I can sympathize with Christopher Hawkins of Kalihi Valley (“Stop illegal fireworks blasts,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, Dec. 25).

We in Pauoa Valley also have been experiencing fireworks bombs at least once a night for several weeks. On Christmas Eve, there were two after 11 pm.

I am a caregiver of my elderly aunt, who suffers from dementia and who already has difficulty sleeping through the night. Since she is unable to discern what the noise is or where it is coming from, I must spend some time to reassure her that we are safe and that the house is not being broken into.

So if you have any aloha for your neighbors, in the spirit of the season, please save your fireworks until it is legal to set them off, after 9 p.m. on New Year’s Eve.

Janice Yonemoto

Pauoa

An explosive story going unreported

As I listen to dozens of illegal fireworks go off, as they have been in Wahiawa since October, I’m wondering who else really cares.

Where are all of these large firecrackers and aerial rockets coming from? Have there been any arrests? Are all of these illegal fireworks left over from when they were still legal, or is there a burgeoning black market selling them?

If there is a black-market supplier selling these illegal fireworks, where are they being stored? If they are illegal, I bet the storage facility is not safe.

Are the police trying to find the suppliers? Do you remember when five workers were killed in a storage facility that was storing confiscated fireworks to be destroyed?

There is a big story unfolding across Oahu and the Star-Advertiser needs to cover it.

Tracy Dixon

Wahiawa

Let’s scrap state’s recycling program

Now the recyclers are complaining about the low price they get for our stolen aluminum (“If no can, no can,” Star-Advertiser, Dec. 29).

That’s right. We used to get paid for the value of the metal we recycled. Now we get only our deposit back and pay a fee for the privilege. They get the metal.

I think it’s time to dump the whole program. Get rid of the deposit and the fee. We will gladly recycle in the blue bin for free.

Michael G. Palcic

St. Louis Heights

A property’s value is what it sold for

The city’s assessment of real property not only results in a loss of revenue but also amounts to unlawful assessments (“Home price, taxable value can diverge,” Star-Advertiser, Dec. 27).

Property should be assessed at full value, meaning what a willing buyer pays a willing seller.

Arbitrary reductions unfairly transfer the tax burden to others. The Black Point mansion that sold for $16.5 million was assessed at a fraction of its value, cutting taxes by at least $35,000.

There also are questions of impropriety. It is one thing to reduce an assessment because “extras” were included in the sale, but why would the assessor otherwise reduce someone’s taxes by $35,000?

That some buyers might have paid too much may be true, but those who pay $16.5 million for a house usually know what they are doing.

John P. Dellera

Kahala

Name airport after President Obama

I am responding to Lee Cataluna’s column on President Barack Obama’s roots (“State hosted Obama’s roots but isles don’t reap his fruits,” Star-Advertiser, Dec. 23).

There are a number of organizations that give Obama “roots” tours. Many people come here from all over the world just to see where Obama grew up and was raised.

Friends ask me to show them his favorite restaurants, then eat at the same places. No doubt many will begin hiking the same trails he recently hiked, in addition to bodysurfing at Sandy’s.

I suggest as a way to celebrate Hawaii’s first president is to name the airport after him and create a museum to hold and display some of his memorabilia from his hanabata days.

His Hawaii roots are in bloom.

Daphne Barbee-Wooten

Punchbowl

GOP gets smeared without evidence

Generalized comments painting GOP candidates with a broad brush sounds like Democratic rhetoric (“Hate comments lead to violence,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, Dec. 25).

No evidence was provided as to how the “GOP aspirants are exploiting the events of San Bernardino and Paris,” nor examples of “inflammatory rhetoric” against Muslims and refugees.

Terrorists don’t require comments from the GOP for motivation. In the case of San Bernar- dino, the terrorists were motivated by militant groups in Syria and Iraq.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s desire for heightened caution in the wake of terrorist attacks is understandable.

Banning Muslims until it is determined how to deal with any possible dangers that refugees and others may pose sounds extreme to some, but it is naïve to think that this will “breed hatred.”

It’s the ideology itself that breeds hatred, as jihadists lack respect for human life. This country has a right to protect its borders because Islamist extremism is not a fading phenomenon.

Elaine “KC” Sturgeon

Waikiki

It’s easy to urge others to spill blood

To those suggesting that we send ground troops to Iraq and Syria to fight ISIS, they had better be willing to send their own blood.

They should stop expecting our troops to die for them, if they are not willing to send their own precious families.

Maybe it is time to start the draft. Then maybe they wouldn’t be in such a hurry to say, “Send in ground troops.”

Sue Kachiroubas

Moiliili