Boy Scouts right to consider gays

As a longtime supporter of the Boy Scouts program, I am delighted that the national office is considering a more reasonable stance on gays in Scouting.

Our country is divided on what opportunities should be open to gay people.The Boy Scouts program uses a vast network of volunteers to help with the hard work of raising American boys to be the fathers, leaders and citizens of the future.By taking a stand either way and dictating morality on this controversial issue, the entire program is weakened.

The proposed policy allows the local sponsoring organizations to decide individually whether to permit gays in their program. This new policy would allow each participating family to find a unit they are comfortable working with and offer a welcoming unit for every boy who wants to participate.I hope this policy is quickly adopted.

Keith Webster
Kaneohe

Tax data breach is worrisome

Regarding “Tax agency data breach still under investigation; workers arrested, fired” (Star-Advertiser, Whatever Happened To…, Jan. 31): With all due respect to the confidentiality and concerns about personal issues, the Department of Taxation needs to, at a minimum, disclose the nature of the breach in its computer database and what kind of information may have been compromised so we, the taxpaying public, can act accordingly.

Is it still safe to file our tax returns electronically or would filing paper returns be safer?

It seems as though a lot of the security breaches of computer data has occurred at the state level. The University of Hawaii system has had more than a few, and now the state tax office.

Dennis Kohara
Waialae-Kahala

Urgent Care site should stay open

Thanks for informing us readers about the closing of Kaiser Pensacola’s Urgent Care on March 16.

It came as a surprise and disappointment to me and some 20-plus Kaiser members here at Kahala Nui.

My wife and I have been to Kaiser’s Urgent Care three times each over the past eight years and we have valued its great care and convenience.

I signed a petition at Kaiser Pensacola, urging Urgent Care be kept open, and at the urging of its staff members I also called Kaiser’s administrative office to express my support. I urge other Kaiser members to do the same.We aging seniors need that Urgent Care.

With thanks for your continued coverage.

Richard H. Rothrock
Waialae-Kahala

Let flower pots occupy sidewalk

While I may have originally approved the concept of Occupy Honolulu, it has now become a blight on my horizon.

How about putting big, round planters of beautiful flowering shrubs or native plants on the sidewalk, leaving enough space for pedestrian and wheelchair accessibility?

Gwen Heliker
Makiki

Sex abuse deal is an injustice

I thought the Jerry Sandusky/Joe Paterno/Penn State cover-up was the worst moral crime committed by an American educational institution, but Hawaii has outdone them with the recent cover-up by state Department of Education officials who allegedly "looked the other way for years" as deaf and blind children were assaulted and raped at Hawaii School for Deaf and Blind ("State OKs settlement over abuse of students," Star-Advertiser, Feb. 5).

Will the names of the guilty DOE officials be revealed? Will criminal charges be brought against them? How high up the ladder were the officials who knew and "looked the other way for years"?

My guess is that the guilty individuals who had power to stop the crimes will remain behind the smokescreen of the department, and it will be politics, stonewalling and dirty back-room deals as usual.

It’s time for moral and ethical leadership at all levels.

Scott K. Sato
Kakaako

F-16s to Egypt is hypocritical

Why does one hand of our federal government squeeze the American public for exercising its Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms? But its other hand gives the Islamist government of Egypt 20 advanced F-16 fighter jets along with $1.3 billion annually to enable its military?

If protecting innocent lives is truly a concern, has our government considered how many innocents an F-16 can kill?

Charles Kerr
Kalama Valley