Sisters of St. Francis grateful for support

The Sisters of St. Francis in Hawaii appreciate the outpouring of support and encouragement from the community after learning about our desire to remain at the Manoa Convent instead of uprooting to The Plaza at Pearl City.

We appreciate those who have expressed their concern about our well-being and want to assure everyone that although the convent is in need of upgrades, it is not in a state of disrepair to the point where our safety is being jeopardized.

We are sisters through and through, and have learned to stick with each other through thick and thin, to serve Hawaii’s people in health care and education. It would break our hearts to be torn apart to live separately from each other.

Like Saint Marianne of Molokai, our identity has always been based in service to others. We believe God does wonderful things in His perfect timing. We are thankful the Syracuse leadership listened to our concerns, and we are now looking forward to relocating to the St. Francis Healthcare System campus in Liliha in due time, and continuing to play a vital role in this health care ministry.

Sister Norberta Hunnewinkel

Manoa

‘Concealed carry’ has a big downside

President Barack Obama is catching flak for his proposed gun-control measures.

His detractors make some good points. With the near impossibility of making meaningful background checks and the ready availability of quick-change magazines and rapid-fire guns, most of the proposed measures would have little positive effect. But the same can be said of the notion that everyone should carry a gun in self-defense.

Effective use of a firearm in actual self-defense situations requires hundreds of hours of training each year. Without it, people are more likely to freeze, miss or shoot an innocent bystander.

Meanwhile, in what appears to be an increasingly frustrated, fearful and angry society, the opportunity for some poorly trained, intoxicated or impulsive person to start shooting is reason enough to oppose concealed and open carry of guns.

Outside of what’s presented in the movies and National Rifle Association propaganda, the downside is a lot bigger than the upside.

James B. Young

St. Louis Heights

Guns are not the issue; criminals are the issue

We don’t have too many guns, or the wrong type, or too-large magazines, or not enough paperwork.

We have too many criminals, armed madmen and terrorists who use guns with impunity.

If we destroyed all guns, criminals, madmen and terrorists would still find weapons, and we couldn’t defend ourselves effectively.

How would you drive if a third of the drivers on the road could pull you over and cite you every time you broke a traffic law, and they were all in unmarked cars? You’d probably think hard about obeying the traffic laws.

Would criminals, armed madmen and terrorists change their behavior if they knew that someone, or several someones, would be ready with an armed response when they struck, anywhere, any time? Experience indicates that they would change their methods.

Good people with guns are not the problem. They are part of the solution.

Brian Isaacson

Kailua

Please take cannabis off Schedule I list

Twenty-three states plus the District of Columbia have legalized medical cannabis, and more are coming on board each year.

The belief that cannabis has no medicinal efficacy has been disproven in privately funded studies.

More clinical trials are critically needed. Yet, those studies cannot be performed as long as the Drug Enforcement Administration classifies cannabis as a Schedule I drug, which places it as having no medical use. This needs to change, and soon.

Congress is not moving fast enough, but there is another route: rescheduling cannabis as a Schedule II drug by executive order.

Advocates of medical cannabis are hoping President Barack Obama in his last year as president will do just that.

Thousands of patients across the country and in Hawaii with illnesses such as cancer and HIV and soldiers returning from the Middle East with PTSD benefit from this non-habit-forming plant medicine.

Andrea Tischler

Chairwoman, Big Island Americans for Safe Access

Hilo

Hawaii should keep rolling with solar

The proposed Hawaiian Electric Industries/NextEra merger is troubling. Why are we looking elsewhere for renewable energy when we already have a successful template in solar energy?

Gov. David Ige already has nixed the idea of using liquefied natural gas, perhaps because the infrastructure needed to transport and distribute it could cost upwards of $30 billion.

NextEra hasn’t revealed its plans to get us to 100 percent renewable energy by 2045. I wouldn’t want to commit to any program without a detailed plan. Instead, I want to see solar panel systems that would power entire communities. Already there are residential solar batteries on the market that hold their charges in the evenings when there is no sun.

Let’s expand on a renewable energy source we already are using instead of trying something untested and foreign to our island home.

Jean Au

Kailua

FROM THE FORUM

Readers of the Star-Advertiser’s online edition can respond to stories posted there. The following are some of those. Instead of names, pseudonyms are generally used online. They have been removed.

“AH-64 Apache attack copters bound for Oahu post after all” Star-Advertiser, Dec. 21:

>> Congratulations to U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz for success in bringing the squadron to Hawaii.

>> So the addiction continues. It’s a shame many feel that the military industrial complex is good. It is not.

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“State honors Filipino immigrants” Star-Advertiser, Dec. 21:

>> My father was a sakada, and understanding the sacrifices my parents went through leaving their homeland so their children could have a better life is very humbling and proud. It’s a story that I’ve told my children and that they hopefully will pass on to theirs, so they can learn not to take their lifestyle for granted. If our sakada parents didn’t make the sacrifices, many of us would be in Ilocos today behind a carabao tending rice fields.

>> Congratulations. This is how the U.S. has become what it is. We are a nation of immigrants.

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“Ige wants $1.8B for construction” Star-Advertiser, Dec. 22:

>> What a tough job, being a governor of any state. The new University of Hawaii football coach gets paid more than the governor and works with a much smaller budget.

>> The gov’nor’s got his “groove” back. He’ll methodically dissect each of these programs and make the best decisions he can. Prioritizing what’s in the state’s best interest, leveraging ‘must-haves’ rather than ‘nice-to-haves’ that will ultimately benefit the people of Hawaii. Engineers are trained to fix problems and come up with common-sense solutions.

>> Because $1.8 billion sounds much less than $2 billion.

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“65 opportunities for employment attract would-be groundskeepers” Star-Advertiser, Dec 22:

>> Finally, the tall grass alongside the roadways will be mowed.

>> The city should hire personnel to clean the city’s restrooms. Evidently the supervisor who is responsible for the restrooms doesn’t have a clue on how filthy they are. Where are all our tax dollars going?

>> Why are we wasting taxpayer dollars by hiring temp workers? Let’s just use the convicts who are freeloading from the hard work of the taxpayer.

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“High court ruling backs Ewa planned community” Star-Advertiser, Dec 23:

>> Former Gov. Ben Cayetano’s vision is coming to fruition. His “Second City” floundered during his term. It took new leaders to push the agenda and get work done. I’m glad he’s not mayor.

>> Cayetano’s Second City was stopped by the unions who sued because they didn’t want their members to have to commute to Kapolei.

>> At what point do we stop building houses? When there’s no more room for skyscrapers on the mountains and our streets and freeways have been converted to mass parking lots? This is an island. There is limited room. We’ve long exceeded that limit to sustain a decent quality of life.

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“Judgment day for UH men’s basketball” Star-Advertiser, Dec. 23:

>> UH needs to appeal the post-season ban. There’s nothing to lose by appealing. It was very disappointing to hear Athletic Director David Matlin say they won’t appeal. That is a lack of leadership in my mind. I hope smarter minds prevail. That’s how these work: They throw the book at you, you appeal, then get middle ground.

>> No. Not appealing is showing leadership. I mean, come on, we broke the rules. It’s time to man-up and accept responsibility for it. It’s better in the long run to put this ugly mess behind us and move forward than continue to waste time, effort and money trying to negotiate a slightly lesser penalty.

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“Jury finds state didn’t do enough to stop sexual harassment at airport” Star-Advertiser, Dec 23:

>> Here we go. Now all airport workers will have to sit through hours of inane, “politically correct” sexual harassment awareness training classes because of one numbskull.

>>There is nothing “politically correct” about sexual harassment training. Many businesses conduct sexual harassment training for the same reasons. The state needs to do the same.