Oahu could become uninhabitable from contamination and over-consumption of water.

Since February, the Navy has been pumping 4.5 million gallons of water every day to flush the oil-contaminated aquifer. Plus, there is the ever- present risk from Red Hill of permanently contaminating our water. Plus, tourism’s incredible consumption of water makes water sustainability a euphemism for the exact opposite.

Giving a glass of water only if requested is ridiculously insignificant. Tourists showering and flushing toilets are not the main users. The water guzzler is the daily or every-other-day laundering of two pairs of queen- or king- sized sheets, extra-large bath towels, hand towels, washcloths and bath mats from every double-occupied hotel room.

The hotel industry and its Hawaii Tourism Authority assistants are proud of the more than 80% occupancy of its more than 30,000 hotel rooms per day.

Desalination is not an option.

Carol Han

Punchbowl

To be respected, court must be fair, impartial

John Tamashiro was correct when he said that the justices of the Supreme Court shouldn’t have to face threats of physical violence (“Biden’s comments about justices disrespectful,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, July 14).

However, the court is not infallible; it has made some monumental blunders that deserve to be criticized.

Respect for the court can be maintained only if it issues well-reasoned rulings made by justices who strive to be scrupulously fair and impartial, as opposed to justices who behave like partisan hacks intent on inflicting their own backward-looking, regressive agendas on the entire nation.

Founding father Thomas Jefferson said that “Laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind … We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him as a boy, as a civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.”

Kent Hirata

Punchbowl

Biden right to criticize ultra-conservative court

Apparently, John Tamashiro does not understand that we elected President Joe Biden because a majority of this country was, and is, terrified of the path we’ve taken since our twice-impeached, disgraced president was in office (“Biden’s comments about justices disrespectful,” Star- Advertiser, Letters, July 14).

Donald Trump was the vessel on which the Republicans put their decades-long schemes into place. He was able to name three ultra-conservative Supreme Court justices, who lied during their confirmation hearings talking about “precedent.”

Their goal was to overturn Roe v. Wade and they succeeded. They speak of the sanctity of life, but have no problem, the day before the Roe judgment, extending open-carry gun rights in New York City. Pro-life? I think not.

These justices do not represent the values and opinions of the majority of Americans. Oh yes, Biden should have spoken up and needs to be even more forceful. That is not disrespectful. That is doing what’s right.

Ilse Epple

Ewa Beach

Advance directives before dementia strikes

I am thankful that I live in Hawaii where medical aid in dying is available, but frustrated with the hoops individuals must jump through to obtain permission to end their life, often while suffering intractable pain and the indignities that frequently accompany life’s end.

The enormous elephant in the room, however, is the lack of a process covering various dementias such as Alzheimer’s that rob their victims of mental and physical capabilities, sometimes years before death and long after the individual is mentally capable of making an informed decision and able to take the prescribed medication themselves.

Current advance directives are pre-need, encouraged and in wide use. Why not create a “pre-need” advance directive executed by individuals while healthy and mentally capable, allowing the individual to choose their specific limits of mental and physical incapacities at which time they wish to die with their sense of dignity intact?

Nancy Kickertz

Kailua

Spreading mulch should not take so long

On June 15 and 16, two huge loads of mulch were dumped by the banyan tree in front of the Honolulu Zoo. Last week, they are still there.

Trash has been dumped on them, and people have tripped around them. The zoo has taken responsibility for maintenance of the area and apparently has done nothing. It would take one morning of staff and volunteers to spread the mulch out, so the excuse of not having sufficient resources is just that: an excuse, not a reason.

If the zoo director cares about safety, this issue must be addressed.

Ann Hanson

Waikiki

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