Rich celebrities pollute the planet

I always find it extremely annoying to be lectured by highly overpaid celebrities and entertainers about global warming and climate change, when these people are the biggest personal polluters on the planet.

So-called eco warriors like George Clooney, Justin Bieber, Leonardo DiCaprio, Beyonce and Stevie Wonder all own or rent personal jets, zipping around the planet burning thousands of gallons of jet fuel.

DiCaprio is among the worst offenders, burning more jet fuel in one year than the average American could burn in 10 lifetimes.

All of the above own lavish homes and mansions, with Beyonce at the top of the list, owning the most and the biggest homes, the latest purchase a 45,000-square-foot mansion that burns more energy in a month than my house burns in a year.

So please spare me the lectures about evil Americans driving SUVs, not using public transportation or running their home air conditioners.

These celebrities and entertainers live lives of extreme excess and waste and should not be telling anyone else how to live their lives.

Adele Tejada

Kaneohe

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Don’t let DLNR attack feral cats

I am writing to vigorously oppose the changes to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources’ rules regarding feral cats.

I am asking Gov. David Ige to reject these rule changes and instead create legislation that expands the trap-neuter-release (TNR) program. TNR works without euthanizing more cats unnecessarily.

Since when do the overwhelming sentiments of the public get ignored in favor of businesses that are clearly uneducated? Do the people, yet one more time, have no voice in decisions that affect them?

Ige can choose to listen to the people he governs, or listen to misinformation that is being widely spread regarding these cats. TNR works.

And remember, many of these defenseless animals were dumped by their owners when they moved away or outgrew them. Most importantly, the cats control the rodent population, which we desperately need to control on Oahu.

Ige should not sign the rule changes in front of him. There are other options.

Kathleen Schinkel

Punchbowl

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Parents can’t stagger work starting time

The overwhelming majority of cars delivering students to private schools each day are being driven by parents dropping off their children before driving to work (“Private schools can stagger start times,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, Sept. 14). A staggered school start time would affect these parents’ ability to get to their jobs on time.

It would cost the state Department of Education more than $200 million a year if the 38,000 private school students were to attend public school.

On another note, does anyone really expect that rail terminating at Ala Moana Center will have any significant impact on the number of cars transporting children to private schools each day?

Michael Ho

Moanalua Valley

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Jones article soft on questionable hire

An article about former University of Hawaii football coach June Jones belongs on the front page of the Star-Advertiser, but not because the team he currently coaches is on a two-game winning streak (“Jones has his mojo working in Canada,” Sept. 14).

The real story, which was lamely alluded to in the article, concerns why Jones hired Art Briles to assist him, even though Briles was fired as football coach at Baylor University following a sexual assault scandal even more horrifying than the one that got football coach Joe Paterno fired at Penn State.

Despite numerous complaints that football players had raped Baylor women, Briles repeatedly chose to protect the team’s brand rather than the students at his university (as described in the book “Violated,” by Paula Lavigne and Mark Schlabach).

Does Jones not care about character? And does this paper have no sense of perspective?

David Johnson

Kailua

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Hawaii needs its own school of dentistry

I was surprised to learn that Hawaii has no dental school. We have a football team, but no dental school. Does this say something about our values?

I shudder to think of the many people (some of whom could become great dentists) who are discouraged from dentistry because of costs. The high cost of attending dental school on the mainland must discourage many from taking up a profession that they would really love.

Our state is losing this battle, and our educators should consider how and when we will have a dental school here in Hawaii.

Mark Terry

Wahiawa

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Protect pedestrians near Liliha Library

The intersection next to the Liliha Library is extremely dangerous for pedestrians.

After every red light, several drivers still blatantly run the red light in order to get on H-1, even when there are pedestrians in the crosswalk and pedestrians standing on the curb.

Obviously, drivers think a red light means go fast.

Children use the library and use this crosswalk to catch buses across the street. The Honolulu Police Department would have a goldmine of revenue if it cared about enforcing the laws and pedestrian safety. However, I believe HPD’s attitude is, “Well, everybody does it.”

It is time for pedestrians to stand up and say, “We are tired of drivers killing us!”

Richard Elstner

Chinatown