Letters for Monday, March 19, 2007

• Leave criminals in jail

• Will help to stifle change

• Youth pastor answers questions

• How about setting up

contra flow on Saturdays?

• It’s all about politics

Leave criminals in jail

Re: Letter titled “Send criminals to Iraq and Afghanistan,” March 17.

I was a former corrections officer at Bingham County Sheriff Department in Idaho. I, too, thought about sending criminals to war zones. But then I thought, they are criminals. Giving them weapons, considering the crime they committed, would be very dangerous for our American soldiers and innocent bystanders. The criminals might join the terrorists and start killing our soldiers and innocent people.

So here’s a better suggestion. Have the criminals live with those judges (the ones who catch and release). Put the criminals in their custody at the judges’ homes. Let the judges deal with them.

Miss Wilson deserves more for her pains and medical bills.

Leave dangerous criminals in jail and throw away the key.

‘Ele‘ele

Will help to stifle change

I am only the fourth of five short generations born and raised on Kaua‘i. My father lost his opportunity to retain his old home after his parents passed away and most of his brothers and sisters went off to other places, hence our family no longer farms taro or lives in Hanalei.

I used to work in the patches with my dad at a young age and ride horses around the valley. Yes, the work is hard and I’ll admit I don’t miss it as much as I ought to, though I do support and miss very much the rural lifestyle we had.

We’ve lived in Kilauea for over 30 years to present day, and it was in the 1980s that our rural life was diminished as the land where we used to ride our horses was bought out and fenced up. I certainly miss that life and always say “The ’80s are gone” and longingly admire the horses in the few pastures that remain while I am stuck in traffic. Change occurs, yes, but I will do what I must to help stifle it. Kaua‘i was the last to be conquered in the Hawaiian monarchy.

Big Boxes do not belong on Kaua‘i, period. We have lost touch with the ancestors who respected the ‘aina and the ahupua‘a system. We are at least two or three decades too late in this fight, but this Big Box issue should have been dealt with a long time ago. I don’t need to sell out myself nor my family anymore only to save a few dollars. In the long run, I hope those extra dollars I’m spending each day helps out the few local families left, especially those with multiple generations.

Kilauea

Youth pastor answers questions

While I do not represent our local CHRISTian community at large, I will attempt to answer Michael’s questions. Please note for clarification CHRISTianity is not a religion but a relationship. To be a CHRIST- ian is to follow CHRIST.

1. “Is it not a basic tenet, in fact a commandment of this religion that thou shalt not kill?”

Yes, but let’s keep it in context. This one of the Ten Commandments applies to individuals: one individual should not kill another individual. However, it does not apply to ruling powers/governments. One example would be if a country/government needs to defend itself against another country/government, obviously some people will be injured or even killed. History is filled with these examples.

Another example would be corporal punishment of criminals. Capital punishment is a Biblical principle for the protection of civilization as a whole. This is to be decided upon and carried out by a governing body, not an individual.

2. “How does this group of people ignore and remain indifferent to the bombing of innocent children of Arab blood while being incensed at the bombing of innocent Israelis?”

Obviously a blanket statement such as this is inaccurate, because you can’t lump all of us into one group. A real CHRISTian by definition believes in the sanctity of life regardless of the ethnicity, skin color, etc. GOD created all of us.

3. “How do these people continue to gather each Sunday, share in fellowship and not even discuss this issue?”

Michael, if you really want to know, I invite you to attend our 9 a.m. Sunday School and/or our 10 a.m. Worship Service on Sundays or our Wednesday night Bible Study so that you may see that we do indeed discuss this and other very timely matters on a regular basis. I look forward to seeing you soon.

Maximum respect…

Youth Pastor, Anahola Baptist Church

How about setting up contra flow on Saturdays?

With regard to Kapa‘a-to-Lihu‘e traffic, could the county set up the contra-flow system on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.? That period of time seems to have the most congestion when forward movement completely stops. Could we try it for a month?

Koloa

It’s all about politics

It seems all the big three media outlets, ABC, NBC and CBS, along with the Democrats are living in La La land about the firings of eight U.S. attorneys, claiming it is political. All appointments of u.s. attorneys are political so why shouldn’t their firings be political? They seem to forget that when Bill Clinton took office he fired all but one of the U.S. Attorneys because he wanted them to reflect his political thinking, his right and privilege. One U.S. attorney from New Jersey was kept at the insistence of Sen. Bill Bradley who intervened on his behalf. Tell me that wasn’t political?

The president has every right to fire them for any reason or no reason. Not a scandal, just Washington politics. Now they want to revisit the Valerie Plame puzzle. It seems clear her alleged status as an undercover agent is very questionable. The 9/11 commission clearly stated her husband lied about his findings in Niger and that she was heavily involved in his appointment. Otherwise why was he sent? He had no background in investigating.

I thank God I’m not in politics, I’m a very poor liar and that seems to be a prerequisite for politicians at the county, state and federal levels. All this is very tiresome, I think I’ll take a nap.

Kalaheo