It’s great that we are working against cybersecurity threats and transitioning to green, solar sources of energy.

However, as we trash fuel sources of electricity, think about reliable power generation sources for our grid. It’s a troubling thought, as the state becomes heavily reliant on solar as our primary power source.

Imagine: As usual, a Category 1 or 2 (or worse) hurricane eventually arrives. Surviving generators and batteries may last a few days. The solar panel installations on my roof are warrantied up to a wind-factor failure criteria of 110 mph. Most solar panels would likely end up in the Pacific Ocean or neighbor’s kitchen.

Hawaii with no electricity? No water? No gasoline? No food?

Charles (Toby) Rushforth

Kaneohe

Shocked that officers are being prosecuted

I totally agree with Ernie Itoga (“Don’t prosecute police for doing their jobs,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, June 19).

I was shocked by the news (“3 Honolulu officers charged in fatal shooting of 16-year-old boy,” Star-Advertiser, Top News, June 15). It seems the Honolulu prosecutor’s job is now to protect career criminals. If I was a police officer, this case would cause me to just allow criminals to escape rather than risking prosecution.

Terry Hamada

Pearl City

Juneteenth represents major change of thought

I learned about Juneteenth earlier this year. Or maybe it was last year. I teach eighth-grade social studies, and I had never heard of it.

On Saturday, I was happy, feeling joyous even, knowing that Juneteenth will be a federal holiday.

While shopping in the commissary, I wanted to say to every African American there: Happy Juneteenth! (That would be weird.) But I also wanted to say it to everyone.

Over the course of history, so many cultures have been subjected to the injustices of prejudice. To me, this new holiday is an acknowledgment of that fact. It is a major shift in thinking, a progressive concept and action. The specific event of the Union Army finally getting to Texas and announcing the official end of slavery for African Americans in 1865 is greatly significant.

Juneteenth makes me feel at least a little hopeful for any progress made by and for those cultures that have experienced prejudice and subjection. Next year, maybe we can more freely express our joy on Juneteenth, and I won’t have to secretly feel awkward in the commissary.

Louise Furniss

Kalihi Valley

Kokua Line columnist deserves much praise

Christine Donnelly deserves a medal! For more than a year in Kokua Line, she has expertly, clearly and patiently described all the ever-changing details of pandemic restrictions, assistance and vaccinations; DMV rules and schedules; unemployment insurance; and more.

She has been an anchor in this strange and difficult time and we can’t thank her enough.

Ellen Chapman

Makiki

Catholicism can handle same-sex arrangements

There is absolutely no theological reason for a Catholic agency to refuse to place children with a same-sex couple, and the “religious freedom” argument in the recently decided Supreme Court case is bogus (“Supreme Court says if bias rules have exceptions, faith groups qualify,” Star-Advertiser, June 17).

Neither in scripture nor the catechism nor the Apostles’ Creed, the Catholic statement of essential beliefs, can one find cause to deny children placement because their foster parents are of the same sex.

This false argument has entered the Catholic Church in America relatively recently because American Christianity has been influenced by the early 20th-century beginnings of the Fundamentalist movement.

Only in the last few generations have fundamentalist Protestants convinced Catholic clergy and believers that anti-homosexual policies are theologically primary.

In fact, most Catholics know that the first convert to the Jesus Way in the New Testament was an Ethiopian homosexual, and that Jesus said “some are eunuchs (non-cisgender) from their mother’s womb.”

Too many Catholics in America have become ignorant about the origins and history of their own church.

Jean E. Rosenfeld

Downtown Honolulu

Name new stadium after sportscaster Kekaula

I was saddened to hear of Robert Kekaula’s passing at such a young age (“Hawaii sportscaster Robert Kekaula, 56, remembered for outsized generosity,” Star-Advertiser, June 20). Wouldn’t it be the perfect tribute to name the new Aloha Stadium the Robert Kekaula Aloha Stadium?

You can’t take the word “aloha” from the name because aloha is so symbolic and important to Hawaii. But Robert embodied aloha every day, so wouldn’t that be the perfect name for the new stadium?

The Robert Kekaula Aloha Stadium. It has a nice ring to it and no one deserves the honor more. Let’s get it done. It needs to be.

Paul Gordon

Kamuela, Hawaii island

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