Chow takes a risk, gets burned

We’ve all heard the old saying: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

The latest case in point: Our very own University of Hawaii football coach, Norm Chow, invested some years ago in a scheme that apparently was promising a return of 18 percent, according to The Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret News.

Chow has declined to comment on the case, but the two Utah newspapers said Chow put up $500,000, the most of any of the 18 victims of the multi-million-dollar scam. It wasn’t reported if Chow lost any of his money, but at least five of the investors did not receive their promised payments and together lost almost $1 million.

The scammers allegedly were purchasing contracts of furniture store customers who could not qualify for traditional financing. Huh? And a return of 18 percent?

Let’s hope Chow, who is making $550,000 a year at UH, doesn’t take such risks on the football field.

Or maybe he should?

Maybe someday Christie will go to trial

Wednesday was supposed to be the day when U.S. District Judge Leslie Kobayashi was to decide if the jury should hear the religious-freedom defense of Hawaii island resident Roger Christie who is facing a slew of marijuana-related charges. But that didn’t happen.

Kobayashi apparently decided she needed more time to consider whether the jury should be allowed to hear, and then decide on, Christie’s religious-freedom defense, once the trial actually starts in October, or whether she should just rule on the merits of that line of defense herself before the trial starts.

We would prefer letting the jury decide, but either way it would be nice to see this case finally go to trial. Christie already has been in jail without bail for three years, which seems inconsistent with the constitutional right of an accused to a speedy and public trial.