I agree with Bob Kern that Hanauma Bay visitors are not well served by the city refusing to allow snorkeling instruction except for visitors renting equipment at the bay (“City must make safety a priority at Hanauma Bay,” Star-Advertiser, Aug. 7).

Certainly the city’s risk managers should be able to agree with a standardized format of instruction on how to wear a mask and use a snorkel, and encourage first-timers to practice in front of a lifeguard stand.

Recently, I watched a visitor ask how to attach his snorkel to his mask. Are all these requests for assistance to be rejected in the name of liability?

I recommend the city develop volunteers to give “Snorkeling 101” overviews every 30 minutes at Hanauma Bay. Snorkeling isn’t rocket science, but it is different from swimming. Instruction would go far in promoting safe snorkeling at the bay.

Robert Schmidt
Manoa

Let’s hear more about Fiorina

I’m not sure which debate you watched, but your headline certainly didn’t give a clue (“Republicans step all over each other trying to outdo Trump,” Star-Advertiser, Aug. 8).

A better line would have been, “Republicans walk over Trump.”

Trump looked and acted like a silly fool. It wouldn’t surprise me if he faded into oblivion.

The confrontations between the other candidates made the debate lively and did not detract from the debate itself.

And of course you couldn’t find a single inch in your paper to comment on the first debate, or give Carly Fiorina a mention.

You have something against women in Republican politics? Or Republicans in general?

Try better next time.

Betty “B.J.” Dyhr
Waikiki

Green sea turtle is part of Hawaii

Inspiration to write this letter comes from reading Kenneth W. Ordenstein’s timely and thoughtful message recounting the survival of the Hawaiian people and their cultural rebirth (“Hawaiian have more to offer world than TMT,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, Aug. 8).

Caring for the land and sea, speaking Hawaiian, ocean voyaging and the quest for justice all easily come to mind.

The Hawaiian green sea turtle, or honu, is embedded in the Hawaiian culture. It is genetically, geographically and ecologically bonded to Hawaii.

In the early 1970s, the honu’s survival was in serious jeopardy, until the state restored sensible management by banning all commercial harvest.

Since then the turtle, like the Hawaiian culture itself, has flourished and expanded beyond all expectation.

The time has now come to return stewardship of the honu home to Hawaii, where it rightfully belongs.

George H. Balazs
Hawaii Kai

Kakaako needs a preschool

I am mystified by the decision by the Hawaii Community Development Authority to disapprove the preschool it encouraged Seagull Schools to plan (“Board vote halts Kakaako school,” Star-Advertiser, Aug. 6).

Kakaako is advertised as a walkable, full-service community. Families are going to need a preschool in the neighborhood — or they will be driving their children to one outside the community, adding to traffic and family stress.

The lack of a preschool will be a disincentive for local families to settle in Kakaako because a preschool is a needed amenity in any thriving community.

I certainly hope that HCDA will reconsider this short-sighted decision.

Caroline Ward Oda
Retired head of school, St. Andrew’s Priory
Aina Haina

Host cultures define ‘sacred’

To answer Peter Junker’s question: The host culture determines sacredness (“Actually, probably all ground is sacred,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, Aug. 6).

For example, the American flag is traditionally considered sacred by most Americans.

It is important to understand that the American flag isn’t sacred to non-Americans, in the same way that Mauna Kea isn’t sacred to non-Hawaiians, which is the crux of the current dispute.

But this doesn’t negate the sanctity of either the flag or Mauna Kea: Beauty is in the beholder’s eye.

Junker states that everything God created is sacred; however, most people also would acknowledge the presence of unsacred creation, or evil.

Thus, in a religious code of morality there exists immorality.

In Asian thought, this is represented by the yin-yang principle, where positive and negative energy flow in a continuum of equilibrium.

Raplee Nobori
Waikiki