Water board is poor example

I totally disagree with your position that the rail authority’s budget shouldn’t be subject to City Council approval.

You said the rail authority should use the Board of Water Supply as a model. Really! I can’t think of a worse failure than the BWS. We pay the highest water/sewer rates in the country, and we are told they are going much higher in coming years. And for this high cost, we have a water/sewer infrastructure that is falling apart faster than it is being replaced. Is that what you want for rail?

It should be no different than for corporate boards that are subject to the stockholders. Government boards should be subject to the taxpayers through their elected representatives.

Richard Manetta
Honolulu

Sandbar suffers from publicity

I have been going to the Kaneohe Bay sandbar for more than 20 years and it’s been a wonderful place to spend the weekend for generations of local families.

Some of the blame for what is happening at the sandbar must be placed on your heads. Your paper has made the sandbar front-page news for days before and after any three-day holiday. The publicity would be any promoter’s dream, driving large numbers of young people to the area to experience the "wild parties" you give excessive coverage to.

What other state or county recreation area has the Coast Guard, state marine police and boats from the Department of Land and Natural Resources patrolling it? The presence of law enforcement is so excessive it’s ridiculous. A simple and more cost-effective solution is to put the police on the pier where fights happen.

The regulars who frequent the sandbar every weekend tend to stay at home on three-day holidays because of the excessive enforcement presence.

Jim Cook
Aiea

Writer wrong about Taiwan

Reading through Oliver Lee’s revisionist, pro-China diatribe regarding Taiwan, I was surprised that he didn’t ask that the U.S. unconditionally surrender everything west of the Mississippi to China ("Taiwan may prove undefendable," Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, June 12).

After all, the Chinese have really big guns now and we should be ashamed of our "American aggression" in Vietnam and our failed attempt at "conquering" North Korea.

Taiwan is a sovereign nation with its own government, military, economy and diplomatic relationships. A military takeover of Taiwan would be an act of war akin to Russia invading Ukraine, rather than a father reuniting with his wayward son.

The U.S. is not selling weapons to Taiwan on a bullish whim, but is acting in accordance to the Taiwan Relations Act, which compels us to ensure peace and stability in the Western Pacific and provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself.

The idea of having the U.S. drop its opprobrious "demands" that the Taiwanese people — who vote, worship freely and have reproductive freedom — should not be violently annexed by a totalitarian government suffused with human rights violations simply because China possesses arms beyond medieval weaponry is preposterous at best and ludicrous at worst.

Frank Yuan
Rocklin, Calif.

Child discipline can be humane

I come from the times when people were legally allowed to physically punish their children and ROTC was mandatory at schools in Hawaii, back in the ’50s and ’60s. And guess what: Kids used to listen and behave!

It’s not "archaic" or "abuse" when punishment is done humanely. Everyone is different and "time out" doesn’t work during the teen years. I feel that nowadays the punishment should be done by the parent(s) alone, and only after other remedies have not worked.

Kids really feel a loss when their cellphones or games are taken away. It’s sad that they can’t or don’t want to spend time by themselves. It is also saying something in that they appear to be co-dependent on other human beings.

It’s time for us as parents and grandparents to encourage a time for self. That is another reason to push your keiki to read, read and read.

But mostly, respect is earned, so we need to respect our children as we would want them to respect us. In that light, there shouldn’t have to be any punishment going on, right?

Leilani Brighter
Honolulu

Foodland store earned aloha

To Jenai Wall and my hanai family at Foodland Koko Marina:

My family has lived on Portlock for 45 years, and I have spent a lot of time in this store. My sister worked at Foodland in high school as did many of my friends; some long-time friends still do. There isn’t a time I enter the store that I am not greeted with a smile and asked if I need help.

I have hope that Foodland can stay in Koko Marina, in some capacity, and that I will still be able to get my poke and beer on my way to Bellows Beach.

I will be off-island on July 10, and that is just as well. I find it difficult to imagine Foodland will not be here when I need something; however, even more difficult would be watching my hanai family leave and shut the doors for the last time on that day.

So, from my heart and every community you serve, from Hawaii Kai, Waimanalo, Kuliouou and Niu Valley: Thank you and aloha for all your years of service. Till we meet again … in Hawaii Kai.

Paige AltonnHonolulu