My heart goes out to those who have lost their home due to illness, abuse and loss of a job. The number is growing to a point of lawlessness that cannot be sustained by a law-abiding population.

One thing that may work are mobile parks — not the blight of dilapidated trailers but ones neatly arranged with fruit trees and vegetable gardens.

The parks would have to be sustained by the people living there who take out the refuse to a central point, clean common areas, keep up their living quarters and work in the gardens and police the area.

Everyone needs a chance to live here but they need to respect the laws and land and do a fair share of work.

Cynthia Lebowitz
Waikiki

We shouldn’t harass homeless

Did Honolulu have shantytowns, "Hoovervilles," during the Great Depression?

If so, were Honolulu’s homeless hounded and harassed like they are now?

Auwe!

Laura M. Fink
Makiki

Tour helicopters shatter peace

We used to enjoy our quiet times sitting on our lanai enjoying the gentle tradewinds and views of the marina.

That has all changed. Now we sit on our lanai and agonize over the constant noise of the tour helicopters flying at low altitude overhead as they conduct their tours, flying from Diamond Head to Koko Head and beyond. Instead of flying along the coastline, they have now decided to save fuel by flying directly over the neighborhoods of Hawaii Kai.

If it occurred occasionally, it probably would not be a problem, but it occurs every 20 to 30 minutes every day.

Someone needs to help us get our quiet neighborhoods back. Make these tour helicopters use the coastline for their flight patterns while making it safer for everyone should there be an unforeseen accident.

Kenneth Watson
Hawaii Kai

Utilities profit from PV systems

According to a new report released by Environment America, rooftop photovoltaic systems provide more value to the electric grid than their owners are paid for under current net metering policies.

The report documents "value of solar" studies in 11 states, and in all nine states where the studies were performed by independent entities, the calculated value was greater than the utilities paid their customers for the solar energy they produced.

It also shows how utilities have — falsely — asserted that customers with rooftop solar systems are not paying their fair share for electric grid operations, and that instead, those customers have been providing benefits to the utilities far beyond their net metering compensation.

These "value of solar" studies provide solid evidence that utility efforts to curtail net metering have nothing to do with fairness to ratepayers and everything to do with protecting their monopoly over power generation.

Alan Ewell
Tantalus

Confederate flag meant treason

I am amazed at the insensitivity of those who find the Confederate battle flag as an appropriate symbol of southern U.S. heritage.

Lynching is part of that heritage, but that is not celebrated like the flag, except by bigots. Obviously, symbols such as flags have a large subjective and selective element in their popularity with people.

Perhaps proponents of that flag need to be reminded from time to time of the original intent behind that flag: the establishment of a slave republic on the North America continent by elite white men by means of treason against the United States of America.

Earle A. Partington
Makakilo

U.S. terror study misleading

The Star-Advertiser recently reported a study claiming fewer murders were committed in the name of Islam than were committed in the name of all other fanatic groups combined ("Non-Muslim zealots out-kill jihadis," Star-Advertiser, June 25).

Of course they were. Just like fewer murders are committed by any one of America’s many ancestries — German, Chinese, Irish, Japanese, African, Spanish, Mongolian, etc. — than by all the rest combined.

Plus, 3,000 terroristic murders in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001, were excluded. And 13 murders of innocent civilians at Fort Hood were reclassified as not terroristic. (Yes, unarmed American soldiers are innocent civilians.)

And in more than a dozen places worldwide, thousands to hundreds of thousands recently have been murdered, and continue to be. None in the name of Christianity, Hindi, Judaism, Buddhism, or white supremacy. All in the name of Islam.

When any belief includes approval of murdering non-believers, the fact that most of those believers are non-violent matters not.

George L. Berish
Kakaako

Dems’ legacy not a good one

Columnist Richard Borreca said, "This year marks 61 years that Democrats have been running government operations in Hawaii" ("Young Democrats show why party remains in power," Star-Advertiser, On Politics, June 16).

Could this be the reason why Hawaii has such a high cost of living? High taxes? High real estate? Very low scores for our educational system? Union domination rife for political corruption? Few good jobs, forcing our young to leave the state?

If it were not for our lovely islands and climate that bring tourists here, Hawaii would be in a much deeper negative situation.

With this 61 years of Democratic domination, a one-party system will ruin a society.

If I was a Democrat, I wouldn’t be too proud of this "achievement."

Norman Fung
Kaneohe

TMT sides need mutual respect

Following the ongoing extensive trouble related to the telescopes on Mauna a Wakea has given me deep feelings of sadness and conflicting responses to those participating in the discussions.

I grew up in Waipahu, and still consider Hawaii home.

I know which side I support intellectually, but I feel that both sides have behaved very, very badly.

It is completely unacceptable to cast the views of those with whom you disagree as evil, or culturally ignorant, when you know that sincere attempts have been made to be culturally sensitive.

It is also completely unacceptable to use racist language or to cast the views on the other side as scientifically backwards, when the issues at hand are protection of a mountain and not just scientific pursuits.

I love Hawaii and would like to see the intransigence stop and this conflict resolved through discussions that have on both sides genuine and mutual respect.

Declaring that the other parties must lose in order for you to win is not the path of aloha; it is genuinely the path of folly.

Alan Sill
Lubbock, Texas