Religious tolerance is a two-way street

Your headline on your editorial should have read more appropriately "Don’t allow anti-religious actions" ("Don’t allow anti-civil union actions," Star-Advertiser, Our View, April 4).

The First Amendment protects the rights of religious freedom, allowing clergy and other religious officials to practice their faith such that they cannot be compelled to officiate at civil union ceremonies.

Many of these same clergy and other religious officials adamantly maintain they need further legal protection to preserve the sanctity of their places of worship, so they are not compelled to open up such places to those not connected with their religious organization for the purposes of civil union ceremonies.

Moreover, the rights of religious freedom exempt entities affiliated with churches and other places of worship from any requirement to provide anyone with services or accommodations that infringe on their respective faiths and/or religious beliefs.

Tolerance is a two-way street. To deny the proposed exemption would mandate compulsory state orthodoxy, not a ban on discrimination.

Robert K. Matsumoto
Honolulu

Libraries are a hub of community life

Libraries are not simply book repositories ("Don’t squander funds on library," Star-Advertiser, Letters, April 7). Libraries are a hub of community life.

My late father loved the library. He read newspapers, relished the magazine table, browsed CDs and DVDs. His mind could soar while his aging body remained stubbornly earth-bound. It gave him a sense of space, of connectedness to the community.

The library has best sellers, e-books, newspapers, magazines, CDs, DVDs, computers, Wi-Fi and more. So while some people obviously do not need these services, they should certainly not deny them to others. Not everyone can or wants to own an iPad. And there are fewer e-books than you might think.

My local library always has a line. Crowds swarm in absolute, beautiful madness at the annual book sale. So the popularity of e-readers hardly marks the demise of libraries.

Why not both? There’s always room on the bookshelf.

Randall Matsuno
Kaimuki

Recurring problems need most attention

During every session of the Legislature we hear about bills that address current concerns; there are also bills that address recurring problems.

Why is so much time spent on current issues that attract public attention because of a few incidents? Our elected officials need to address recurring problems, such as education, homelessness, housing and other issues that have existed for a long period of time.

Is sufficient time spent addressing these difficult issues?

Talking or studying a problem for years is not a solution.

Leonard Leong
Manoa

Rail is tail wagging ridership dog

The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation told the Legislature that so few passengers will ride the proposed train, that fares will likely cover only 40 percent of the costs ("Bill to speed development at rail depots moves ahead," Star-Advertiser, April 17).

So state Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz has proposed development around rail depots to encourage up to 130,000 more people to live near transit stations and to ride the train.

Necessarily expanding the system with extra trainsto carry these additional passengers will increase operating and maintenance costs, of course, so that even more riders would be needed to cover these higher expenses. Ever more and larger trains would be required forall these additional passengers, and so on and so on.

Not enough ridersto keep the train in business? Just bring in more people!The tail is wagging the dog.

John M. Corboy
Mililani

On-ramps, off-ramps poorly designed

I have believed for many years that the downtown freeway bottlenecks are caused by the locations of certain on-ramps just before off-ramps.

Entering traffic must merge into traffic trying to exit at the same time in the same space.

This is a major design flaw in our freeway system that we all pay for with slow commutes, frustration and wasted time.

This problem is especially pronounced at the Punahou Street off-ramp and the Ewa-bound Vineyard Boulevard off-ramp, backing up traffic in both directions each day, although the morning coning of the Lunalilo Street on-ramp has greatly improved morning traffic flow in the Ewa direction.

Adding lanes won’t be of much help because it doesn’t address the underlying issue. If we stop coning the Lunalilo on-ramp, even if we add lanes, I’ll bet that traffic will be worse than ever through town and won’t improve unless the underlying problems are addressed.

Alex Kinzler
Hawaii Loa Ridge

Convicts get more kokua than keiki

We are looking at cutting back on school bus service to transport our children to the classrooms for an education because we can’t afford it while we spend money on expanding our jails to bring back convicts from the mainland.

The message I’m seeing is, "Reward a criminal and punish the child."

Invest in our children; they are the future.

Bill Schroeder
Kaneohe