase stormwater runoff, which contributes to flooding and coastal water pollution. Unlike older houses with vegetation that cools our neighborhoods, monster houses radiate heat.
The City Council needs to restrict the size of new and renovated houses to a floor area ratio of .5 for residential lots, and prohibit hardscape from covering more than 70 percent of these lots. Doing so will preserve the beauty, temperature and character of our neighborhoods while reducing stormwater flooding and runoff.
David Kimo Frankel
Wilhelmina Rise
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UH should return to run-and-shoot
Regarding the University of Hawaii Rainbow Warriors football team, it would be remiss of me not to say that I long for the excitement of a pass-first offensive system like the run-and-shoot (“’Bows falter in finale,” Star-Advertiser, Nov. Opens in a new tab26) Opens in a new tab.
Back then we could move the ball and score on just about any opponent. Perhaps a tight end replaces a slot receiver; however, once upon a time as fans we believed we could score on every play. Throw the ball and get the fans back, engaged and excited.
Von Kaneshiro
Downtown Honolulu
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Atheism, humanism no basis for morality
Quintin Chambers recommended that to help avoid global conflict, we have worldwide education based upon reason, logic, science and “good sense” (“Theologies fuel global conflict,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, Nov. Opens in a new tab24) Opens in a new tab. But isn’t the real problem a lack of moral standards in the world and the incentive to follow those standards? How does such “worldwide” education establish moral standards? Teaching “science, reason and logic” cannot. “Good sense”? Good luck.
He further said that “all theologies” are based on myths. Even though theologies are quite different from each other, at least most theologies have a basis for moral standards and urge a following of those standards. How about atheism and humanism? No basis for moral standards.
Look at the effects of humanism and atheism and the suffering and carnage caused by some of its followers in just the last century: Adolf Hitler, 11 million dead; Mao Zedong, 70 million dead; Josef Stalin, 61 million dead; Pol Pot, 2 million dead; and so on.
Robert R. Taylor
Nuuanu
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Corporations get welfare, but not poor
The concept of personal responsibility was first concocted by the Republicans.
This is where the individual mandate, a provision in the Affordable Care Act requiring everyone to buy a health insurance, found its roots. Such a mandate makes everyone a participatory member in a system called “shared responsibility.”
The individual mandate, which also symbolizes personal responsibility, has always been a hallmark of conservatism. But the Republicans want to repeal it just to give corporations and wealthy individuals massive tax cuts despite the warnings of independent economists that such a move would increase both the deficit and the number of uninsured poor working class.
Republicans love to say “everyone should have skin in the game,” in reference to their disdain for poor people receiving government help. They call them moochers while joyously dishing out corporate welfare.
People seeking government assistance are hard-working people striving to reach the poverty exit door.
Rod B. Catiggay
Mililani
