Letters: Incentives, not threats, best way to fight virus; Good news that Topgolf has been put on hold; Leaders don’t know what most people need

How can we survive this pandemic successfully? We must change our focus from law enforcement to compassionate, effective solutions. We need community-wide buy-in to safety protocols with common-sense leadership through incentive programs that recognize, track and encourage good behavior instead of dividing our community by reporting, punishing and publicly shaming “quarantine violators.”

Individually, we can look to our kupuna for guidance and earnestly follow the tenets of the Aloha Spirit Law, HRS 5-7.5, written by Pilahi Paki in 1986:

“Akahai meaning kindness, to be expressed with tenderness; Lokahi meaning unity, to be expressed with harmony; ‘Olu‘olu meaning agreeable, to be expressed with tenderness; Ha‘aha’‘a meaning humility, to be expressed with modesty; Ahonui meaning patience, to be expressed with perseverance.”

This is how to retain the aloha in our hearts and in our leadership so we can survive this crisis together as a community. Don’t let COVID-19 be the death of the aloha spirit.

Shana W. Logan

Hilo

Oahu should shut down until virus under control

Again another high for new COVID-19 cases and they were all on Oahu. It is time to shut Oahu down. Quarantine the island. The rest of the state suffers because a percentage of Oahu residents refuse to follow the rules and act in a safe manner. Stop nonessential travel from Oahu to any of the neighbor islands, until Oahu enforces the rules and gets its bad behavior under control.

Elizabeth Johnson

Kaunakakai, Molokai

Take stronger action on medical services

Our state officials have had more than enough time to figure out this virus, but have they done so? The answer is a resounding “NO!”

Since this has become a politically charged, fear-driven illness, fraught with concerns over Hawaii being an isolated island state with not enough beds or medical staff to handle rising numbers of COVID-19 patients, what are our state and federal representatives doing to address that?

Are they considering working with the Army Corps of Engineers to build temporary hospital units? Has any consideration been given to using existing vacant hotel rooms for housing patients? How about asking whether the USS Comfort ship can be brought in?

Wishing for a risk-free environment is what children dream of. Let’s be adults and get to work to be proactive in preparing for the worst while praying for the best possible outcome.

Margaret Peary

Mililani

Mandate mask-wearing to protect public health

Centuries ago, it was determined that civilized people found public nudity offensive and unsanitary. Laws were enacted. Even today, one can be arrested for appearing in public naked.

In 2020, it was determined that civilized people realized that, during a deadly epidemic, uncovered mouths and noses in public were offensive and unsanitary (and selfish).

Shouldn’t the next sentence read, “So laws were enacted to protect the many from the few”?

Gloria McCulley

Makiki

Good news that Topgolf has been put on hold

With all the crazy things going on in the world, I was happy to learn that we have been blessed with some good news. It has been reported a pause has been put on the Topgolf driving range project at the Ala Wai Golf Course (“Topgolf hits pause on $50M Ala Wai plan,” Star-Advertiser, July 29).

With any luck it might go the way of the mayor’s Ala Moana Park zip line and the Waimanalo Sherwood Forest beach project. This multistory monster would be a tragic desecration of our old and venerable golf course with its beautiful open vistas.

More importantly, at night we will avoid having the super floodlights brightening the evening sky and shining directly into the mauka residential area perhaps as far as the back of Manoa Valley. Let’s hope it’s a win for common sense.

Wakefield Ward

Kuliouou

GOP refuses to help poor, middle-class

The Senate Republicans’ arguments against extending the pandemic relief package, which include the weekly $600 enhanced unemployment benefit, a key lifeline for millions of low income workers, are that it is too generous and would increase the national debt.

Those assertions are total hogwash. When the Republicans passed their 2017 tax bill that gave massive tax breaks for big corporations and wealthy people, they were not concerned about deficits, despite repeated warnings from independent economists that passing such a bill would create a debt crisis and take down the economy.

But when the poor- and middle-working class ask for financial help, the Republicans hesitate because they are worried about increasing the deficit. Once again, the Republicans are demonstrating their addiction to hypocrisy.

Why is it that Republicans have no problem in dishing out corporate welfare, but have a callous indifference toward the poor- and middle-working class? It is a crying shame.

Rod Bagcal Catiggay

Mililani

Leaders don’t know what most people need

I find it interesting that those in charge of our lives, telling us how to live, where we can and can’t go, what we can and cannot do, aren’t part of “us.”

They do not lose their income and can continue to live as though this pandemic never happened. They can pay their bills, including a mortgage, a car payment, grocery bills, taxes and more. They are driven to and from their place of employment at times, and also have security to keep them safe from harm.

How can they possibly know what thousands of taxpayers need to exist? How do they know what those people would be willing to risk?

And yet, we obey them, or at least try to do so.

It saddens me to see all the shuttered businesses in Honolulu. The owners took a risk to open a business and hired others. Heartbreaking, to me.

Is this right?

Diane Tippett

Waikiki

EXPRESS YOURSELF

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser welcomes all opinions. Want your voice to be heard? Submit a letter to the editor.

>> Write us: We welcome letters up to 150 words, and guest columns of 500-600 words. We reserve the right to edit for clarity and length. Include your name, address and daytime phone number.

>> Mail: Letters to the Editor, Honolulu Star-Advertiser 7 Waterfront Plaza, 500 Ala Moana, Suite 210 Honolulu, HI 96813

>> Contact: 529-4831 (phone), 529-4750 (fax), letters@staradvertiser.com, staradvertiser.com/editorial/submit-letter