JPAC lab can’t ID what it doesn’t have

Regarding your editorial concerning the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command ("Plans to overhaul POW/MIA command necessary, overdue," Star-Advertiser, Our View, April 3), the JPAC Central ID Lab (CIL) pioneered the use of DNA in the identification of human remains.

Ever since it became available in the late 1990’s, DNA analysis has been an integral part of the CIL’s identification process.

The problem isn’t the CIL management or the use of DNA analysis. The problem is that those responsible for locating remains of the missing have failed. The CIL has nothing to do with locating remains.

Of the 25,000-35,000 potentially recoverable remains, in the current fiscal year only a handful of accessions containing even a fragment of human remains has come into the CIL. All of these accessions — 100 percent — were located by third parties who have nothing to do with JPAC’s operations.

Making an ID, with or without DNA, can take as little as a month. But the CIL can’t ID what it doesn’t have.

The CIL scientific staff’s innovations and use of DNA have set standards that are studied and adapted by labs around the world.

Frank Metersky
Boynton Beach, Fla.

Sex education must be age-appropriate

Now that the Hawaii Democratic machine and the gay community have forced their agenda of legalized gay marriage upon the state of Hawaii, ignoring what the majority of the state voted on (marriage between one man and one woman), they are now focusing their attention on our children.

The gay community wanted and was granted its "civil rights," but that does not seem to be enough. Now they want to educate our children.

I stand with state Rep. Bob McDermott when he says enough is enough. Leave the children alone. There is a thing called age-appropriate education.

Sex education of any type should start at home, then be reinforced in the higher grades when it can be better understood.

To the teachers who took the training to present this lifestyle, I say, "Shame on you."

Parents, you should speak out against this.

Quintin Bibbs
Aiea

Prisons and jails do not rehabilitate

Our society’s criminal justice system is a failure.

Recidivism is sky high. There is no rehabilitation. There are only overcrowded institutes of higher criminal education. We call them prisons.

As tough-on-crime advocates push for longer and harsher criminal sentences, society has learned to feed upon itself. With the birth of private prisons and the expansion of state and federal institutions, prisons and the criminal justice system have become big business.

The truth is, prisons and jails are dungeons, and rehabilitation in such an atmosphere is an exercise in futility. In many cases, released inmates head straight to the bottle, the pipe, the syringe and eventually a gun. Inmates learn quickly to survive in hell, and upon release, raise hell in society.

Michael Spiker
Inmate, Oahu Community Correctional Center

Fair Tax better than current income tax

I agree totally with Mark Terry’s letter stating the positive elements of a national sales tax over a simple flat tax ("National sales tax better than flat tax," Star-Advertiser, March 23).

A flat tax is a step in the right direction, but would not eliminate the negative factors we face under the current income tax code.

As taxpayers, we must plead our case with our senators and representatives in Congress. The shenanigans going on at the IRS only prove that absolute power corrupts absolutely.

The Fair Tax, if enacted, would eliminate the IRS and repeal the 16th amendment that enables Congress to levy taxes on our income. It would collect revenue from all sales at the retail level from entities that escape paying taxes under the income tax code.

Finally, it would be a tax code that is "fair" to everyone.

Bill Kaleiwahea
Dillingham

Child killers should be caned, hanged

The parents who beat to death their 5-year-old daughter, Talia Williams, should be penalized in accordance with the Singapore justice system — that is, caning for both parents. If still alive after 100 lashes, they will be hanged.

Roy Okuda
Moanalua

Vacant parcels will stay if OHA blocked

By opposing the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs’ plans at Kaka-ako Makai, the Star-Advertiser is choosing "rubbish" over "residential" ("Don’t let OHA build condos on Kakaako land," Star-Advertiser, Our View, April 5).

No one doubts OHA’s very thorough study that found that unless it is allowed to construct high rises, it cannot derive any significant income.

Like the Star-Advertiser and the protesters, I would like to see the area turned into a park or low-rise commercial development, but that’s just not going to happen. What will happen is — nothing.

The toxic vacant parcels will remain an eyesore — a refuge for the homeless and stray cats for decades to come. This will make the surfers and fishermen happy, because their goal is to keep folks away from their territory.

But what about the rest of us? Is "nothing" what the people of Hawaii really want?

Hooray for our legislators! They opposed Alexander & Baldwin’s amazing project in 2006, and they’re finally making up for that horrible mistake.

C. Richard Fassler
Manoa