What do the legislators want?

First, they tell the University of Hawaii that there is an urgency to investigate the football program, with one going as far as saying to fire not only the coach but the athletics director and president as well. Then after the coach abruptly resigns, they are again lambasting university officials, saying they are moving too fast to hire a new coach.

Where were they when UH-Manoa was recently ranked within the top 1% of all universities worldwide in academics and research? Was there any public recognition by the Legislature for the university?

These legislators should do their job by enacting or revising laws that can improve our state, instead of using their positions to grandstand their egos. It’s no wonder they can’t get anything done.

Shirley Higa

Waipahu

We tolerate human rights abuses by China

The billionaire investor in the NBA’s Golden State Warriors, Chamath Palihapitiya, recently said that “nobody cares” about what’s happening to the Uyghurs.

The problem is that he is right. We not only tolerate human rights violations by China, we do major business with it and allow it to host the Olympics.

John Berry

Punahou

Headline failed to show two sides to TMT issue

I picked up the newspaper and spotted the headline about the Thirty Meter Telescope (“TMT condemned before UH regents,” Star-Advertiser, Jan. 21). I thought this must be something new, because none of the other news media portrayed the new Mauna Kea master plan in such negative terms. And neither did your story by Timothy Hurley. It started out by saying the University of Hawaii Board of Regents approved a new master plan for Mauna Kea.

I understand there is opposition to TMT — the media has made sure we all know all about that. But those voice are not universal. Both sides have very compelling positions, and the regents are attempting to understand and manage those differences.

At the very least, the regents have a right to expect some fairness in reporting, and Hurley’s story does a good job of that. I just don’t get the headline, which implies something completely different.

Mark Zeug

Waialae Nui

Increase inspections for fireworks shipments

Those who love their (illegal aerial) fireworks make up a fraction of their communities. They make life miserable for the vast majority of their neighbors, and not just three days out of the year. Artillery-like booms at all hours of the day now happen year-round, ramping up around the New Year’s and the Fourth of July. Police are ineffective because the percentage is so small, and because they aren’t given the money, manpower, laws or technologies to combat the problem.

Making said aerials legal would not solve the problem, only make it worse.

The real problem is legislative refusal to enact proper inspections of incoming shipments that could contain tons of dangerous illegal material — bowing to pressure from shippers and dockworkers, who lobby against increased inspections because it will slow things down and increase costs.

If you live in an affected neighborhood, make it a priority for your legislator come election time. If you don’t put on the pressure in November, nothing will change come New Year’s and Independence Day — or at any other time of the year.

Tracey Scott

Wahiawa

Alm right to challenge judge’s ruling on Har

Kudos to Honolulu Prosecutor Steve Alms for publicly criticizing Judge Steven Hartley for his egregious act of acquitting state Rep. Sharon Har of DUI charges (“Honolulu Prosecutor Steve Alm criticizes judge in lawmaker’s drunken driving acquittal,” Star-Advertiser, Jan. 12). Hartley dismissed the case, essentially saying there wasn’t enough evidence of a crime, or that her behavior did not constitute a crime.

Given that there was evidence to the contrary, a trial should have moved forward, giving a jury the opportunity to decide. For a judge to unilaterally make the decision is a gross overstep of power. Do not tell me justice is blind.

Jeanne Martin-Hopkins

Waikiki

Students should focus on passions, not SATs

Our current high school education system ensures that college will be unproductive for the majority of students.

Far too often, high schools focus on preparing kids for standardized tests like the SAT and ACT. What they should be doing instead is focusing on developing interests and passions.

Get students interested in things like aerospace engineering or the human brain — literally anything applicable to the real world. If a student goes to college without some sort of driving force, he or she will not have the motivation to study. It becomes a job that the student has to pay for, and inevitably, is an unproductive waste of time.

Something needs to change, because without it, our society will waste money and lack the leaders who will solve the many issues we will face in the coming years.

Ken Nakatsu

Kapolei

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