Bayfest cancellation is least of our woes

I find myself in a state of mild amusement regarding your position with respect to cancellation of Bayfest and the Pearl Harbor July Fourth fireworks show in the aftermath of sequestration ("Sequestration manifests tangibly," Star-Advertiser, Off the News, May 8).

Yes, it is a shame that such events, which so richly reward our community, must face the ax. But given the doom and gloom portended by the White House as a result of this decrease in spending, complaining about the "tangible" effects of having to discontinue a carnival and forgo a few firecrackers is akin to a child crying over not being able to have cake in order to afford the meal.

What will be the reaction when the impact of real and necessary cuts undeniably perched on the horizon sets in?Riots in the streets, a la Greece?

Stephen Hinton
Haleiwa

Start recycling at schools again

Why did schools stop recycling? Our teacher taught us how to recycle, but then they took our bins away.

We need to protect the Earth for the future. Our landfills are too full. This hurts our land, water and air. We think we should recycle at schools again.

Gavin Grady, Dallas Fa‘aui, Kian Medeiros and Noah Meniz-Jones
Aikahi Elementary School students

Poor people paying for public transit

Mostly to keep the tourism industry humming along, the working poor of Hawaii are being required to permanently subsidize Hawaii’s "public" transportation system.

Tourists benefit greatly from the public transport system, but it’s paid for by the very poor.

Why not ask this large number of momentary visitors to pay a tiny bit more, so that the poor could pay less, and badly needed routes and repairs could be paid for, and severe cutbacks avoided?

Almost all of the working folks of Hawaii are being heavily taxed, in many ways, and required to pay a large chunk of their meager pay every month to get to and from their low-paying jobs, while giant U.S. banks and corporations (including those contracted to build and maintain Hawaii’s public transportation) reap record profits and usually pay little or no taxes.

David Cannell
Waipahu

Flight school in Hilo makes no sense

I would like to add my 2 cents to the comments by Dawna Constant concerning the $350,000 given to the University of Hawaii-Hilo to start an international flight school ("Flight training center just a pet project," Star-Advertiser, Letters, May 5).

Honolulu Community College already has an excellent flight school at Kalaeloa. We have the best flight training facilities west of Daytona Beach, five airplanes, a large hangar, dual runways, a Federal Aviation Administration-operated control tower, excellent management and flight instructors and outstanding classroom facilities.

More than 200 students have gone through our program. We have the best weather for flight training in Hawaii while the amount of rainfall in Hilo is second only to Kauai and twice the annual rainfall at Kalaeloa.

To spend money on research for flight training when we have one ofthe best flight schools at Kalaeloa is something only politicians could waste money on.

Stevie Wonder, step aside.

Robert L. Dixon
Makiki

B line needed badly for Waikiki riders

Mayor Kirk Caldwell should be thanked for returning so much bus service. But it still takes 20 minutes to crawl through Waikiki, so we need the B line very badly.

It is just such a shame to see every bus, even brand new ones, already covered inside with gang graffiti. It’s bad enough that vagrants from Los Angeles have taken over the streets, but to see them sleeping across three seats on buses and camping out at every McDonald’s is sad for locals and terrible for tourists.

Mark Davis
Waikiki

GMO foods get way too much attention

In response to Roy Wyttenbach ("GMO companies shift debate focus," Star-Advertiser, Letters, May 4), I guess there’s nothing to be concerned about in the world besides criticizing the illegitimacy of GMO (genetically modified organism) crops.

First, to even link this issue to autism is naive. There are too many factors that can cause autism. Also, a fraction of crops grown in the United States are non-GMO. If we lived in a non-GMO America, all groceries would skyrocket in price by a factor of thousands.

In Somalia, 133,000 children died from starvation in 2011. Refugees in Libya travel three hours on foot to fetch fresh water. Innocent young women and children are raped in India.

I guess life is peachy enough to gripe about the hidden secrets of GMO crops. So since the Food and Drug Administration approved the GMOs, any conspiracy theories regarding the hidden lies of GMOs lies with them.

Han Song
Kaneohe

Natatorium plan is common sense

Finally! Our top politicians have become possessed by some basic common sense ("State, city want to raze Natatorium," Star-Advertiser, May 1).

It’s high time to eliminate that blight and restore some badly needed Waikiki beach. Even considering spending millions of dollars to restore a pool in the ocean is the dumbest idea around.

We are not an oil-rich Arab kingdom that can build an artificial lake in the desert. We are deeply in the red.

Gerhard C. Hamm
Waialae Iki