‘Charge stacking’ pressures defendant

Regarding “Bail reform bill ignores public safety, emboldens criminals” (Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, June 6): We all are entitled to our opinions and have valid fears regarding the cash bail reform.

I will share my thoughts on this issue. Oftentimes when an individual is arrested, in an attempt to strengthen the prosecutor’s case, the prosecution will begin “charge stacking,” charging a defendant with as many relevant charges at once. This practice is done to secure a conviction by means of plea bargaining, in which the defendant pleads guilty to at least one of the charges.

After serving a lengthy and unfair period of time in jail because a person cannot afford to post bail, that person becomes desperate and possibly consumed with the fear of serving a lengthy prison sentence for the unfair stacked charges, and accepts the plea bargain.

This has become solid standard practice in our judicial system. The fact that only 2% of criminal cases go to trial is very alarming.

Alice Kahaleua

Hilo

COFA citizens suffer effects of nuke tests

“City Council votes to offer federal funeral assistance to COFA citizens” (Star-Advertiser, June 6), is a headline I appreciate. It unearths the holocaust that befell citizens of the Compact of Free Association, which includes the Marshall Islands.

There, on Bikini and Enewetak atolls, the United States from 1946-1958 detonated 66 nuclear weapons yielding a destructive force of at least 108,491 kilotons. That tonnage equates to 7,232 Hiroshima-size bombs over 12 years — or 1.06 bombs per day.

The bombs powdered islanders with radioactive debris contain- ing plutonium, described as “fiendishly toxic, even in small amounts.” It has a half-life of 24,000 years — or a radioactive existence of 500,000 years, making it hazardous to humans for a near-eternity and to the aquatic food chain.

These nuclear weapons tests launched the U.S. toward superpower status, but left the ancestral homelands of some Bikinians and Enewetakese uninhabitable for millennia.

Beverly Keever

Waialae Nui

How much water is Waikiki consuming?

Could we not consider the Waikiki tourist industry (hotels, vendors, restaurants) as a whole the largest user of water on Oahu? Certainly with the post-pandemic reopening of hotels, dine-in restaurants, luaus and more, along with the influx of tourists, how could there not be an increase in water consumption? How will water conservation work in that arena?

Last week I had lunch with a visiting friend at a dine-in restaurant in Waikiki. After being seated we were immediately poured tall glasses of water that were kept refilled throughout the meal, even though we didn’t request it.

Andrea W. Bell

Kailua

Forgiving student loans makes sense

Mass student-loan forgiveness at a federal level makes sense in 2022 because state governments nationwide have been shrinking their investments in higher education for decades while American society increasingly has been demanding a higher-educated workforce to do the jobs of the 21st century.

The letter, “Biden should reject student-loan forgiveness” (Star-Advertiser, June 9), conveys the situation almost entirely backward, promoting irresponsible, reckless and patently false ideas about the topic.

To begin with, loan forgiveness does not “penalize” people who previously paid off student loans. Nothing happens to them at all. There is nothing “irresponsible” about borrowing money for education when future life prospects greatly depend on getting that education.

The bogeyman of “upper- income” families “only” benefiting, or even disproportionately benefiting, is a fantasy but also could be addressed explicitly, and in spirit, by limiting forgiveness to loans at public institutions for people in families of specific income levels.

Brett Oppegaard

Manoa

Fish aggregators add to ocean pollution

I am appalled to see that in “celebration” of World Ocean Day, Gov. David Ige signed Senate Bill 2767, which provides $350,000 of funding to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources for more fishing aggregation devices (FADs) to be deployed into the ocean.

The event was touted as being about “ocean protection.” Funding more FADs is the very opposite of ocean protection. Beach Environmental Awareness Campaign Hawaii (B.E.A.C.H.). opposes putting FAD in the ocean because they become marine debris when they go missing. DLNR said “about 15 FADs go missing each year.”

It is not clear what the FADs will be made of, but various websites show they may consist of a metal buoy, concrete blocks, metal chains and nylon (plastic) rope. Although the metal parts may sink, the rope will break into hundreds of thousands of pieces of microplastics that are impossible to clean up and harm animals that ingest it.

We need to be cleaning up the ocean and preventing marine debris, not adding to the problem with taxpayer money.

Suzanne Frazer

President, B.E.A.C.H.

Hawaii Kai

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