Letters to the Editor

Win or lose, fans stick by their teams

Mahalo to all involved in University of Hawaii athletics for dedicating themselves to being the best they can be.

In comparison to their elite competition, they must overcome disadvantages in areas of geographic isolation, budget and facilities, to name a few.

The coaches and student athletes are great examples of passion, hard work, sacrifice and commitment.

They give us fans something to cheer for and believe in.

Sure, everyone loves a winner.But we all know that losing is part of the game of life, and the lessons along the way are what help us become better people.

I hope we fans can learn from our teams’ examples and be there to support our coaches, players and staff through the good times and the bad.

Ohana means family, no matter the score.Best wishes to the football and Wahine volleyball teams for a great season ahead!We are proud of you.

Garner Shimizu
Moanalua Valley

Officer’s penalty didn’t fit the crime

We as a community hold police officers to a higher standard than ordinary citizens ("Maui County pays $200,000 to settle sex assault lawsuit," Star-Advertiser, Sept. 23).

We give them the right to carry a weapon in public and use deadly force if necessary. We trust them to maintain order in our society. We trust that they will behave rationally. To kill a police officer is one of the few crimes in our state that mandates a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

How then is it that a Maui police officer rapes a woman while on duty and then tries to extort her and gets a mere 18 months in jail? Another officer steals from the same woman and gets probation. This may have been a convenient plea bargain for the prosecution, but it appears to be an ongoing injustice for the victim, and, at the very least, should trigger a thorough review of the Maui police department.

Charles Ciszek
Kailua

Article promoted racial stereotypes

I found it extremely disheartening to see the not-so-subtle racism espoused in the article about the sex assault on Maui ("Maui County pays $200,000 to settle sex assault lawsuit," Star-Advertiser, Sept. 23).

The picture under the headline depicted an African-American suspect in another case, although the photo caption indicated he was involved in a "separate Maui case."

Most of the article was about two other Maui police officers who were convicted of the crimes that resulted in the $200,000 payment, but there were no pictures of these men. The African-American suspect has been charged but not yet been convicted. The obvious implication at first glance is that somehow the African-American suspect is associated with the payment.

The obvious unbiased approach would have been to show all three men or, better yet, the two convicted ones.

Carver Wilcox
Aiea

Why do we still trust government?

So we invaded Iraq because it supposedly had chemical weapons, had trained the 9/11 terrorists and were developing nuclear weapons.

All lies, it turned out.

President Barack Obama promised to withdraw from war within six months of his election and won the Nobel Peace Prize, but proceeded to support coups and military invasions using drones that kill innocent civilians.Then, we have a 9/11 Commission refusing to address any meaningful inquiries, like how World Trade Center Building 7 came down.

Now, whistleblowers reveal decades of illegal spying and unlawful activities at the highest levels of government, while Washingtonpushes to attack Syria without solid proof it was the Syrian government that used chemical weapons on its own people. Meanwhile, the U.S. is sending money and arms to support known al-Qaida terrorists to overthrow Syria’s president, the same terrorists who are killing Christians and beheading people on the streets.

With all this lying and spying, who can trust our government?

R. Mark Ing
Salt Lake

Carter was right about gay marriage

In his book "Our Endangered Values," former President Jimmy Carter presents his perspective as a devout, yet open-minded Christian. I share his view regarding same-sex marriage:

"Rather than letting the controversial issue remain so divisive among our citizens, perhaps we should separate the two basic approaches, by letting governments define and protect equal rights for citizens, including those of ‘civil unions,’ and letting church congregations define holy matrimony."

I appreciate the separation of church and state that Carter advocates.

Stuart N. Taba
Manoa

Novel would help journey to peace

Sadako Sasaki’s crane was a piece of folded paper and a symbol ("Symbol of peace," Star-Advertiser, Sept. 18).

She made a thousand of them in an appeal to the gods to make her well again.But the gods were powerless against the leukemia brought on by the atomic radiation that suffused her hometown when we bombed it 68 years ago.

There are many ironies in the story of Sasaki’s crane. One is that a small, delicate piece of paper is used to represent what happened todefeated Japan.

In its Sept. 21 editorial, the Star-Advertisersaid, "True reconciliation comes onlyfrom seeking to understand one another’s point of view" ("Key to peace is walking in others’ shoes," Our View).

Understanding requires more than a paper-crane exhibit. The Pearl Harbor Visitor Center should also sell copies of Masuji Ibuse’s"Black Rain." Ibuse’s novel provides sturdy imaginative footwear for the long journey to peace.

Warren Iwasa
Makiki