• Less weapons, more Friends • Support the library • In favor of responsible gun ownership • 911 calls will transfer Less weapons, more Friends I’d like to share this with you: As Pentagon bloat takes more and more of
• Less weapons, more Friends • Support the library • In favor of responsible gun ownership • 911 calls will transfer
Less weapons, more Friends
I’d like to share this with you: As Pentagon bloat takes more and more of our resources, the nation’s true security needs — health care, affordable housing, environmental protection — are being squeezed to a breaking point. We need a better budget for the true security of our nation. You and I must keep the pressure on for continue cuts to the Pentagon.
Lets keep the pressure on Congress to stand up and end wasteful programs such as the P-35 joint strike fighter, the most expensive in history, with a total cost of $1.5 trillion.
This year, the Pentagon has more than $653 billion of our tax dollars in their proposed budget. If we took just 10 percent of that money, we could pay for:
• 960,000 school teachers
• 935,000 police officers
• Medical care for 8.3 million veterans
• Or Head Start programs for 8.6 million children.
The information stated above is from the American Friends Service Committee. Every sane, intelligent and reasoning American in this country knows what wonderful people the Friends are. We can be proud of them. Find a way to help them — and us — out. Remember what Chris Hedges suggested: “Rebel don’t revolt.”
Bettejo Dux
Kalaheo
Support the library
I am writing in response to an article that came out Feb. 7, regarding the Lihu‘e Library renovation, which is to be completed at the end of 2013.
The reason that I address the library is because since Borders has gone out of business, I think that I can say for everyone that we have been missing it desperately; not only for books but because it was also a place to hang out and grab a coffee.
Even though there are e-books, that does not mean that we no longer need a place to browse through real books and magazines. A remodeled Lihu‘e Library would be a great replacement for Borders, a place people can enjoy hanging out and reading new books and magazines.
People were devastated when Borders went out of business. When I was researching this topic, every article and website came across talked about the last days of the bookstore as a “memorial service.” On Kaua‘i it was even worse because it was our only big bookstore. The library could help us remember the value of books before all kids are glued to their parents’ iPhones, which I see so often now, instead of reading books.
I am hoping to encourage Kaua‘i County Council and the citizens of Kaua‘i to take action on this issue and tell the Lihu‘e Library any suggestions of what they would like to see in the new library, and to support the library. I hope they have enough money to make it the library of our dreams. I believe that this is a serious issues that will make your and your children’s lives better.
Julia Randolph-Flagg
Student
Kapa‘a
In favor of responsible gun ownership
I’m writing in response to the Feb. 20, Letter to the Editor regarding gun control.
Recently, since the tragic shooting at an elementary school in Connecticut, gun control has been an ongoing topic not only in Hawai‘i, but all through out America.
One side of the argument thinks guns are a liability, and that there should do more background checks on the people who receive them.
On the other side of the argument, people think that their guns are a form of protection and shouldn’t be taken away from them.
Honestly, I can agree with both sides. Just recently in Harris County, Texas, a 15-year-old boy was home alone with his 12-year-old sister when two burglars broke into the house. The young boy got his father’s assault rifle and shot one of the burglars. The boy and his sister were unharmed, and the burglars were arrested. Guns can take lives, but as shown it this case, they can also save them.
Many people say that their guns are for protection, but their are other ways to protect yourself, such as maze, Tasers, rubber bullets and much more.
I do think that there should be more thorough background checks on the person looking to obtain the weapon, including the people close to them and living in the same facilities.
Owning a weapon that can kill is no small thing, and the people who own it should use the weapon responsibly.
I am hoping to encourage people to use their guns for hunting purposes only. If everyone uses their guns responsibly, we can make Hawai‘i a safer and all together better place.
Alaya Mallas
8th grade student
Kapa‘a
911 calls will transfer
Kathleen Beverly’s march 27 Letter to the Editor and testimony to the County Planning Commission hearing read “When your kids are choking or had an accident, or someone is having a heart attack or stroke or been in a major car accident, and you need an ambulance, wouldn’t you want your cell phone working efficiently? How many people do you suppose in a year’s time were rescued and saved by the use of a cell phone to call an ambulance or police department when no land line was available? Cell towers save people, they don’t kill people.”
AT&T, Ali‘i Wireless representative Keoni Fox also testified on March 27 stating to the effect that due to the AT&T towers weaknesses for a “911 call, they’re not going to be able to get through.”
These statement are inaccurate and need to be refuted for the record. According to the FCC website: The FCC’s basic 911 rules require wireless service providers to transmit all 911 calls to Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs), regardless of whether the caller subscribes to the provider’s service or not.
In simple terms the law is set up that any call for 911 will go to the nearest signal cell site no matter who they subscribe to.
Lori Patch
Kilauea
