SB 3 is way to make OHA elections fair

Mahalo to Sens. Brickwood Galuteria and Clayton Hee for passing Senate Bill 3 through their committees. Please tell Rep. Karl Rhoads that this will help Hawaiians, and everyone would have a fairer process of electing Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustees.

Look at the data: The winner’s votes will not be more than the sum of the second- and third- or even the fourth-place winner’s votes. It is a lopsided election setup that always favors the incumbents.

Oahu residents can vote in all races. With signs, street waving or having your last name start with the letter "A," Oahu can elect every trustee. Under the "one-man, one-vote" rule, our neighbor island voters never see their island winner in office, unless unopposed. Molokai gave up trying to get past Oahu.

Fix the election process by supporting this bill.

Jackie Burke
Lihue

Knives are safe but shoes are not?

So the U.S. Transportation Security Administration wants to allow small knives onto flights, but I still have to take get off my slippers to go through security?

What?

Susan Duprey
Kailua

GMO labeling would increase food prices

We already have a labeling system that lets us know whether foods produced are genetically modified — it’s called affirmative labeling. If you want to buy GMO-free food, choose foods labeled "organic."

For the rest of us who don’t want more government red tape, and who are not scared by activist doomsday talk about these foods or the people who grow them, we would like to continue business as usual.

I’d like to ask the anti-GMO groups to stop pushing their agenda and beliefs on the rest of us. Food is already expensive enough in Hawaii, and with more baseless regulations like these GMO labeling laws, food is going to be more expensive.

I’d like activists to quit acting like they are protecting me and my family. We’re perfectly capable of making discerning health decisions for ourselves.

Summer Johnston
Ewa Beach

Have volunteers run White House tours

Apparently tours of the White House have been cancelled due to the sequester.

Can volunteers with a security clearance in Washington do these daily tours? We have the only royal palace in America, with dedicated docents who are historians and volunteers doing the walking tours. Surely there must be some educated people living in Washington, D.C., who could handle this job.

It’s a shame to close America’s White House to visitors.

Judi Moore
Waialae Nui Ridge

Blame gas tax hike on rail supporters

Those who voted for the rail have only themselves to blame for the proposed gas tax hike.

Ben Cayetano was right. Fix the infrastructure and install a less expensive transit system with no tax hike. What’s next? Property taxes? Or some other tax or fees to raise revenue?

Beware of what you wish for.

Ray Horita
Palolo Valley

Privacy protection should include cops

There is a certain amount of irony that a bill designed to protect individual privacy, preventing prospective employers from asking their applicants for social network user names or passwords, would excludelaw enforcement agencies from the mandate.

Never mind that the rightto privacy is derived from the Bill of Rights, a document written to protect citizens from intrusive government agents.

Consider that the people we hire to protect those rights will betold that their own privacy is a second-class right.How can we expect our police officers to respect our privacy when we fail to protect theirs?

Is there a more effective tool to further divide police officers from the community they’re supposed to protect and serve?

Our government officials, especially those in law enforcement, can accessenough information to determine whom they’ll hire without demanding that their applicants open their letters, journals and emails for inspection.Why should social networks be any different?

Jim Tang
Kula, Maui

Refinery needed for many reasons

Our national security will be affected by the closure of Tesoro’s Kapolei refinery, which supplies as much as 70 percent of the fuel needed for the military bases in Hawaii.

Without this facility, gasoline and other oil products will have to be imported. Do we really want our military and our state to be dependent on fuel produced outside of the U.S.?

Prices are already higher in Hawaii than they are on the U.S. mainland. Add the cost of shipping and prices will increase even further.

The availability of gasoline also is at risk. Hawaii will be competing against other countries for gasoline imports. Demand is high in Asia for this fuel and we may see gasoline imports being diverted there.

The refinery is too valuable a facility for Hawaii to give up.

Judy Au
Ewa Beach