Too late to Google Greenwood

While I found Tuesday’s article about Evan Dobelle’s latest problems unsurprising, I found Donna Mercado Kim’s remark rather interesting, when she scolded the administrators at the school who failed to Google him prior to hiring him in the first place: “You really have to do your homework. With the Internet and computers, there’s no excuse.” (“Ex-UH president under scrutiny again,” Star-Advertiser, Aug. 20).

It is unfortunate that the University of Hawaii Board of Regents didn’t do the same when investigating the previous record of outgoing UH president M.R.C. Greenwood during the hiring process. UH employees and students, and Hawaii residents, could have been spared the waste that Greenwood has caused due to her poor decision-making and planning.

Kevin Roddy
St. Louis Heights

Don’t contribute to killing sharks

Thursday’s “Big Q” asked whether shark culling should be considered in light of the recent “attacks.”

There is only one answer to this: “No.”

Well-informed ocean people understand that, first, the ocean is the shark’s habitat, not ours, and that oceangoers need to take reasonable precautions to avoid being bitten.

It is generally agreed that sharks are not “man-eaters,” and that a shark bite is usually a mistake.

More important, a healthy shark population is critical to the health of the ecosystem. With humans killing an estimated 100 million sharks annually, the global shark population is already being decimated. It needs no help from us.  

Gerrit Osborne
Waialae-Iki

Tolerance serves everyone best

I’m baffled by people like Margaret Peary who think the government should have the right to determine whose marriages are valid and whose are not (“Same-sex marriage is a state concern,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, Aug. 20).

The government should stay out of our bedrooms, and I’m thankful many of our leaders are standing up for this fact. We do not need theocracy.

I personally lean conservative on social issues and I support traditional marriage. But I don’t want the government to tell me what is or is not moral in regard to people’s personal relationships.

The government is constantly changing according to who is in power at a particular time.

For those who want the government to make these decisions rather than the individual churches and institutions, then what are they going to do when the government takes the other side?

Rachel Lewis
Waianae

UV index more useful to readers

Thank you, Star-Advertiser, for listening to readers’ suggestions for improvements to the paper.

I called three times and suggested that the UV index information on the weather page be displayed as a graph rather than a single number.

I was very pleased to see a graph of the UV index this week. It is so much more useful to have a graph than a single high number like 11 or 12 for the whole summer.

I think residents and visitors will all benefit from seeing how to avoid the most intense sun of the day. Thanks again.

Rich McCreedy
Kaneohe

Litterers have no love for the land

Is it just me who thinks we are slowly but surely losing the aloha spirit?

Which one of us hasn’t seen someone casually toss his or her trash or cigarette butt on the aina? The other day, I saw a 20-something toss an empty drink can on the median grass area near Keeaumoku Street, puffing on a smoke, dressed in a sports jersey, hat facing sideways, laughing it up, not a care. 

Obviously he had a full belly and wallet, and a smartphone as well. Is he just empty-headed or narcissistic, arrogant, stupid or has no pride but is full of entitlement? Perhaps he was gifting the less fortunate with a HI-5 donation? Sadly this seems to becoming a trend we now see every day.

Greg Schmidt
Hawaii Kai