Basketball coach fired prematurely

It’s hard to understand the premature response of the University of Hawaii-Manoa athletic director to an NCAA investigation of UH’s men’s basketball program. An NCAA inquiry, investigation, hearing and action could take more time than the season itself — and that’s without an appeal.

To sacrifice coaches, players, students and fans to a hurricane that may not develop could be more damaging than the storm itself. The NCAA doesn’t initiate complaints, it responds to them. So who started this tempest in a teapot and why?

Looking back on other successful coaches such as Riley Wallace (whose contract would not be extended or renewed after 20 years) and June Jones (who left UH because of broken promises and lack of support), I sense that we are more at ease with failure than success.

I hope for all of us that our aloha state will learn to recognize and reward excellence rather than demean and destroy it. Otherwise, we all slide back into the bog of mediocrity we seem most comfortable in.

Vicki Owens
Kailua

Once again, UH pays for no work

Regarding the firing of University of Hawaii men’s basketball coach Gib Arnold and assistant coach Brandyn Akana: Once again, UH and the state of Hawaii are paying someone not to work. Where do I sign up?

Charles Blaum
Kapolei

Elect those who will fight defense cuts

This election is about national defense. The Obama administration is drawing down the Navy to fewer ships than before World War I, the Army personnel strength below World War II levels and the Air Force to its lowest quantity of aircraft since its establishment in 1947.

The drawdown has already resulted in the loss of hundreds of jobs at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. The Army faces a loss of thousands of jobs worldwide and on Oahu.

West Coast states are already bidding for the ships, submarines and jobs currently at Pearl Harbor. Hawaii needs its voices in the debates on who gets the jobs. Vote for James "Duke" Aiona for governor, Tulsi Gabbard and Charles Djou for Congress and Cam Cavasso for the U.S. Senate. Hawaii needs all of them fighting for Hawaii rather than agreeing with President Barack Obama.

Russel Noguchi
Pearl City

Ige best option among candidates

In a recent PBS "debate," former lieutenant governor James "Duke" Aiona said it’s all about "relationships" and seems to believe he can seduce all the people all the time and therefore should be governor.

Ex-Mayor Mufi Hannemann cited the weaknesses of his opponents to show that his shortcomings were less than theirs; he was more strategic than insightful, more self-serving than helpful.

The Libertarian candidate, Jeff Davis, wants to "liberate us" from any help and restore our individual freedoms. He dismisses the fact that the very freedoms he seeks are defended by a liberal, not libertarian, constitutional government.

This leaves the only candidate with the experience and knowledge of how the state government works, its limits as well as its potential to do better — state Sen. David Ige.He explained what he had done and why he did it in the context of the legislative process and in cooperation with the chief executive.He should be our next governor, or we’ll have to settle for less.

Robert Tellander
Waikiki

GMO moratorium aimed at polluters

The Citizens Against the Maui Farming Ban urge us to vote "no" on an initiative which doesn’t exist.

The bill on this November’s ballot is called the Maui GMO Moratorium Initiative. It does not ban all farming practices. Neither does it prosecute all parties working with GMOs or pesticides. Only those parties involved in the intensive chemical pollution with Maui genetically engineered operations and practices need be concerned.

Allowing Maui GE operations and practices to continue while the impact studies are conducted is much like allowing a doctor to perform experimental surgery on you while another doctor determines whether it is safe. Voting "yes" may indeed create job loss and economic downturn may occur.

Nevertheless, ask yourself, "Which is worse: hundreds of jobs lost or thousands of people poisoned?" If Monsanto claims Maui GE operations and practices are all safe, then it must prove it. Vote "yes" on the moratorium.

David Jackson
Lanai City

It’s Dems who force health mandates

During the last 10 days I have received three fliers from organizations supporting Democrats declaring, "Republican Duke Aiona: Interfering with our personal decisions," and referring to women’s health issues. There is no proof that Aiona plans to change abortion laws when elected.

The position in these fliers appears to be hypocritical at worst and disingenuous at best, considering the mandates that Obamacare, supported by the same people who have financed these fliers, is forcing on the general public.

I am a single male, over 60 years old, a non-smoker with no drug problems. I am forced to include coverage for pediatric dental care and access to substance abuse in my health care plan, with no opportunity for recourse.

It’s about time that our elected representatives stop overstepping their mandates by forcing their personal views on their constituents. The Democrats are much more guilty of this behavior than the Republicans, no matter how much money they spend to tell us the contrary.

Robert Wall
Kaneohe