Misleading report on gun-death statistics
The article, “In Hawaii a person is killed with a gun every 8 days” (Star-Advertiser, Nov. 25), was incomplete and bordering on misleading in its examination of the issue.
In the article, all firearms-related deaths (murder, suicide, police-related shooting deaths, and deaths as a result of committing a crime) were lumped together into one total. Anyone who has done thorough statistical analysis of a problem would see the problem with this analysis — there wasn’t any.
This is akin to saying victims hit by a drunken driver and drunken drivers who kill themselves are one and the same. This article was poorly conceived at best or deliberately misleading at worst.
Kevin Cole
Mililani
States shouldn’t export their homeless problems
It was an interesting article on the front page of the Star-Advertiser (“Homeless family sent from NYC had jobs, housing,” Star-Advertiser, Nov. 18). Good for the family sent here, because New York has too many homeless people. But so do we. It’s not fair for those families born and raised here who did work and pay taxes at one time but now can no longer afford to live anywhere except on the streets.
For some time now, we have had an influx of people from the mainland and foreign countries investing and living here. The problem is this: We have too many people living on our small island. If each state would take the responsibility for its homeless, then we too could send all the people who came here from the mainland and some foreign countries back to their homelands.
Bertille Fung
Hawaii Kai
Ukrainians died while Trump held up aid
It’s been like a closely guarded secret: While President Donald Trump was extorting the Ukrainian president to get dirt on Joe Biden, in exchange for anti-tank missiles, many unprotected Ukrainians died.
According to a Newsweek report, 13 Ukrainian soldiers died during the many weeks that Trump withheld the military aid that Congress appropriated to a U.S. ally to help protect them from Trump’s apparent ally, Vladimir Putin and Russia. The Los Angeles Times reported that in that same period, more than two dozen Ukrainians perished on the battlefield.
In 1953, American citizens Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted of spying for the Soviet Union. Is Trump betraying our Ukrainian ally and aiding Russia just as bad, if not worse? And to think that the majority of the Republicans in the Senate want Trump to serve four more years. Unbelievable. Un-American.
Ed Stevens
Mililani
SHARE YOUR RANDOM ACT OF KINDNESS
“Pay it forward”: a situation in which the recipient of an unexpected good deed pays forward a kindness to someone else.
In this season of goodwill, think about it: Have you ever benefited from a “pay it forward” gesture, which in turn inspired you to bestow a random act of kindness?
If so, let us know in a 150-word letter to the editor, or in a well-written essay (500-600 words) — and submit it by Dec. 16 via email to letters@staradvertiser.com, or via snail mail to 500 Ala Moana Blvd., #7-210, Honolulu, HI, 96813, c/o Letters. A collection of these will run on Dec. 22.
EXPRESS YOURSELF
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser welcomes all opinions. Want your voice to be heard? Submit a letter to the editor.
>> Write us: We welcome letters up to 150 words, and guest columns of 500-600 words. We reserve the right to edit for clarity and length. Include your name, address and daytime phone number.
>> Mail: Letters to the Editor, Honolulu Star-Advertiser 7 Waterfront Plaza, 500 Ala Moana, Suite 210 Honolulu, HI 96813
>> Contact: 529-4831 (phone), 529-4750 (fax), letters@staradvertiser.com, staradvertiser.com/editorial/submit-letter
