As a caring, informed ohana, we in Hawaii have accepted showing vaccination cards or negative test results as our health passport, whether at a restaurant, gym, doctor’s office or beauty salon.

We know the drill: mask, vaccination card, social distancing, mini-gatherings outdoors, even a face shield. This is true aloha for our community. This is true social responsibility. But if we customers abide by the rules, should businesses?

Wouldn’t it be reassuring to see an “All workers vaccinated and boosted” sign at the door? Full disclosure could become the new Good Housekeeping seal of approval. At Christmas, I reluctantly declined a dinner invitation to an upscale Waikiki restaurant when a manager shared that more than 16% of its staff was unvaccinated. My hairdresser — now “ex” — revealed she was unvaccinated due to a litany of conspiracy theories. But I digress.

Not being vaccinated is a financial and health deal-breaker for customers and businesses alike. Wherever you shop and dine, don’t assume workers are vaccinated. Ask your hairdresser.

Joyce Torrey

Kahala

Most vacation rentals have offshore owners

Recent letters to the editor supporting vacation rentals ignore a number of important facts.

The city estimates that there are more than 8,000 vacation rentals operating on the island of Oahu, and 70% have offshore owners. Only 800 are legal. Residents are well aware of the problems vacation rentals have inflicted upon our neighborhoods, including high housing and rental costs, higher property tax assessments, crowded public facilities and local service businesses replaced with tourist shops.

The mayor has proposed a new bill (Bill 41) that significantly improves the city’s enforcement capabilities. It also recognizes the costs to taxpayers for administration and enforcement. New advertising restrictions will make it difficult for illegal ones to operate.

Letter-writers saying that the city should just enforce the existing ordinance (Ord. 19-18) surely must have heard of problems that the city is having with enforcement of it. The operators of the 800 legal ones have little to fear, unlike the illegal operators.

Chuck Prentiss

Kailua

Today’s Republicans not true conservatives

Rhoads Stevens made several assertions that are off-base (“Republicans doing their job opposing Democrats,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, Feb. 8).

He said that under President Donald Trump we had:

“Record prosperity.” Until this administration.

“Border security.” Unless you were a child separated from his parents.

“World peace.” Except in China, Yemen, Syria and Ethiopia.

However, the clincher was that U.S. Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger are “RINOs at best and traitors at worst.” Wow. Cheney and Kinzinger are true conservatives who represent what the Republican Party has always stood for. It may take years for this Republican Party to understand that Trump was a RINO at best and a traitor at worst.

Jim Keefe

Waikiki

Biden may not get the nominee he wants

I understand fully and share the concerns of Michael Clark (“Black woman on court long overdue,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, Feb. 6), and also those of Daphne Barbee-Wooten and Gilbert Horita (“White male justices didn’t serve justice,” “Perhaps Asian American justice will join court,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, Feb. 7).

It is long overdue for the topic to be addressed.

I wonder if they are familiar with what happened in 2003, when George W. Bush was president. If what columnist Marc A. Thiessen wrote is factual, President Joe Biden may not get what he wants (“Remembering a Black woman Biden kept off Supreme Court,” Star-Advertiser, Feb. 4).

According to Thiessen, then-Sen. Joe Biden told Bush that if he nominated Judge Janice Rogers Brown to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (a stepping stone to the Supreme Court), he would filibuster and kill her nomination. He supposedly did it twice.

Should Republican senators remember these incidents, it may take a while longer before we see a Black female on the Supreme Court.

Bill Null

Kapaa, Kauai

To stop illegal fireworks, seize assets of scofflaws

If the Legislature is serious about stopping illegal fireworks, it should pass legislation similar to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s asset forfeiture program. After several violators lose their homes and/or vehicles, the problem would diminish considerably.

Also, illegal fireworks enter Hawaii by only two ways: air or sea. As such, the law should make these private carriers accountable and responsible for transporting illegal goods into the state. Perhaps the state could impound the violating plane or ship for six months. You can bet these businesses would then implement procedures to immediately halt this dangerous practice that has gone on for decades.

Anything less is just a waste of everyone’s time.

Stephen Molnar

Kailua

Military needs to reduce its presence in Hawaii

I’m happy at the prospect of the Red Hill fuel tanks being shut down. I hope this is the beginning of a process of shrinking the military’s footprint in Hawaii.

Some leases are expiring, and some “ceded” land giveaways could be challenged.

Besides polluting our land and water, the U.S. military is one of the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitters, contributing to climate chaos.

There are far better uses for our tax dollars and our natural and human resources.

Regina Gregory

Makiki

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