Religious not always bigots

Richard Borreca displayed astounding ignorance in his fallacious reasoning that those of us in the 33rd District who voted for Blake Oshiro must be atheists, or that we at least certainly must not be religious ("Religious vote in Hawaii went MIA in primary election," Star-Advertiser, Sept. 24). This is wrong and offensive on so many levels, offending Christians, non-Christians and atheists alike.

Borreca’s suggestion that being religious necessarily means that one is a bigot in favor of second-class status for our GLBT brothers and sisters is shocking and wrong. So, too, is his suggestion that if one is an atheist then they must have necessarily supported HB 444 and that they cannot be religious. Many Eastern religious traditions, such as Buddhism, are atheistic and ubiquitous in our community. He owes everyone — and especially those of us who voted for these brave candidates — a public apology.

Meth Project seems to work

As a member of the Hawaii Meth Project’s Teen Advisory Council, I hear students at Baldwin High School commenting about the Meth Project’s TV, radio and print ads.

Based on these comments, awareness about crystal meth’s addictive and physically damaging consequence seems to be reaching many of my peers.

At our school we have worked hard on anti-meth posters, displaying them around campus, passing out wrist bands and encouraging students to get involved.

Just knowing the dangers of drugs is not always enough. As teens, we hear our teachers and parents warn us about the dangers of experimenting with drugs, but words only go so far. I think it’s more effective to show teens exactly what a life of drugs looks like and where it takes you.

Rail vote used trick question

Duane Sayer’s letter ("Abercrombie, Carlisle pro rail," Star-Advertiser, Sept. 22) implies that the voters favor rail.

I think that the voters were tricked into passing the rail by a very carefully worded question that barely passed on the ballot, and this was before the economy went bad.

Rather than asking Oahu residents, "Are you in favor of building an elevated rail system from West Oahu to Ala Moana Shopping Center, yes or no?" the question on the ballot was: "Shall the powers, duties, and function of the city, through its director of transportation services, include establishment of a steel wheel on steel rail transit system?"

After years of pushing by the Hannemann administration, and now that the primary election is over, people have pretty much resigned themselves to the fact that the building of the rail will begin, even if we cannot afford it.

School buses belch smoke

As the school season begins, it just hit me the other day how much black exhaust is blasted out from the rear end of the yellow school buses. Is there any way we can lessen the toxic exhaust that comes from diesel engine vehicles like the yellow school bus, which has not significantly changed its appearance and mechanics since the 1970s? Then we would be doing good for the environment and our health.

Hawaii home market resilient

The front-page story about foreclosures hitting an all-time high was misleading. It implies that the Hawaii real estate market is unstable, which causes uncertainty among consumers ("Foreclosures hit all-time high," Star-Advertiser, Sept. 16).

While Hawaii families have been affected by the economic downturn, the reality is that many of the notice-of-foreclosure filings do not end up as actual foreclosed properties. The article states that in August, there were 1,629 foreclosure filings in the state, but, in comparison, there were only 57 new lender-owned properties listed for sale on Oahu.

Even with foreclosure filings, real estate values are still retaining solid value. One must examine neighborhood dynamics to better understand the true impact. Ewa Beach, for example, had the most foreclosure filings in August, but the median home price for a single-family home has stayed stable at $435,000 — which is remarkable when compared to dropping home prices across the country.

Hawaii’s real estate market has proved resilient, with historically low interest rates, limited inventory, strong home prices and government incentives.