Chow not treated with proper respect

After decades of coaching premier college athletes and a stint or two with the NFL as a position coach, University of Hawaii head football coach Norm Chow decides to come home to take on UH as head coach in his finale.

Local boy makes good? We all hoped so. It didn’t quite work out that way, but why is he being fired instead of being allowed to resign and retire, which would befit his age, status and position (“Chow is pau,” Star-Advertiser, Nov. 2)?

Michael O’Hara
Kaneohe

Independent team should hire coach

Chow is pau! Thank goodness. It was long overdue.

Now that it’s time to hire again, can we get an independent team to do the hiring, one that pays attention to the required qualities of fighting spirit and ability to motivate the players? University of Hawaii officials clearly cannot be allowed to do the hiring. They have demonstrated over and over that they cannot hire an excellent coach or, for that matter, a good chancellor.

This repetitive cycle is costing us too much. Who should we ask to do this? What about an independent team of senior officers from the military services stationed in Hawaii?

Paul Tyksinski
Kailua

Football doesn’t fit university’s mission

The headline “Chow is pau” may need to be revisited. Maybe it should read “UH football is pau.”

The cost and effort of maintaining a competitive college football program at a moderately sized university located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean is an idea whose time seems to have passed.

Giving such huge priority to a football program may be cheating students, faculty and taxpayers of a viable educational institution.

Look at the actual total cost of this program, including salaries, scholarships and facilities, and then test its benefits. Smaller sports like volleyball, baseball, basketball and tennis, along with track and field programs, do not require the massive infrastructure, giant salaries and large stadiums that football does.

Our leaders may need to “go where no man has gone before” and be true warriors for our wonderful university.

James Poorbaugh
Waikiki

Alm offers valuable views on energy

Those who read the newspaper have inevitably followed the career of Robbie Alm (“Political insider’s role in state energy policy is called into question,” Star-Advertiser, Nov. 1).

I do not know him well. Those who do, however, will surely agree that if there is anyone in Hawaii likely to remain above partisanship and to voice an opinion that addresses the concerns of Hawaii’s ratepaying population, he is the one who would do so.

His point of view as a former Hawaiian Electric executive affords him, and us, an invaluable perspective. Few people I have met appear to be of such high intelligence and integrity.

Gerrit Osborne
Waialae Iki

Bush wasn’t warned about 9/11 attack

In the letter, “Bush was warned prior to 9/11 attack” (Star-Advertiser, Oct. 29), the author implies that President George W. Bush was warned of the impending attack by CIA Director George Tenet and did nothing.

In reality, all the director knew was that there was ambiguous “noise” on suspect communication channels indicating something may have been brewing, but not that terrorists would be commandeering airplanes to fly into buildings. The “noise” was described by the CIA at the time as providing no conclusive evidence that an attack would occur and certainly not when or where.

What was known at the time was that four of the future hijackers were being surveilled by the FBI because of al Qaeda connections, but Clinton-era restrictions to delineate law enforce- ment and intelligence responsibilities (described after 9/11 as a “wall” between the FBI and the CIA) prevented sharing the information. If the information had been shared, it is possible that the questioning and detaining of the suspects would have prevented the attacks.

The sharing-information problem was fixed during the Bush administration with the passage of the USA Patriot Act.

Tom Freitas
Hawaii Kai

Kewalos isn’t just for commercial use

It is encouraging to know that the Hawaii Community Development Authority recognizes that Kewalo Basin is a harbor and public park first and commercial venue second (“Kewalo Basin proposals resubmitted to the state,” Star-Advertiser, Oct. 30).

Overdevelopment of Kewalos would be disastrous. Hopefully HCDA makes the right choice by choosing “the lesser of the two evils” to minimize the commercial impact in the area.

With the development of multiple high-rises and a projected 30,000 to 40,000 additional people living and working in the area, more recreation space and less commercial development is what is needed.

Kewalo Waterfront Partners’ proposal sounds much like the rest of the development in the area — not for locals. I am glad that Steve Scott pushed back by letting KWP know no matter the zoning, the people feel that it’s a park first and dollar generator second.

We live on an island where space and resources are limited. Both should be valued more than money. We need to preserve what is left.

Darren Tanaka
Punchbowl