Poor planning at Hanauma Bay

I was just informed that due to "liability concerns," the Hanauma Bay Education Program’s Thursday evening program has been canceled.

After a few phone calls to the park, I understand that it is closing the premiere marine biology lecture series available because the lights in the parking lot don’t work and someone "might" hurt themselves.

At what point does the City and County of Honolulu figure out the value of preventive maintenance, and stop running for cover every time someone brings up the "L" word?

Using this line of reasoning, if I keep paying taxes, my checking account "might" reach zero pretty soon. Should I stop?

Mike McFarlane
Tantalus

Homeless have little shame

Mahalo for the article "Down & out in Waikiki" (Star-Advertiser, April 20).

I can remember a time when the now rule-averse homeless had some shame and retreated to shanty shelters in the mountains and in the brush far, far from the city.

The homeless now occupy beach benches along Kalakaua Avenue, defecate on sidewalks, sprawl across bus shelters depriving taxpaying, fare-paying passengers a seat, and sleep on sidewalks across from Waikiki hotels.

Why? Because they know they can get away with it. Why are they always sleeping? Why don’t they pick up a broom or rake and do something constructive for the area that they are freeloading and squatting on?

Something needs to be done. Fast.

Lisa Adlong
Hauula

Other issues affect Horner

I take issue with James Roller’s letter regarding state Board of Education Chairman Don Horner’s hearing, which I attended at the Capitol ("Attacks on Horner were mean-spirited," Star-Advertiser, Letters, April 21).

My testimony in opposition included:

» The story of my father, a POW in Nazi Germany and Purple Heart recipient;

» My special needs child, hit by a tenured physical therapist while being called lazy and stupid and whose gums bled from "oral therapy" in Hawai’i public schools;

» Years of struggle with broken BOE and Department of Education systems;

» Martin Luther King;

» Thomas Jefferson’s tenet that my father risked his life for, that erecting a wall between church and state is absolutely essential in a free society.

The rigid BOE meetings, headed by Horner with no Olelo cameras, are a question of transparency and public access, not faith.

As for Kathryn Xian for Congress: The founder of PASS and the one responsible for House Bill 1926, which bars the police from legal sex with prostituted persons, has my vote.

Caroline Kong
Honolulu

Ugly bus stools replace bench

With no consideration for waiting passengers and the community, Oahu Transit Services (OTS) removed a heavily used bus bench on the makai side of Hotel Street, ewa of Smith Street an area upgraded with new businesses.

Instead of a comfortable bench which, when used creatively, could seat five, OTS gifted us with two uncomfortable, filthy, graffiti-marred toadstools placed two feet apart. Those trying to sit cannot hold a child’s hand if the child is on the other stool, or carry on a quiet conversation.

OTS treats Chinatown as a slum. It shows its respect by blessing us with graffiti and lack of seats. OTS could have substituted one of the clean benches with dividing arm rests, which are all over town.

Lynne Matusow
Downtown Honolulu

No conspiracy on cereal boxes

In the science section of the newspaper is an article titled, "Faces on cereal boxes angled to meet kid’s eyes" (Star-Advertiser, April 22). This article is a horrible piece of reporting and has no scientific basis.

The claim is that cereal boxes for children’s cereals have the eyes of the cartoon characters looking "down" so that when they’re positioned on the store shelves they’re looking straight at the kids, getting their attention, and unethically influencing their desire for the cereal.

While it is true that many of those characters are "looking down" the fact is that, as with any two-dimensional representation of a face with downcast eyes, the eyes appear to be looking down no matter what angle you’re viewing it. So even from the kid’s perspective the eyes never appear to be looking directly at them. Thus, the conclusion that the kids are being influenced by cartoon characters looking "at them," is totally false.

Roger Garrett
Kapahulu