Watching the 2018 HHSAA Hawaii State Wrestling Championships last week, I realized that if every adolescent in the U.S. was blessed with the kind of support that these hardworking young athletes received from their coaches, families and fellow teammates, there might be fewer tragedies like the recent Florida school shooting.

Every teenage wrestler has many adults watching over them through the season. My child learned to channel her anger and frustration in a healthy way on the mat. She learned to abhor violence and respect hard work, physical and mental fitness, and teamwork.

As a parent, I am grateful for the support I got from this wonderful community more than 10 years ago. Congratulations to all the wrestlers.

Helen Takeuchi

Kapolei

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It’s time to do more than talk; take action

U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan says that now is not the time to discuss gun control. Every time I hear a politician say that, my mind asks, “So when do we talk about gun control?”

More important, when do we do more than talk and take real action? Semi-automatic weapons should only be in the hands of the military and police. Period. That keeps the sacred Second Amendment protected.

How many more lives need to be lost before it’s the right time to have a discussion? Perhaps Ryan would feel differently if it was his child mowed down by a mentally disturbed person.

Dee Brock

Mililani

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Only hope to survive war is to prevent it

More than a month after our false alarm, the alarm has been turned off, but the danger remains. Much has been said about how to better handle the next alarm.

But surviving the next nuclear war is largely a fiction.

Any country that launches a nuclear attack is not acting sanely. But strategically it has only one chance to launch, and the war will end very soon. Considering missile defense systems and assured retaliation, that country will unleash its full force as its only hope of survival. The response will be determined by the sanity and self-control of the attacked country’s leader. God help us if our current leader is still in office.

A fairly small number of nuclear bombs anywhere on Earth will make our entire planet unliveable. Above ground, the atmosphere will be radioactive for years. No building, law or preparation will provide meaningful shelter.

The only action that will help us survive a nuclear war is preventing it. Our future and the lives of our children depend on preventing a nuclear war, not preparing for one.

Russell Ruderman

Keaau, Hawaii island

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Congress’s tax action put cart before horse

Before passing its tax reform bill, the Republican Congress had plans for a substantial increase in military spending. They also knew that the country would need billions of dollars to cover the costs for the relief of victims of the wildfires in California, the cost of relief for storm-ravaged Houston, Puerto Rico and other flooded areas, and the need to fund our failing infrastructure.

Knowing all this, Congress passed its tax reform bill, which substantially cut tax revenue mostly to benefit the wealthy. Now the national deficit will soar.

Congress has itself to blame. It put the cart before the horse.

Joseph Gedan

Tantalus

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ERS steps too risky in volatile market

The Wall Street Journal reported on Feb. 14 that Hawaii’s Employees’ Retirement System, in reaching for income to make up for chronic underfunding, is engaged in a potentially dangerous strategy of selling put options on underlying securities. As mentioned, such a strategy can work well in rising or steady markets. But when volatility rises and underlying security values fall, as we recently witnessed in world markets, such a strategy can incur large losses.

This leads to three questions:

>> Why are the overseers of the ERS engaged in such a risky strategy?

>> How large a portion of the ERS fund is being put at risk in this way?

>> What is being done to mitigate the risk?

As we enter a period of likely market turbulence, prudent management should do everything to avoid putting the state at risk, not to mention the ERS.

David Ericson

Liliha

Editor’s note: The following letter was cut off in Monday’s paper, so it runs today in its entirety.

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Kingston Trio brings back great memories

In 1958, I was a freshman at Hawaii Preparatory Academy, and I too was a big Kingston Trio fan (“The Kingston Trio left an indelible memory in Waikiki,” Star-Advertiser, Rearview Mirror, Feb. 16).

I was first in line to purchase every new album they released. I don’t know if this is fact, but it was certainly Trio folklore. One day at Punahou School, Bob Shane and Dave Guard were cutting class out behind one of the buildings on campus. They were practicing and playing their music. The story goes that one of the faculty caught them. “Cutting class, eh? You boys will never amount to anything!”

I guess “Scotch and Soda” would be the appropriate drink to help wash down those words the teacher would surely have to eat.

I have great memories of the boys of the HPA class of 1962 harmonizing and singing Trio songs in the back of the bus on our way to play Honokaa or Kohala. Thanks for the article.

Sam Wallis

Hilo