Letters: Get private contractors to clean up Red Hill; Justice Department should prosecute Trump; Ninth Amendment holds key to individual rights

The Navy is just doing a great job of passing the buck and making excuses at Red Hill. The city should have an idea what needs to be done to make the water supply safe.

We seem to be waiting for the Navy to act, but it keeps coming up with excuses and is doing nothing to get the job done. If the Navy won’t do anything, get some private contractors to do the work and come up with a plan and timetable to get it done in less than a year. Then give the bill to the Navy.

It is amazing how the state is letting the Navy get away with not doing the work to fix this problem.

Ernie Itoga

Waialae

Justice Department should prosecute Trump

The hearings conducted by the Jan. 6 House select committee have uncovered a mountain of crystal-clear evidence showing that Donald Trump’s rhetoric, falsely claiming that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, sparked the violent and deadly attack on Capitol Hill that tried to prevent the peaceful transfer of power. But despite the overwhelming evidence, there is no indication from the Department of Justice that Trump’s indictment is imminent.

Trump and those who conspired with him must be held accountable for their actions in seeking to overturn the will of the people and to ensure that efforts to destroy our democratic form of government will not happen again. Failure to hold those who attempted to subvert democracy accountable could have serious consequences.

Others have expressed concerns that prosecuting Trump could be viewed as opening the door to prosecutorial retaliation against future presidents. But considering the grievous harm that Trump has already done to the country, the damage to America’s future inflicted by letting Trump go scot-free far outweighs the risks of prosecuting him.

Rod B. Catiggay

Mililani

‘Will of the people’ went against Trump, twice

In yet another attempt to portray Donald Trump as some kind of victim, Kris Schwengel declared, “If the majority of Americans want him back, we must accept the will of the people” (“Majority of Americans will decide about Trump,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, July 22).

That’s pretty funny. The majority of Americans voted against Trump in both of his presidential campaigns. If the “will of the people” actually ruled in this country, we would have been spared the dumpster fire of the Trump presidency and the outrage of the insurrection that he and his supporters attempted.

Christopher Moylan

Downtown Honolulu

Cal Thomas avoids hard truth about rape victim

Cal Thomas has reached new depths of faulty logic and viciousness (“Case of 10-year-old girl leaves many questions unanswered,” Star-Advertiser, July 19).

He attributes the publicity surrounding the horrendous abortion ordeal of the 10-year-old rape victim with a life-threatening pregnancy to a pro-choice attempt to discredit the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.

He excuses those who initially doubted the story (not a “scintilla of evidence,” one doubter claimed). At the end, he said the child “deserves compassion.” But he avoids examining the law that puts at risk the life of this child and others who are the victim of rape or have other life-threatening pregnancies.

Instead, he wants us to look at the rapist — not as a rapist, but as someone who entered the country illegally.

Worse, without a scintilla of evidence, he hypothesizes that the illegal immigrant rapist is the boyfriend of the girl’s mother, who should have stopped the rapist!

This newspaper should not print this holier-than-thou blame-the-woman drivel.

Leslie Munro

Aiea

Ninth Amendment holds key to individual rights

Before someone is nominated to become a Supreme Court justice, they should be required to read the Constitution. The Ninth Amendment states: “The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”

In 1965, the Supreme Court cited the amendment because a Connecticut statute made it a crime for a married couple to use contraceptives or a physician to counsel their use. Since 1965, the Ninth Amendment has been cited in over a thousand cases.

If anyone is interested, Article V states an amendment may be proposed by a two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress, or if two-thirds of several state legislatures request one, by a convention called for that purpose. The amendment must then be ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures, or three- fourths of conventions called in each state for ratification.

Robert Stewart

Waikiki

Don’t show people with dogs at Magic Island

Why do you continue to post photos of people with their dogs at Magic Island (“On a roll,” Star-Advertiser, July 21)?

Recently signs were erected that state, “No dogs allowed,” at both entrances to Ala Moana Park, and also in the middle of the mauka side of Magic Island. This is in addition to signs that list things prohibited at the park.

I have noticed that since the signs have been erected, there are more people bringing their dogs to the park. I have pointed out the signs to some people only to be ignored or given the stink eye.

Park personnel should have the authority to either cite these offenders or to ask them to leave the park. Our family has been and still are dog owners and we do love dogs, but rules are made to be followed, not broken. It would be appreciated if your editors and photographers stopped posting photos of dogs at Magic Island.

Dennis Morioka

Kamehameha Heights

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