End Postal Service monopoly

We don’t need public hearings about the proposal to end Saturday service. If the post office wants to act like a complacent bureaucracy rather than a customer service-driven business, let them. What we need instead is for Congress to end the U.S. Postal Service’s monopoly on first-class mail, so its competitors can pick up and deliver any weekend mail that the post office doesn’t want to bother delivering. End the unconstitutional monopoly, and we’ll all enjoy better customer service from companies that get it — companies that realize that closing up shop every weekend is unacceptable.

Homeless article appreciated

A huge mahalo to Pat Gee and her wonderful story of the Partners in Development Foundation’s Ka Paalana homeless preschool.

The issue of homelessness and in particular the most fragile of this population, homeless families with young children, is at the heart of so many people.

The Partners in Development Foundation is able to deliver quality family education services to our Leeward Coast families through mutually beneficially partnerships and funders.

The Yurts Tent featured in the article was generously funded by both the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs and Kamehameha Schools. For the past four years, Kamehameha Schools has been an active partner along with the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the state Department of Human Services in our efforts to address the issues of homelessness among families with young children.

Star-Advertiser off to good start

As someone critical of the prior newspapers’ news and editorial content, I have to say that, out of the blocks, the new Star-Advertiser is really an excellent product, not only in terms of Honolulu but what most other cities have to offer. Keep up the good work.

Letter on prisons was ill-informed

The state Department of Public Safety thanks Netra Halperin for her comments regarding prison murders ("Prison murders a social symptom," Letters, June 20). Unfortunately, Ms. Halperin is ill-informed on this matter.

While there have been deaths at the Saguaro facility, the fact of the matter is, it appears as though one inmate from Hawaii was slain by two other inmates from Hawaii during February 2010. Both inmates involved have been charged with murder. The location of incarceration cannot reasonably be considered as a contributing factor in the case. In the most recent death, an inmate was found unresponsive and the facility staff and EMT personnel tried to save his life, but were unsuccessful. The medical examiner, the Eloy City Police Department and Internal Affairs Office of the Department of Public Safety are investigating the case. Any speculation, innuendoes and unfounded allegations regarding this matter are irresponsible and serve only to hamper investigatory efforts.

The Department of Public Safety welcomes constructive dialogue aimed at producing tangible results that will benefit those incarcerated, their family members and loved ones and the public. Instead of attempting to garner political points, if Ms. Halperin has any real solutions, we would most certainly be interested in hearing from her.

Mollway’s mom offers opinion

Throughout his life, Dan Mollway has always been honest and fair, and has always had the highest degree of integrity. How do I know so much about the life and character of Dan? I met him when he was only one minute old.

Better to wage peace than war

Thank you for Thomas Farrell’s excellent article, "Foreign aid helps U.S., too" (Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, June 22). What he says should be common sense. Peace, like war, must be waged, not only because it’s cheaper, but because it’s the right thing to do.

Conserve water during drought

It’s official, summer is here. And by looking at the Koolaus, so is drought season. Water is so precious to all living things, it is disheartening to see it being wasted so frivolously, with broken sprinklers and sprinkler heads watering the sidewalks and roads. When will the public realize it won’t last forever? We all need to be responsible and accountable. Report broken sprinklers to the Board of Water supply hotline (748-5010) and limit water usage in and around your home. Do not water your yard during the midday. If we don’t conserve this precious resource, who will?

Confidence in Gen. McChrystal seems to have little basis

When a general is described as the only person who can win a war, history tells us that that attitude breeds a sense of arrogance and infallibility that eventually leads to mistakes and to defeat.

Witness Gen. Douglas MacArthur in Korea and the generals in Vietnam whose confidence tried to convince us that we were winning when, in fact, we were losing.

Second, any judgment on Gen. Stanley McChrystal must take into account his record. So far under his command we have made very little progress in Afghanistan. If anything, more of our men and women are getting killed with very little to show for it. The impression we get is an endless and pointless military action with TV features of soldiers shooting at elusive targets and getting blown up for their trouble.

If Gen. McChrystal is truly the only means to success, then we need to see some meaningful results and certainly a method to judge the adequacy of his generalship.