Here’s my plea to the present and aspiring politicians. Do not accept union endorsements. Thank them for their consideration and move on.

We have created a monster that feeds on the regular voter, who just wants someone to do a good job. What we’ve got are leaders and candidates who feel they can’t get elected without the help of every union in town.

And then what? We get stuck with out-of-control rail, too many tourists and a flood of economic misery due to COVID-19.

This state is finite. You cannot build forever or have more and more tourists every year. Who will pay the tax bill, buy the homes, ride the train and service the tourists if none of us are left?

I have skin in this game, as two of my sons have moved to the mainland. When will we stop “business as usual” and save what’s left of our home?

Bill Thomas

Kalama Valley

Keep ballot signature, address, inside envelope

I love mail-in ballots, but why does the state Office of Elections expose everyone to ID theft by having our home address and signatures on the outside of the mailing envelope, visible to all and when stacked in a pile, easily and quickly scannable?

Duh, at least put both in the inside envelope.

R. Ronnie Goo

Mililani

Let walkers exercise in Punchbowl Cemetery

Can we please allow walkers in Punchbowl Cemetery during this pandemic? Walking for exercise in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific is banned. If you walk to a columbarium to visit a niche, you must walk directly out of the cemetery. You are not allowed to walk to the lookout and then exit. That would be exercising.

My friend and I have been questioned three times for doing exactly this. The staffers are very respectful and they’re just doing their job. The pandemic closed the gym so we’ve been trying to find places around our neighborhood to walk. We continue to walk the streets of Manoa and Nuuanu, but not Punchbowl Cemetery anymore. We prefer these streets because they’re safer than Ala Moana Regional Park, where there are lots of people who aren’t all wearing masks.

Punchbowl Cemetery was especially safe. There aren’t any tourists there; only the workers, a few rememberers with flowers and an occasional funeral service. Why can’t local citizens be deemed capable of walking and being respectful of our own soldiers at the same time?

Warren Higa

Makiki

CARES Act money slow to be disbursed

I would like to know what percentage of the CARES Act funds provided by the federal government is actually being spent on individuals and businesses affected by the pandemic. A pie chart would be helpful in the public’s understanding of how the money is being spent.

As the weeks and months pass, it has become clear that the money is still needed and the desperation grows. The slow and haphazard actions taken by the distributors of the aid have been debilitating to our families, businesses and our society.

There was enough funding to help keep everyone’s head above water, so what happened? Please provide us with the information we need to understand what is happening and why the aid is not being given in a timely manner to those who are losing their jobs and businesses.

Eric Phillips

Kapahulu

Proposals could help salvage costly rail

It was great hearing from John Henry Felix and Mollie Foti again (“Ending rail at Chinatown could lead to better travel options,” Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, Oct. 8; “Common sense says that rail is too expensive,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, Oct. 6).

I, too, wanted the rail to end at Middle Street. With Nancy Peacock and Janet Thebaud Gillmar’s Chinatown terminus proposal, there is hope that the “rail bleeding” and taxes might end and our beautiful island will recover (“End rail line just before Chinatown,” Star- Advertiser, Island Voices, Sept. 13).

Then we can celebrate other issues like our Nobel Prize winners, Jennifer Doudna and Andrea Ghez.

Deborah J. Freitas

Kailua

Will Trump wreak havoc before leaving?

The Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson predicted that President Donald Trump’s “frantic desperation will only get worse.” Pundits and politicians alike are opining about the myriad ways havoc, and worse, may be created in the next few months by a man who is feeling increasingly isolated, vulnerable, angry and scared.

Recounting the strategic events of World War II in Herman Wouk’s “The Winds of War” a former Nazi general lamented that Germany, led by Adolf Hitler, “was like a charging elephant with a bullet in its brain, trampling and killlng its tormentors with its last momentum before falling.”

Is our own elephant, impacted by a COVID-19 bullet, headed for the same trajectory?

Susan Pang Gochros

Downtown Honolulu

Story didn’t mention violations of Hatch Act

Regarding the article by Annie Karni and Maggie Haberman of The New York Times in the Sunday Star-Advertiser (“Trump returns to public view with rally,” Oct. 11): It left out a critical piece of information. President Donald Trump has used the White House — which belongs to the U.S. citizens and is not to be used for political purposes — for the National Republican Convention and the recent “rally” on the South Lawn. These are clear violations of the Hatch Act.

Half a page was used to rehash old news. I was very disappointed that the Star-Advertiser published this version of events.

Alan Okamura

Pearl City

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