Why no enforcement of fireworks laws?

I have lived in Hawaii for 25 years. I love the people, the culture and the aloha spirit.

However, there are a few things that I don’t understand. Why do we have laws that people are not going to obey and the police don’t have the time or inclination to enforce?

The most disobeyed and least-enforced is the law on fireworks. You must have a permit. We know how that goes. Fireworks do not go on sale (supposedly) until Dec. 26 and can only be used between 9 p.m. and 1 a.m. on New Years Eve. Right.

The “atomic” blasts started in my neighborhood on Dec. 17 and rattle my house each evening. My dogs are already traumatized and New Year’s Eve about a week away.

Of course, let’s not forget the ban on aerials. Right.

I understand how people want to celebrate the New Year, but it would be great if these laws were somewhat obeyed. It would certainly help the stress on the rest of us.

William Oliver

Diamond Head

Find creative uses for stadium property

It’s finally time to bring some new thinking to our two current “white elephant” projects: the rail system and the Aloha Stadium site project.

The rail is hopelessly in debt and will never have the ridership to break even, or built out to become truly useful rail system. Absent any private financial involvement, it will be a major drain on the city’s finances for years to come.

There is no reason to build a new stadium; there are no major sports team or long-term entertainment agreements.

Now is the time to get creative on the last major development parcel in central Honolulu. Whatever is built on the site needs to be a major revenue generator to use the rail and help pay for it. Examples would be a Disney- style park, an upscale special economic zone with tax advantages and perks to corporations headquartered there, or casino gambling.

Any of these options would have a major economic impact, increase rail ridership and provide many jobs.

Workforce housing could easily be located on the empty fields by the University of Hawaii’s West campus, thereby increasing rail ridership.

John Kimball

Wahiawa

Shouldn’t military protect the people?

Regarding the contamination of our water from jet fuel: As a retired military officer, I fully appreciate the strategic need for having fuel on hand to operate our military might for our defense.

However, when does the need to have fuel available overshadow the need of the people, whom the military is tasked in protecting, to have clean water to survive? If a homeowner gets a Doberman to protect his property and this guard dog starts biting the owner, when does having the dog outweigh the danger to its owner?

Whom is the military protecting, anyway?

Harry Ozols

Punchbowl

Marshallese know about contamination

The Navy told the people they were being temporarily relocated for their “safety.” Then they blew up their islands. The people never returned to their homes. The water and land were contaminated. You couldn’t eat the coconuts. My father told me stories of how his friends got sick eating the fish they caught.

I was born in Micronesia on the island of Kwajalein. The last nuclear bomb was exploded when I was one year old. Today in Hawaii, again the Navy has lied to the people. Again, the Navy has contaminated the water and land. And again, just like with the islands of my birth, the Navy only pretends to care about our welfare.

When the Navy relocates us to the Big Island for our “safety,” then you will truly know what it feels like to be Marshallese.

Ricardo Custodio

Kaneohe

UH doesn’t respect rights of Hawaiians

Is Greg Chun, executive director of the UH-Hilo Center for Maunakea Stewardship, serious when he says, in response to the recommendations of a state-appointed panel criticizing the Thirty Meter Telescope project on Mauna Kea, “There’s always more that can be done to improve engagement with the Native Hawaiian community as well as the broader community, and we have been actively working on that quite frankly for the last couple of years” (“Mauna Kea report calls for more Native Hawaiian involvement,” Star-Advertiser, Dec. 18)?

Quite frankly, the university has done nothing to address the concerns of the Native Hawaiian community except to make a patronizing connection between the TMT project and the native tradition of navigating by the stars, as if that was a justification for desecrating sacred Hawaiian ground. The people involved in the project often cite their great “respect” for Hawaiian tradition as if that gives them a right to trespass.

Like the greedy real-estate developers who conduct a native “blessing” ceremony when they inaugurate a new project, the university will probably insult Hawaiian tradition in the same hypocritical way if the TMT project is approved. It must not.

Edward D. Lasky

Hawaii Kai

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