ACLU should tackle bigger voting issue

The American Civil Liberties Union-Hawaii’s legal challenge to the primary election due to Tropical Storm Iselle is noble, if only for a handful of voters and every citizen’s constitutional right.

However, instead of using its resources in a situation that won’t change the outcome, maybe the ACLU can find a way to help the 60 percent of eligible voters who are afflicted and unable to vote in every election because of Tropical Storm Apathy.

Orson Moon
Aiea

Politics influenced election decision

We read that state Sen. Russell Ruderman intended to file a formal legal challenge to the Aug. 9 primary election with the state Supreme Court, but then changed his mind.

This whole thing is very suspect. People were only given notice three days before the makeup election and most of the people didn’t even have power. The TV news told and showed pictures of the devastation, with roads blocked and power lines down.

By law, the state Office of Elections had 21 days after the primary to conduct a makeup election, but the election officials chose not to wait that long.

Why? It’s quite clear the powers that be wanted U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz to win, and by holding the election soon after the primary, with the people in that community still dealing with Tropical Storm Iselle’s damage, it was a sure win.

We can’t change the results now, but the ones responsible for this travesty need to be fired.

Marilyn Godfrey
Kihei, Maui

Shooting unarmed man not justified

It is ludicrous to say that Christopher Deedy was treated unfairly while he was being tried for murder ("Hawaii treated Deedy unfairly," Star-Advertiser, Letters, Aug. 20), just as saying that self-defense is justifiable reasoning for killing an unarmed man.

How could an unarmed man be such a deadly threat to a "trained" federal agent? Could it be that Deedy was impaired? Is that how law enforcement officers are trained — to shoot and ask questions later? There were other choices Deedy could have made, but he chose the most lethal.

Talking even in a threatening manner is not punishable by death. We should all feel threatened by the possibility it could happen to us, and how helpless we are to stop it.

It seems the only path for the family of Kollin Elderts is to sue Deedy for the monetary value of his worth — not that any amount of money is equal to losing the life of a human being.

Cy Kamuela Harris
Kaimuki

Protect historic Waikiki Natatorium

I served on Neighborhood Board No. 9 for two terms in the early ’90s. The Waikiki War Memorial Natatorium, although it is a rat-infested ruin, retains a peaceful atmosphere. Certainly, it was intended as a temple of peace by the children who contributed their pennies and nickels territory-wide in memory of the veterans of the "war to end all wars."

The immortal Duke Kahanamoku swam the inaugural lap in 1927, and a swimming record was set by Hawaii’s Clarence "Buster" Crabbe, who won the one-mile swim in 21 minutes 52.25 seconds.

The big draw was a race pitting the world sprint champion Johnny Weissmuller, who beat Duke Kahanamoku in the 1924 Paris Olympics, against Japan’s Katsuo "Flying Fish" Takaishi.

It is hoped that Hawaii’s newly elected governor will restore the "Nat."

Richard Thompson
San Diego, Calif.

UH executives need to do their jobs

It is the understanding of Hawaii taxpayers that the executives hired and entrusted with the University of Hawaii’s finances will perform their jobs as required. After all, the compensation for UH leadership is equal to many Division I salary structures.

It’s difficult to understand who is responsible and accountable for the overall performance of the executives when every Tom, Dick and Harry so far has seized the money and ran away without performing the task they were hired to do or claimed they could perform.

It also makes one wonder when the comments from UH-Manoa athletic director Ben Jay will hurt the local recruiting program — what Jay called "our competitiveness and our ability to recruit." I think he just destroyed it.

Our UH leaders should be compensated on how they perform and not according to their job title. What we have now is a bare-bones UH leadership team that lacks accountability and intuition.

Robert Rosin
Waipio

Demonstrate aloha outside classroom

"Aloha." What does that mean? We have the breath-of-life meaning; however, as our kupuna are developing educational courses, is it an oxymoron to "teach aloha"?

Our main homeless problem is a blaring example of failing to demonstrate "our" aloha spirit. Our changing tourist culture and the current "aloha training" is not working. Sitting in a classroom with media and instruction booklets does not create or develop an aloha-spirited individual. And does this hotel training apply only to the clean and shaven?

Use research-driven instructional strategies and modeling to show what aloha looks like, not its definition or one-for-all scripted scenarios.

We need to look at individuals, not their defecating and urinating behavior.

Our aloha will become world renowned as we adopt-a-homeless person instead of a highway, and as we model, so our visitors and our aloha-dysfunction will evolve into an aloha-infused and functioning cultural spirit.

Linell Kam
Honolulu