Stairway to Heaven should be dismantled

Dismantle the "Stairway to Heaven" trail. It’s become a burden and inconvenience to the community.

If the trail is opened, it will be come a nightmare to maintain. It’s just a matter of time before information is posted around Waikiki, then there will be mini tour buses hauling inhikers.

There will come problems of liabilityand rescue; look at all therescues on Olomana, Lanikai "pillbox," and Koko Crater.

There is no restroom on the top or bottom of the trail.

Where’s the enforcement? The state Department of Land and Natural Resources should be citing these violators daily, as they can be seen hiking illegally from the H-3 freeway.

Contrary to what’s being said, this hike is for more advanced persons; it’s hazardous coming down.

Lloyd Faulkner
Kailua

Veterans’ medical care should be outsourced

Pouring more money into the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs serves only the intent and purpose of its embedded bureaucracy.

Outsourcing our enrolled veterans health care to the private sector health care industry, immediately, would guarantee enhanced access to the suggested number of qualified health care providers while the VA health care program is being overhauled.

Dennis Egge
Hawaii president, National Association for Uniformed Services, Salt Lake

Local VA doctors doing fantastic job

I am a 62-year-old veteran with more than my share of ailments connected to my deployment to DaNang, Vietnam, as a then-healthy 21-year-old man.

Has the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs made good on its promise to assist me toward a healthy, productive aging lifestyle? Unequivocally, yes.

Eric Shinseki is a great man whose efforts and leadership at the VA were not lost on us: those who served. The quality, variety, frequency and level of care that I receive at the Spark M. Matsunaga Clinic in Honolulu (run by the VA) is second to none.

I would not trade my primary care physician, Dr. Maria Celia Mangrobang, and her remarkably cohesive staff of health care professionals for all of the other doctors on the planet. Her staff and the others at Module Three are friendly, responsive, attentive and effective at administering health care in a competitive, troubled and constantly changing health care environment.

My hat is off to them for what they do for me and for many other honorable veterans.

Kenneth W. Cannon
Chinatown

Don’t let kids ride in backs of pickups

As a retired paramedic and firefighter and as a commuter between Waialua and Honolulu, I see almost daily pickup truck beds loaded with children going 55 mph on H-1 and H-2. This happens even when the cab has just the driver in it. Plenty more interior safe seating available.

Reading the law, I was astonished that it is perfectly legal to carry kids in the back of a pickup as long as they are sitting. Also, the truck bed needs to have a tailgate. Oh, and no one is allowed to be back there holding on to large objects to keep them from falling or blowing out the back.

What are our lawmakers thinking? Even a low-speed impact could send these kids hurling to the hospital or the morgue.

Even more ludicrous is the fact that the driver, if unbelted, can be fined $103 — not only for him (or her) but for every unbuckled person in the cab. No problem having the kids rolling around like Easter eggs in the truck bed, though.

Jack Niendorf
Waialua

As corporations get rights, liberty fades

How many American people believe corporations have the same rights as people? Not many: 9 of 10 believe otherwise.

However, it looks like the Supreme Court did not get the memo.

In a series of disastrous rulings, it has asserted that money is speech and that corporations are people.

Now corporations even have religious rights. We are paying the price, our rights eroded in favor of huge corporations.

It’s time to fight back and to amend the Constitution to bring it in line with the values of individual liberty and representative democracy shared by so many Americans.

When the Supreme Court calls a corporation a "person," it takes away rights from real, breathing people who fought and sacrificed for those critical rights.

People should call their congressional representatives and demand reversals of these rulings. It is time Congress does what we the people want, not the corporations.

The Supreme Court needs reforming, too, but that’s a battle for another time.

Carolyn Knoll
Kailua

Push for more jobs is reason for decline

The recent David Ige/Neil Abercrombie gubernatorial debate was puzzling. Will Kakaako be transformed into housing for the mega-rich who can pay a base rate of $910,000 for a small unit?

"More jobs" seemed to be the rationale for adding thousands more cars onto Ala Moana and Kapiolani boulevards. And the additional heat generated by the concrete towers — without roof gardens — will add to global climate change; certainly, Hawaii climate change.

"Construction workers need jobs" has been our refrain for decades. We’re like the blimp-like baby that’s attached to a swelling umbilical cord to keep us all alive.

Rosemarie Tucker
Aala

Homeowners groups have too much power

The purpose of a homeowners association (HOA) is to elect a group of homeowners to represent the interest of all homeowners in managing the business of maintaining of the condominium community.

Somewhere along the line, too many of these HOA board of directors are abusing their authority with no accountability. It’s common knowledge that once they are elected, they control the votes.

The state needs to overhaul the statutes and have more oversight on these organizations. Homeowners in condominium communities pay little attention to what they do until these boards do until their maintenance fees have been raised or they have been singled out.

Kathleen Kaiser
Waipahu

UH basketball coach not earning his keep

It’s ridiculous that the University of Hawaii would give men’s basketball coach Gib Arnold a three-year extension.

He schedules the weakest teams so he can have a winning record and get the automatic rollover. Even the National Invitation Tournament knew that last year’s 20-win season didn’t mean much, since it did not invite UH to participate.

Arnold cannot win the first night of the Diamond Head Classic when UH finally plays decent teams. When has he ever won the opening round of a post-season conference tournament? I went to California both years UH played in the Big West Conference tournament, only to have nothing to do after the first night. And let’s not forget how many players leave UH after every season. And now two assistant coaches left after last season.

Ben Jay needs to wake up and bring in someone who schedules tough, wins and keeps his players and coaches.

Randy Hiraki
McCully

FROM THE FORUM

"Gay marriage remains a battle for foes in Kapolei," Star-Advertiser, July 14:

» Gay marriage isn’t the problem currently on everyone’s list. While it’s a hot topic and important, it doesn’t help anyone pay their electric bill or ease their commute to work. Frankly, I think the media (and the politicians) pander to special issues rather than the real needs of the people they’re supposed to be representing.

» It’s also about distraction.

» The issues in the district are many. The one identified in the headline is not one of them.

———

"Outreach efforts help fill neighborhood boards," Star-Advertiser, July 14:

» Instead of beating the bushes trying to fill vacant positions, we should insist that the neighborhood boards be dissolved. Let’s put the City Council members and their staffs back to work representing their constituents. The current board system is simply a convenient venue for political wannabes to attain their 15 minutes of fame and to fill Olelo’s air time.

» It seems that the neighborhood boards only get to listen to reports from the various agencies and elected officials. Very few problems are solved.

» The problem is that the neighborhood boards have no authority or power. They can advise but that advice can be easily ignored. Still, lots of people want this venue as a grassroots opportunity to express their opinions to city and state officials.

———

"Air Force targets 238 jobs to slash in islands," Star-Advertiser, July 15:

» Let’s be reasonable about losing 238 jobs out of all the tens of thousands of federal civilian jobs and military personnel on the island. This is not a big deal; it won’t even be felt.

» It would be tough if you were one of those caught in the RIF, especially if you still have school-age kids. It’s tough to be looking for a job if you are middle-aged (50s-60s). I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy.

———

"Permits available for Kauai plum picking, hunting," Star-Advertiser, July 15:

» I remember plums for the picking as far back in the late ’20s. Goats came later, but feral cows must have been recent. Of course, I have been absent from Kauai since 1951.

» I wonder why they have both plum picking and hunting season happen at the same time. Sounds like a recipe for disaster. Also, I don’t think many people realize how dangerous feral cattle can be. Beside being very large they are extremely aggressive.

———

"Abercrombie the cabbie returns in new TV spot," Star-Advertiser, July 16:

» Gov. Neil Abercrombie will go out in the way of the Checkers cab.

» Checker cabs are history. Abercrombie should take the hint.

» What happened to the canoe?

» It sank.

» I can hardly believe that Neil is in a difficult primary race. Come election day Neil will annihilate David Ige and win comfortably — by double digits. He then will be re-elected governor. For those who appear to believe that a sitting Democratic governor in Hawaii will lose is either naīve, delusional or unfamiliar with local politics.

———

"Airport rail station will be boon for fliers, officials say," Star-Advertiser, July 17:

» If you can’t take baggage on the bus now, what makes them think that baggage will be allowed when the train becomes operational?

» There’s no luggage racks on these trains. There’s barely even seats. And if you live in Ewa, Kapolei or Waianae, you’ll need to drag your luggage on a bus first. Just imagine what a mess that will be.

» Sorry, naysayers, but you are incorrect in most of your assumptions. 1) There is decent seating and usually an open space in most train cars designated for stacking luggage. 2) Visitors will be delighted to use this option; they do it all the time in other cities, thereby avoiding time wasted waiting for taxis and shuttles as well as extra expense of rental cars.

———

"Election watchdog audits isle Democrats," Star-Advertiser, July 17:

» Better be careful if you are auditing Democrats. The IRS is going to come after you.

» I fully support the Democratic Party of Hawaii and our elected officials. This was clearly an aberration. It probably was an accounting error or something small to that effect. The FEC needs to butt out of local affairs.

» I’m sure if this was the Republican Party you wouldn’t be so understanding.