I have had the privilege of visiting the encampment at the Waianae boat harbor on numerous occasions (“Waianae encampment seeks help from state,” Star-Advertiser, Feb. 15).

This close-knit community is well-organized with leaders, and rules they enforce. Occasionally residents are removed. However, most of the 200-plus residents are cooperative and supportive of one another. Their community setup is impressive.

The state talks about solving the homeless problem. This is a good place to start. Rather than merely tolerate this group, waiting until complaints pile up, perhaps the state can be more proactive and supportive of this community by offering basic resources and services. The group leaders have always been willing to work with state leaders.

State officials could learn a lot from the dynamics of this community, which could be a model for future communities and more effective long-term strategies.

Robert Miller

Hawaii Kai

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The problem is guns, not mental health

Never has our president appeared so transparent and ineffective as when he addressed the nation after yet another school shooting (“Trump cites mental health — not guns — in speech,” Star-Advertiser, Feb. 16). His empty words and condolences do nothing to hide the fact that 17 innocent people are dead because our nation allows an 18-year-old person to legally purchase an AR-15 rifle.

What other civilized society allows this? The National Rifle Association and all of the political “leaders” they control will make the same tired argument that it’s a mental health problem, and not a gun problem. The ever-rising body count buries this and all other arguments against gun control. Stop the madness. Save our children.

Now.

Matt Nakamura

Hawaii Kai

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Ban high-capacity magazines for rifles

Hawaii should ban center-fire rifle magazines with a capacity of more than 10 rounds, and institute a “buy-back” confiscation program providing fair compensation for gun owners surrendering high-capacity magazines.

I am a gun owner and a strong believer in the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. But in the world we live in, a maniac can spray a hundred rounds of high-velocity ammunition into a crowded school, church or concert audience as fast as he can pull the trigger and snap in new magazines. We have seen the results too many times.

High-capacity magazines have no value in hunting, target shooting or home defense. Their only possible and constitutional use would be to repel invasion or to resist domestic tyranny. I do not discount those remote possibilities, but there are certainly plenty of civilian guns around to do the job.

I continue to oppose harassment legislation designed to do nothing but nibble away at Second Amendment rights. High-capacity magazines are an entirely different matter.

Ray Gagner

Laupahoehoe

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School had programs for Leeward children

Regarding Valerie Hashimoto’s letter, “Why a lack of help for Hawaiian kids?” (Star-Advertiser, Feb. 13): As a former employee of Kamehameha Schools in the early 1980s, KS/BE had a division that addressed troubled Hawaiian and part-Hawaiian youth mainstreaming into public schools.

We had several programs, including those for alternative education, reading, early edeucation and unwed mothers. Then enter the Board of Trustees, which decided these programs were not useful and a drain to its wealth. With one swift stroke of the pen, 120 talented and dedicated faculty and staff were let go. At the time, the trustees were drawing million-dollar paychecks.

Susan Essoyan wrote that “the number of special-education students in the Nanakuli-Waianai Complex Area rose sharply” (“Leeward schools see upsurge in special-education students,” Star-Advertiser, Feb. 13). KS/BE had already established this back in the 1980s. Here we are 37 years later, reinventing the wheel.

Herman Libarios

Kapahulu

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Millennials struggle with cost of living

As millennials we often are called lazy, too dependent on our parents, not smart with our money. How can we go to school full-time and pay off loans while trying to make ends meet at a minimum wage of $10.10 an hour?

With the cost of living in Hawaii being so high, it is simply not possible. I, for one, have dealt with many medical problems since I was a child. The constant medical bills along with doctor’s visits have left me with a debt of $1,000 still to be paid off.

I feel that I will be forced to find a second job. Some may say that people work two jobs all the time, as if that were normal. However, I have to take 16 credit hours. I work 20 hours a week. When should I study?

Please raise the minimum wage to $15.

Akane Sugaya-Kimura

Pearl City

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Electoral College serves nation well

Regarding Doug Lamerson’s complaint that President Donald Trump was not elected by the people, but by an anachronistic, irrelevant Electoral College, I would like to remind him that our inspired Constitution, in establishing federalism, arranged that the people would elect their representatives to Congress, but that the states (through the Electors) would elect the president (“Trump elected only by Electoral College,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, Feb. 15).

It has worked beautifully, as ordained, for more than 240 years. God bless America!

John M. Corboy

Mililani