State senators holding hearings on the University of Hawaii football program will not help Athletics Director David Matlin or Coach Todd Graham (“State Senate to hold hearing on University of Hawaii football program,” Star-Advertiser, Dec. 31). In fact, they will probably do more harm than good.

Let the university address issues on the recent number of top players entering the transfer portal. Let them do their jobs and, based upon performance, hold officials accountable.

The questions I’d like to ask the senators: If you have so much interest in UH athletics and want to help, where have you been? Why haven’t you passed legislation which would truly help the program? Have you asked Matlin what support he needs to aid recruiting and put the program on a solid long-term financial foundation?

That’s where senators should spend their time, not hold hearings on why the current players entered the transfer portal. Doing so can only be viewed as meddling and grandstanding.

Dennis Enomoto

Mililani

Consider making aerial fireworks legal

I was saddened to learn of serious fireworks injuries (“First responders busy with fireworks injuries,” Star- Advertiser, Jan. 2).

It took away some of the joy our neighbors created with illegal but magnificent aerial fireworks displays on New Year’s Eve. The launches were complemented with sounds of the exploding strings of firecrackers presumably purchased with permits. There was no need to drive to watch fireworks off Waikiki when we had five hours of varied, spectacular aerials in the Leeward areas ending with a happy “explosion” at midnight — only slightly dampened by rain.

The scope of the disregard of the law suggests that there is little official effort to track down the sources of the aerials. Lack of enforcement supports a wider disrespect of law.

With only a few accidents among people knowing the risks, it’s time to favorably consider making aerials legal for specific holidays and times, as with firecrackers. Permit sales could give the city revenue for public safety expenses and safety education.

I do not support the random, dangerous big booms. They are disruptive and just plain rude. Aerials, however, could be legalized and regulated.

Daniel (Dan) C. Smith

Pearl City

Complainers won’t stop fireworks people enjoy

To the complainers and criers about noisy fireworks telling you to call the police: The good Lord save your naivete.

We love fireworks. We’ll always get ’em and always blow ’em off. And if you do call the police, you may get an answering machine: “We are busy. Waiting time is 14 minutes.”

And if and when they do come, then what? The shooters may have run out of their rockets already, or if they do see the police, they hide their goodies. No go.

And never let those shooters find out who called the police; you don’t want to see the results. Your fenders will be scratched and your tires slashed.

Get yourself some earplugs, tranquilize the dog, join the folks and enjoy the sights.

Happy New Year.

Gerhard C. Hamm

Nuuanu

‘Woke’ journalism no excuse for bad grammar

Journalism should be a guardian of the language, preserving its precision and its breadth. Editors should not be the curators of its corruption.

In “Telescope on journey to see dawn of starlight” (Star-Advertiser, Dec. 26), there is this: “‘It’s 7 a.m. on Christmas and I’m awake and everyone is excited — is this what having kids is like?’ Lucianne Walkowicz, an astronomer at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago who uses they/them as pronouns, wrote on Twitter.”

And then the article continues with a sentence that is grammatically incorrect, using the pronoun “they” instead of “she.”

Can you not perceive how jolting and irrelevant that is to your story? How gratuitous and editorially sloppy? How painfully illustrative it is of the common usage conundrum when speakers and writers must communicate without parenthetical clues?

If you truly believed in the woke ritual, then you would have no need to awkwardly preface your lack of grammar at the expense of your professional integrity.

Scott G. Gier

Ewa Beach

Legislature should ban fireworks completely

It is 10:13 p.m. and on the so-called mild or east side of Oahu, the fireworks are starting to go off. Dogs in the neighborhood are literally screaming or wailing from the pain that I am sure is inflected by both legal and illegal fireworks.

For the sake of argument, there is nothing traditional or cultural about fireworks in Hawaii, unless you are Chinese and recognize that fireworks were invented in China around 2000 B.C., and their use should be confined to events such as weddings, Chinese New Year and the Moon Festival.

The Legislature must have the backbone to ban fireworks totally for the sake of our kupuna and innocent pets who suffer needlessly at the hands of some selfish people.

Furthermore, a total ban would make enforcement simple.

Richard Ernest

Hawaii Kai

Crack down on buyers of catalytic converters

What is being done to crack down on the theft of catalytic converters from cars? It seems everyone knows someone who has had their car damaged by thieves taking the catalytic converters.

There are only a few places for these thieves to cash in. Why are these places allowed to pay cash without proof of purchase? Something is wrong with allowing these places to profit from these thefts.

This seems similar to the problem with copper theft years ago. I believe citing these buyers for acquiring the converters without proof of ownership will deter the thefts.

Mark Suiso

Waianae

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