Smokers at beaches act irresponsibly

We should support a ban on smoking on our beaches to give smokers a clear message, even if it is not realistically enforceable.

Secondhand smoke is bad enough as a known medical problem to those who don’t smoke, but using our beaches as a personal ashtray because it is convenient is just irresponsible.

Do smokers realize how long discarded filters stay around, the impact they have on the environment?

If smokers say that it is not their fault, that they are addicted, they can leave their bad habit in the car.

Maybe smokers don’t realize that most of the people around them don’t approve or support their personal addiction.Smokers do have a choice to respect others and the environment, and to act responsibly.

Greg Schmidt
Hawaii Kai

Bill 72 is 1 more law for city to enforce

Leaving cigarette butts on our beaches is as egregious as leaving behind plastic bags and plate lunch containers, but litter laws are already in place.

If eliminating exposure to secondhand smoke is the purpose of Bill 72, designations could be made to suit smokers and non-smokers in public parks.

Rather than address the lax enforcement of littering, the City Council will create a new law to enforce. If secondhand smoke is so dangerous it can’t be allowed at a beach, cigarettes should be outlawed.

Is the government as addicted to cigarette taxes as smokers are to the nicotine?

Jeremiah Hull
Wahiawa

Airport was outside evacuation zone

During the tsunami warning on Oct. 27, the Honolulu International Airport, along with all major airports in the islands, activated emergency operations centers as is our standard procedure.

The Honolulu International Airport is not in the tsunami evacuation zone; it maintained operations to accommodate outbound flights and those inbound flights already in the air. Airport stakeholders, including airlines, concessionaires, state and federal agencies, each had representatives in the HNL Emergency Operations Center to stay abreast of the latest developments.

For those passengers arriving, a message was broadcast every 15 minutes informing them that Hawaii was under a tsunami warning and that the airport is not in the evacuation zone. For passengers whose flights were delayed or who wished to stay at the airport, a conference room was opened and snacks and beverages were served.

I was in close contact with the state Civil Defense, the FAA, the Hawaii Tourism Authority, the Hawaii Visitors Bureau and Waikiki hotels, keeping open lines of communication.

Ford Fuchigami
Deputy director, Airports Division State Department of Transportation

Time to look locally for new UH president

Why do we insist on hiring University of Hawaii presidents from the mainland? After the disappointing performances of Evan Dobelle and our current UH president, why do we keep doing this to ourselves?

Our outstanding UH presidents in recent years have been Fujio Matsuda, Kenneth Mortimer and David McClain.

Hawaii has outstanding talent. Michael Chun, formerly of Kamehameha Schools, comes to mind.

UH should "think globally, act locally," or as Lippy Espinda used to say, "Get some brains!"

Creighton Goldsmith
Nuuanu

Greenwood ensnared in lawyers’ legal web

So it almost came down to this for the University of Hawaii in a letter from UH President M.R.C. Greenwood’s attorney: a $2 million extortion fee along with a favorable letter of reference and president emeritus status or else.

The letter has since been withdrawn, but leave it to an attorney to fire the first shot across the bow of the taxpayers’ money ship.

Outside pressure? Inappropriate threats? Serious physical illness because of defamatory comments? That may or may not be true, but we seem to be missing a major point here: Presidents of large institutions are hired and paid a lot of money to withstand outside influence and pressure and make decisions in the best interests of the institution.

I personally believe Greenwood has done a great job, but she, like others before her, are caught in the legal web attorneys love to weave.

Orson Moon
Aiea

UH among best universities in world

After 51 years as a professor at the University of Hawaii, I’m proud to say that UH is one of the greatest universities in the world.

UH graduates are at the core of the economic health of Asia. My 52 Ph.D. and MS graduates are in that cadre. They contribute to Hawaii, notably in our biggest agriculture industry, seeds — and to our world, in the booming Asian agriculture.

Let’s stop lawyer-driven criticism of UH and support it for what it is — the only tropically based university in the United States, uniquely capable of improving our world.

Get off the $200,000 and football losses; let’s focus on our Ph.D.s

(But perhaps also on volleyball!)

Jim Brewbaker
Kailua

UH administration needs to be fired

Exactly at what point is someone going to say "enough is enough" with the current administration at the University of Hawaii?

Isn’t it obvious that there is no accountability at all for wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars?

And yet,what is the university’s response? To hire more attorneys and waste even more money to defend against being held accountable.

UH has now wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars in contract disputes with its staff. The administration needs to be told only two words: "You’re fired."

Daniel J. Bryant
Mililani

Global warming real and continuing

Your Insight article claiming that global warming isn’t happening is the kind of stuff that shills for the fossil industry churn out to defeat corrective action ("Did campaign ignore climate change," Star-Advertiser, Nov. 11).

Global warming and climate change are real and continuing. It is caused by humans burning fossil fuel, and it will require our best efforts to combat. There is broad scientific agreement that this is so.

The contentions of climate-change deniers are intended only to sow doubt, are patently untrue and do not deserve space in respectable news media.

Byron W. Baker
Kula

Omidyar should put Hanalei land in trust

Last week we heard a presentation from the development team that plans to build a large project on the ridge and lands above Hanalei Bay. The land is owned by billionaire eBay founder Pierre Omidyar. In addition to a hotel and other visitor amenities, the company plans 34 luxury homes on Hanalei Ridge.

In hoping to win the support of residents, the company has laid out plans to restore an historic fish pond, rebuild an ancient wall, remove invasive species, plant native plants and remove concrete and trash left by the old developments.

The company representatives explained that Omidyar is not involved directly in proposed developments, but concentrates his attention on his philanthropic endeavors. What a hero this very wealthy man could be to Kauai, to Hanalei and Hawaii if he would put the land in trust to the county, do the restoration that the area needs, including the fish pond, and walk away. We are quite sure he can afford it.

That would be a wonderful gift to the islands; and it would be the pono thing on his part.

Nancy and Joe Norelli
Princeville, Kauai