Letters To The Editor
Going quackers
Kudos to Don Chapman for an entertaining and informative cover story on Marcus Mariota and the other Island Ducks playing football for the University of Oregon. As proud as Hawaii people can be for their success on the field, it also was encouraging to read about their academic pursuits as university students. I’ll always be a UH fan first, but I am cheering for the Ducks too.
Edward Nakamura
Honolulu
Electorial wisdom
After reading Dan Boylan’s comments on the electoral college, I can only assume that he has never studied why it was included in our Constitution or disagrees with the rationale. I have read it, and it is still relevant today. We should keep the electoral college and better educate ourselves as to why.
His logic in the article fails to make sense. How can he say going by the popular vote will give the small states any more power? The big states will dominate in either system. If Mr. Boylan wants to advocate for dumping the electoral college, please do so with facts about why it was put in place and why you think those reasons are invalid today.
By the way, he is right about one thing: “it isn’t democracy.” It was never intended to be. The founders of this country were very clear in their conviction that democracy was, and is, a horrible form of government. Just for the record, we have a Constitutional Republic. But I fear we are rapidly losing it.
Ron Nueff
Honolulu
Get informed
I’m not usually a fan of Susan Page (and her tag-team partner Jerry Coffee), but I could not agree more with the headline of her column: “Get Informed And Vote.” Whether it’s the presidential election or for city council, being a good citizen means being informed on the issues and where candidates stand, and then taking that information with you to the polls.
David Johnson
Honolulu
Green grumbler
While I normally enjoy Ron Nagasawa’s column, he definitely exhibited extreme selfishness in the Oct. 17 issue. If people are concerned enough about the global climate crisis to do their part and adopt an immature and expensive technology like electric vehicles, Ron should not begrudge them the small benefit of a free and convenient charging station. They have already paid a premium to drive a car that has limited range, and these charging stations help make the electric vehicles a viable option for these early adopters. If it means that Ron and his fellow gas guzzlers (like myself) have to walk a little farther to and from their parking spaces, then that can be our small contribution to saving the planet and improving our health.
Michael Parke
East Honolulu
Cold chad facts
Dan Boylan wrote that Al Gore won the popular election by a considerable margin but the Supreme Court ruled in favor of George W. Bush.
The point I would make is that there should never have been any question about “hanging chads” or dimpled ballots. I was a poll watcher the year that type of voting system was first implemented and several years thereafter, and I voted in Florida after that.
There were signs all around the polling places that stated the ballot must be fully punched and partial punches would not be counted. The principle was that a person might start to punch the wrong place and realize their error after dimpling or partially punching the wrong space. So only fully punched markings were to be counted. There should never have been even one dimple or partially punched ballot counted. It was absolutely clear and had been the process for quite a few elections before the Gore/Bush situation.
Samuel M. Smith
Kailua
Go JVs!
I loved Ron Nagasawa’s column about the purity of high school JV football.
When I was in band at Leilehua High School, I always thought of the JV team and the JV cheerleaders and how they were usually playing for just a handful of people at every game. One day I told a group of my loyal followers in the band we were going to support the JV games. We loaded up my beat-up old Bonneville stationwagon and a band member’s convertible, and we took about 15 musicians and performed for the rest of the season for the JV games. This action boosted the morale of the JV team and the cheerleaders, and created a special bond and mutual respect between the athletic department and the band. Little did I know I started the first JV band in the history of that school.
Two years later, in my senior year when I was student-conducting the band for “walking out music for the crowd” at the last Varsity football game, I noticed some of the band members facing me grinning and smiling while I was waving the baton, and I thought I could hear some kind of cheering behind me. When the song finished, I turned around to see what the cheering was all about. The entire football team and cheerleaders were gathered in the middle of the football field chanting my name. Those JV players were now the Varsity team, and they never forgot what I did for them.The decision to support the JV team brought a special kind of school spirit bonding to the band and the athletic department.
God bless the JV teams and cheerleaders! The energy, respect of the game, school spirit and injuries are no less than the varsity team.
Johnny Kai
Honolulu
