Regarding masking and vaccine mandates: I wonder if people realize how many mandates they blindly follow every day without a thought.

Here are some examples: You can’t drive without a license, your kids must enroll in school (and they also must have the required vaccinations), you must pay your taxes, you must go through security at the airport, and so on.

These examples are what keep our lives and our society in harmony for the good of everyone.

Following masking and vaccine mandates is simply the most logical thing to do during a pandemic.

James Crittendon

Waialua

Governor’s decisions incoherent, confusing

Gov. David Ige blocked fans from attending the University of Hawaii homecoming game. Our 9,000-seat stadium is shown empty when the game was broadcast on cable.

He is using the same incoherent reasoning that he followed last year when he confused business owners, tourists, all of us, at a news conference with contradictory COVID-19 guidelines.

Previously, he punted responsibility to Hawaii County Mayor Harry Kim when illegal protesters blocked the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope. He did not enforce the law, which was supported by court decisions.

However, nothing can compare with his forgetting his Twitter password, and 15-17 minutes were lost before informing the public of a false missile alert.

He is an embarrassment to our state.

Jim Wolfe

Nuuanu

Ige should set metrics for easing restrictions

Curtis Murayama’s column was spot-on (“Data shows that state should allow fans back into the stands,” Star-Advertiser, Oct. 4). The governor’s restrictions on attendance, despite the guidelines proposed by the University of Hawaii, are ludicrous.

The guidelines are stricter than anything we see at farmers markets, dining out and shopping. If Gov. David Ige is worried about lack of capacity at our hospitals, set a metric in consultation with the leaders of the health-care facilities.

For example, if demand exceeds ICU capacity by more than 80%, then stricter restrictions would be reinstated, including the limitation of no fans at university events. At least then there would be a metric.

The one branch of government that performed, UH, should be rewarded for renovating the Clarence T.C. Ching Field for football before the start of the season. This achievement is unique compared to the past languishing projects under government control, such as the obsolescence of Aloha Stadium, the rail and the homeless problem.

Gregory Wong

Waialae Nui

Take greater care with restaurant sanitation

I understand the stress and work restaurants are coping with in this time of the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, as restaurants have opened or have limited seating, I have witnessed a practice that makes me cringe.

Often, workers understand the need to thoroughly wipe tables and seats. Signs are often posted indicating clean tables.

However, in the training process, workers miss the point of germs and wiping material.

More than once, in different restaurants at different locations, I have watched a worker carefully and thoroughly wipe down the table and seating area or chair and then proceed to thoroughly wipe other tables and chairs with the same soiled cloth.

I noted this to the cashier at one restaurant and was assured all tables and chairs are wiped clean. Someone has to review the procedure and war on germs with the entire staff. Who knows what goes on in the kitchens?

Nohea Chang

Nuuanu

AG shouldn’t investigate school board meetings

It is unbelievable that the U.S. attorney general has decided to redirect federal resources from investigating federal criminal activities to investigating parents who attend and participate in local school board meetings (“Justice Department will address ‘disturbing spike’ in threats against school personnel,” Star-Advertiser, Top News, Oct. 6).

They are labeling parents who disagree with current curriculum choices and the teaching of critical race theory as domestic terrorists.

I wonder what they are doing about the true domestic terrorists who rioted in American cities and injured and killed innocent people? There is ample evidence of domestic terrorism that has not piqued the interest of the Justice Department and the FBI. I wonder why?

I hope that our Hawaii delegation to Congress will speak out against using federal resources to target law-abiding citizens and go after the true domestic criminals plaguing our American cities.

John Tamashiro

Pearl City

Good idea to upgrade tee-time reservations

In response to Winslow Tanabe, he is correct that the city’s phone reservation system for municipal golf course tee times was not broken (“Tee-time reservation system didn’t need fixing,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, Oct. 4).

If golfers use technology in a nonending quest to reduce our score by 1 or 2 strokes, why shouldn’t the city finally embrace modern communication technology to enable golfers to make a tee-time?

The new phone system allows golfers to make a tee time reservation at the course they want to play, rather than waiting in line on the phone. How many times in the past have I been on hold at 6:30 a.m. trying to make a tee time at Pali, while the hundreds of Ala Wai golfers are ahead of me making their reservations?

Once the system is fully implemented, with an online portal, the city golf reservation system will finally arrive in the 21st century.

Yes, there might be a few hiccups as the new reservation is rolled out — but we’ll give the city a mulligan on that.

Andy Baker

Moanalua

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