Words take on many meanings

Regarding "Chinese help plan for huge war game near isles," (Star-Advertiser, July 25): In the process of change from our culture of violence, will we find alternatives to calling maneuvers by lethal militaries "games" and plays by Wahine volleyball players "kills"?

Glenn D. Paige
Makiki

Drivers should know English

Citing the title "melting pot" as a reason to mandate multilingual driving tests is misguided ("Make driver’s test understandable to more people," Star-Advertiser, Our View, July 23).

English is the primary language for commerce and communication that fuels the American dream.

Speaking English does not place people at an economic disadvantage. The ability to speak, read and write English enables recent arrivals to get a job and climb the economic ladder. My grandfather demanded we use English. It was harsh, but we are better for it.

Accommodations for the non-English speaking "population that actually lives and works here" will not make the roads safer. If you don’t understand English expressions and idioms, directions given in English or rules of the road, you shouldn’t be driving a car, period.

There are many forms of identification available that work for seeking employment and paying rent. A driver’s license is not a requirement.

Rob Pry
Mililani

Some localisms are pernicious

Liz Rees of "World Can’t Wait" says "It’s really important to make the connection" between the Trayvon Martin and the Kollin Elderts cases, because "they are both victims of a racist system" ("Lawyers give conflicting accounts of fatal Waikiki shooting," Star-Advertiser, July 8).

If Kollin Elderts is a victim of racism, it may be as much his own attitude contributing to this unhappy result. The pernicious and retrograde localism (racist) mentality that is nurtured here, whether by family or friends, or "Defend Hawaii" logos with assault weapons, or threateningly ominous passive-aggressive paranoid messages like "Don’t mistake Aloha for weakness," rather than being empowering in a real sense, more likely only underscore feelings of helplessness, to encourage destructive and divisive behavior without regard to consequences.

Justice for Kollin Elderts? Let the haters of all races acknowledge culpability, and spare us more victims.

Jared Wickware
Kalihi Valley

Enforce laws or get rid of them

The law banning smoking cigarettes in public parks is an exercise in futility.

I anticipate there will be an inability or an unwillingness to enforce this new law. We currently have laws on the books that ban large red shopping carts from public parks that go unenforced. I cannot expect that the enforcement of a ban on a smaller Marlboro Red cigarette will be successful either.

We must enforce laws we already have — or get rid of them if we will not.

I would invite any and all to visit with me at the public park next to the Kaneohe police station and library any Friday or Saturday night. You will find many disregarding that law, even some who are charged with enforcing the alcoholic beverage use law.But don’t take my word for it. Come on down. Bring a red shopping cart and a Marlboro Red.

If you would rather not steal a cart from the store, there are plenty already on site that you can borrow.

Michael Danner
Kaneohe