‘Safe places’ bill would help youth

The children and youth of Hawaii face great challenges today.

Long-term unemployment, poverty, lack of housing and eliminated services due to budget cuts or the shifting of funds between projects have left many wondering what will come next.

Parents who are stretched to the limit become overwhelmed with the seeming hopelessness of the situation. Many youth soon become disillusioned and angry. Many become cast-offs or throw-aways and are forced to find alternative living arrangements that are not always safe. Many turn their anger inward and become drug addicts or alcoholics. Some never find the way to wholeness. But we have that way in sight, a light that will offer hope.

We have the Safe Places legislation (Senate Bill 391 and House Bill 305) that would help coordinate a two-year safe-places pilot program for youth to access.

With this legislation we would align current programs that address the challenges youth face and build a bridge that would close the gap between services developed and those rendered.

People should contact their state senator or representative and ask them to support the Safe Places for Youth legislation.

Jonella DeLimas
Kailua

EPA should protect bees from pesticides

Beekeepers are reporting unprecedented losses this year — 40 percent or more — and new studies continue to strengthen the case that pesticides are a key factor in bee die-offs.

Building on a solid body of scientific evidence, two more studies released in late March confirm that common pesticides are directly harming bees. The insecticides in the latest study — neonicotinoids and coumaphos — are scrambling the circuits of bees’ brains, leaving them unable to learn, smell or remember — all critical abilities for foraging honey bees.

Why, then, is the Environmental Protection Agency not taking swift action to protect these vital pollinators from bee-harming pesticides? The agency says it will conclude its review of neonicotinoids in 2018. That isn’t good enough.

The science is only getting stronger, and protecting honeybees from pesticides is now more urgent than ever. The EPA needs to step up, now.

Christine Russo
Kapolei

LUC seems arbitrary about water concerns

So the state Land Use Commission is so worried about the water supply it won’t give small farmers Important Agricultural Land status ("‘Little farmers’ denied state land designation," Star-Advertiser, April 15).

Why did the commission not consider the water supply when it granted urban classifications to Koa Ridge and Ho‘opili?

I guess the commission likes urbanizing farm land more than it likes small farmers.

Pearl Johnson
Pauoa Valley

Obama’s 2013 budget a bonanza for military

I want to share some information I received from the American Friends Service Committee, the social justice arm of the Quakers.

President Barack Obama’s 2013 discretionary budget proposes the following shocking numbers (rounded):

» 57 percent for the military;

» 5.5 percent for veterans benefits;

» 6 percent for education;

» 6 percent for government;

» 5.5 percent for housing and community;

» 5 percent for health;

» 4 percent for international affairs;

» 3 percent for energy and environment;

» 2.5 percent for science;

» 2.5 percent for labor;

» 2 percent for transportation; and

» 1 percent for food and agriculture.

It is clear that Washington politicians of both parties completely have forgotten President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s warnings about the military-industrial establishment: "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signfies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."

Joel Fischer
Waialae

Law might be needed to sustain aloha spirit

This year has been the year of no aloha spirit in our islands. It seems that in our day-to-day lives, the very thing that made our islands unique and special has all but evaporated.

Just look at what has happening in our recent legislative session.The anti-GMO protesters disrespecting legislators and threatening companies, and our own senators making derogatory comments about certain people, are prime examples of this.

It is so bad that we even have to make laws to force the spirit of caring for our aina and fellow humans with smoking bans and removing homeless people from public places.

From the leaders down to the general public, it seems that the aloha spirit is fading, and it looks like the only way to save it is to legislate it.

Joni Kamiya
Kaneohe

Memorial Day fly over shouldn’t be canceled

We are saddened over the plan to cancel the annual Memorial Day flyover at the National Memorial Cemetery over Punchbowl ("Air Force combat units grounded," Star-Advertiser, April 10).

This is the missing-man formation with one less plane in the group, a very special reminder to honor our fallen heroes.

Yes, our country is now in the straits of fiscal debate, but let us not allow such arguments to lessen the need to give full honors to our military, past and present.

Allan Samuelson
Kahaluu

Elevated rail will add to visitors’ enjoyment

I was glad to read about plans to build rail mass transit in Honolulu ("Federal funding for rail included in Obama’s budget," Star-Advertiser, April 11). I always enjoy my vacations on Oahu but am surprised each time how bad the traffic in and around Honolulu can get.

As we are learning in booming Vancouver, mass public transit can never come too early, and delays only end up increasing construction costs while traffic problems quickly escalate.

I hope government officials do the right thing and fast-track your elevated rail project, and that I might actually get to ride it on a future visit.

Charles Leduc
Vancouver, British Columbia

Buy one-way tickets for visiting homeless

While I definitely have empathy for the homeless, I have a suggestion.

After reading a recent Star-Advertiser article and finding out that many Waikiki homeless are newly transplanted from the mainland, why not just give them a ticket home?

It would cost between $400 and $1,200 per individual, but in the long run, I feel this would be a better option.

At least if they go back to their own hometowns, their families could step in and assist them.

If we buy one-way tickets for individuals who want to go back, it may reduce the Oahu homeless population by 25-50 percent.

Isn’t it time we started sending some of these folks back home?

If we are going to deal with the homeless in Hawaii, maybe we should specialize and prioritize the Hawaiian homeless, not just the homeless in Hawaii.

Lizette Haneberg
Honolulu