The sexual health education policy passed by the state Board of Education reflects community needs and values.

Teen childbearing costs Hawaii taxpayers $37 million a year, 71 percent of it in state and local costs.

We can reduce these costs by providing medically accurate, age-appropriate sexual health education.

Hawaii residents support pregnancy prevention education in our public schools. In a 2012 survey conducted by SMS Research, 97 percent of participants stated that it was important for Hawaii public schools to include sexual health education in their curriculum.

Youth who complete sex education programs are more likely to practice abstinence and delay initiation of sex.

Just as we teach our children how to cross the street safely, because we know that one day they will face the risks of traffic, we must also teach our youth how to protect themselves from the sexual risks they will someday face.

Judith F. Clark
Executive director, Hawaii Youth Services Network

Government much too bossy

Banning the use of tobacco products to anyone under 21 is another example of government trying to control every aspect of our lives ("Hawaii raises legal smoking age to 21," Star-Advertiser, June 20).

We can recruit and train young men and women 18 years or older to shoot and kill other human beings, but heaven forbid we can’t let them light up a smoke.

How much longer will it take for these do-gooders to declare it illegal for anyone under 21 to purchase, possess or consume any other product they consider to be harmful?

Where will it end?

We don’t want government sticking its nose into our private lives where it clearly does not belong.

It’s none of its business.

Stop regulating everything we do.

Leave us alone!

Frank A. DeSilva
Haleiwa

OHA could help house homeless

The fastest and least expensive solution for the homeless is to provide some safe and suitable place for them to camp in various places around the island.

The state Office of Hawaiian Affairs could immediately provide space, land, water wagons and portable toilets for the many homeless families that qualify by having 1 percent Native Hawaiian blood.

On the mainland, commercial campgrounds are permitted throughout the entire continental United States and Alaska.

Zoning changes could also provide for commercial campgrounds and trailer parks.

Wouldn’t living in a engineered mobile home be better than a shipping container, and cheaper too?

Myron Berney
Kaimuki

Help protect future of Ka Iwi

Prince Philip of Great Britain, on his stop here in 1987, warned us that continued destruction of Hawaii’s natural environment threatened tourism, and he urged us to balance tourism with nature, lest we kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.

Let’s heed his warning and seize the opportunity to purchase the two parcels across from Queen’s Beach, mauka of the highway, that remain in private ownership (182 acres), thereby ensuring that the entire Ka Iwi coast, from Hanauma Bay to Makapuu, will remain in open space forever.

The purchase of these two parcels will protect this coastline not only as a scenic and cultural resource, but also as a refuge from urban life in which to replenish our spirits and the spirits of generations to come.

This land acquisition will contribute not only to the well-being of our people but also to the continued viability of our tourism industry.

Ursula Retherford
Kailua

Crash on Maui a wake-up call?

Maui’s recent fatal accident should be a wake-up call ("3 men thrown from truck bed killed in crash on Maui," Star-Advertiser, June 22).

With a mandatory seat-belt law in place that carries a lofty fine if violated, I cannot get my head around the double standard that allows unrestrained riders in the back of a truck.

It also implies that a 13-year-old is less valuable than a 12-year-old.

The longstanding argument that it will affect farmworkers’ ability to get to work is weak in that we are actively developing farmland for housing.

What’s next? Truckloads of construction workers?

At least they may be wearing hardhats.

Camille Komine
Kaneohe