Lassner already the chosen one?

The University of Hawaii Board of Regents must state publicly whether former UH system provost Linda Johnsrud is lying when she says that she was told that the person selected to be the interim president could not be a candidate to be the president.

If she is lying, the regents must so state it. If she is not lying, the choice of next president is clear.

How can a person who stated he would not be a candidate for the permanent position, and now actively campaigns for the job, be trusted?He is clearly just another politician.How can a person who cannot run his department run the entire university? Have we already forgotten the computer problems experienced at the university?

Ian Komenaka
Hawaii Kai

Hire both guys to lead the UH

Why can’t we have both University of Hawaii presidential candidates? One for president and another executive vice president in charge of all the things that seem to go wrong.

UH is gigantic in terms of its importance to Hawaii’s economy, culture and future. It’s also a massive organization that has proved almost impossible to manage.

I suggest that the Board of Regents offer both finalists the opportunity to work together to raise our flagship university to a higher level.

Both candidates have great qualities. If the regents can work it out, an arrangement whereby both of them could serve would be best for Hawaii.

Robert J. Conlan
Wahiawa

Critics unfair to Wiercinski

I have no idea who would best serve as president of the University of Hawaii, but I do know that the student protests at retired Lt General Frank Wiercinski’s recent presentation were not only rude but senseless ("UH candidate’s military past prompts protests by students," Star-Advertiser, May 7).

The notion that retired Gen. Frank Wiercinski harbors an agenda to promote an Asia-Pacific military buildup and would advance the military-industrial-complex is ludicrous.

Perhaps the protestors are unaware that it was another army general, Dwight Eisenhower, who coined the expression, "military-industrial complex," first warned us of it and then, with that in mind, undertook probably the world’s most challenging administrative job, the presidency of the United States.

Wiercinski’s military experience does not disqualify him for the presidency of the University of Hawaii and could be a plus.

Joe Gedan
Round Top

Crackdown not a solution

The report on the "crackdown" on Waikiki homeless ("Crackdown sweeps through Waikiki," Star-Advertiser, May 12) was a pinball journey, bouncing from a homeless woman’s story, Police Chief Louis Kealoha, a Waikiki resident, the state homeless coordinator, a tourist, and, finally, the mayor.

The burden of eliminating the "criminal elements" of homelessness — defying park closures, sidewalk obstruction, panhandling, and public drinking — settled on Kealoha this time.

I was expecting the discovery of a Mafia nest or international drug cartel. But the "criminals" I see on the streets in Waikiki don’t look as if they could hold that kind of organized criminal activity together.

Securing legal backup for "crimes" such as public defecation and urination might justify more enforcement, such as arrest and incarceration, but then what?

As members of the community, the police can help. But, homelessness is not caused by these "criminals" and won’t be solved by prosecuting them, any more than breaking up their shopping carts did.

William Conti
Waikiki

Provide 24-hour toilets in Waikiki

Every child learns that all humans have basic life functions. A civilized society provides sanitary toilet facilities for all as a matter of simple humanity and to address a serious public health issue.

Honolulu is failing to provide toilets for its homeless citizens in Waikiki at night and the result is public disgust, tourist indignation and endless discussion. Withholding basic necessities in an effort to discourage homelessness in a neighborhood is cruel, has solved nothing and is negatively affecting all citizens and visitors.

We need 24-hour toilets in Waikiki now.

Possible solutions include leaving the Kuhio Park restroom attached to the police station open all night, durable portable toilets in areas with many homeless, or self-cleaning toilets in parking lots.

Hiring night guards to keep certain restrooms open would be an investment but a good one to consider, given the cost of other solutions or of doing nothing.

Maila Flynn
Maunalani Heights

Rate reduction is laudable goal

The Big Island Community Coalition is very pleased that the state Public Utilities Commission just did exactly what we (and no doubt others) requested of them: Require the public power companies to set cost and rate reduction as a priority and consider all alternatives in their long-run plans, including shuttering costly oil-fired generation plants regardless of their remaining physical and accounting life span.

We both thank and congratulate the PUC for making these priorities a part of HECO/HELCO’s operating and planning requirements.

As a community, we need to work together to create an economic and physical environment that will allow our citizens to be successful. The PUC is clearly in sync with these goals, and we are confident that the utilities will put their minds and resources toward achieving the lower costs that we all need.

Richard Ha
Chairman of the Big Island Community Coalition Hilo

FCC threatening net neutrality

The future of the Internet is threatened by large Internet service providers.

They are pressuring the Federal Communications Commission to change the laws that regulate the Internet.

Currently, the Internet is regarded as open, with network neutrality allowing you to access any website at no additional cost.

These corporations are hiring their former employees as lobbyists to persuade Congress and the Obama administration to turn the Internet into a pay-as-you-go service.

If the Internet becomes closed, everyone in America will have to pay for various Internet website packages, similar to how television packages are sold, which depend upon what you can afford.

Help save the Internet by contacting our members of Congress. The FCC is scheduled to recommend new rules for the future of the Internet on May 15,so every email and phone call will help save the Internet as we know it.

Alex Haller
Haiku, Maui