Readers give their aid to youth in need

Mahalo to Star-Bulletin readers for such an overwhelmingly positive response to the article about Youth Outreach ("An anchor for wayward youth," Star-Bulletin, Nov. 7). The phones have been ringing almost off the hook and so many generous people have donated such a wide variety of useful things. Whether big or small, one-time events or ongoing adoptions, each donation was warmly received and truly appreciated. Even the calls offering encouragement and support help to keep the staff going.

You can all be sure that we will do our best to stretch all our resources as far as they will go. It is only through the generosity of the community that we have been able to do all we've done over the years. You are truly the unsung heroes of YO! While the staff do the day-to-day work with the clients, it is community folks who allow this to happen. You can be certain that YO! will endeavor to make the most of the opportunity you have provided us and that you will have a share of every success the clients experience.

On behalf of the staff and clients at YO!, thank you to everyone for your generosity, support, and for helping to make a difference in the lives of countless youth/young adults.

Residents invited to help improve prisons

There has been much media attention on the need to improve Hawaii's correctional system. Many problems continue, including the high recidivism rate, the rapid rise in incarceration (nearly doubling in the last 10 years, fueled primarily by the "ice" epidemic), and the overburdened prison and jail facilities, which have resulted in Hawaii shipping many local offenders to mainland prisons.

On any given day, half of those processed at the Department of Public Safety's Intake Center are probation or parole violators.

A community forum from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the University of Hawaii Center for Hawaiian Studies will put a spotlight on these issues and help bring about change to improve our system. The forum will include a panel of former offenders telling their stories, profiles of inmates now involved in re-entry programs, information about Hawaii's eight prison and jail facilities, and more.

The sponsors of the forum invite the community to come, to learn and to strategize about improving our prison system. Nearly all prisoners eventually return to our community. A healthy and productive return is better for everyone.

Jared Anderson, Ashvini Fernando, Keiko Shimazu, Soo San Choe, Michael Ullman,

Why do Americans like it so cold indoors?

Every year at about this time I visit Hawaii from Europe. And every year I catch a severe cold in paradise. Although I come from the Austrian Alps and am used to very cold temperatures, your air conditioning in TheBus, food markets, hospitals, libraries and elsewhere kills me.

My sister and daughter had to leave a performance in the Metropolitan Opera in New York on account of the ice-cold wind blowing down their bare necks. Many Europeans tell me similar stories from their stays in the United States. Even Americans do not like to live like polar bears. So why are you expending so much power and money to make people freeze and fall prey to colds?

Aiwohi chose to take drugs that killed baby

By overturning the conviction of Tayshea Aiwohi, the state Supreme Court set free a woman who killed her baby just as surely as if she had put her fingers around his little neck and squeezed the life out of him ("'Ice' addict cleared of killing newborn," Star-Bulletin, Nov. 30).

Aiwohi says she is dedicating her life to her dead child. It would have been much better to dedicate her life to caring for a live child.

Once she chose to carry her baby to term, she had a responsibility to protect him from harm. She chose, instead, to fill her body -- and his -- with "ice." She administered a lethal dose of drugs to her child.

She says this case was about drug addiction. I say it was all about a child's life cut short by a mother who cared more about getting high than her own baby. How sad that her child's life meant less to her than it did to city prosecutor Peter Carlisle and those of us who supported his prosecution of this case.

Aiwohi killed her baby. The Supreme Court sent a message, loud and clear, that it is not a crime to do so. How shameful.

2 more ways you can tell you're a liberal

Regarding Justin Tanoue's Nov. 30 letter, "How can you tell if you're a liberal?" he forgot a couple of points:

» You are too intelligent to fall for the kind of simplistic demagoguery and exaggerated stereotyping that pathetic little hit pieces like this employ.

» You know that Oscar the Grouch is just a puppet, kind of like President Bush, and he therefore doesn't "choose" to do anything by himself.

Abe's blame game dishonest, unhelpful

Mike Abe's diatribe blaming the Republicans for everything wrong in the state is counterproductive and inaccurate to the point of being dishonest ("Something is wrong and it's the GOP's fault," "Gathering Place," Star-Bulletin, Nov. 29). Furthermore, Mr. Abe is throwing stones in a glass house.

For example, Abe's opening paragraph complains that while we have a good economy and low unemployment, it is the GOP's fault that "working people can't buy a house."

The fact is that homebuilders are producing only about half the amount of new homes than just a dozen years ago. While demand has increased for homes, we have a supply problem in all market segments that is driving up the price of homes.

The inability of Hawaii's homebuilders to respond to the lack of supply is clearly traced to the land use policies made while Democrats were in control of everything. So whose fault is it now? And whose fault was it in 1990 (when we had a Democratic governor), when the cost of housing was at 60 percent of income, which is way higher than the 48 percent it is now?

Hey, if you want to play the blame game there is plenty to go around to everyone -- Democrat or Republican. But what Hawaii really needs is leadership that is focused on solving problems rather than politically driven finger-pointing that isn't even true. I hope the Democratic Party has more to offer than the blame game Mike Abe represents.

Waikiki looks better with added foliage

Since my first visit in 1967, I have been a frequent visitor to beautiful Hawaii.

On my recent trip in late April of this year, I had occasion to spend a full day exploring Waikiki, something I had not done for quite awhile. I was so impressed with how beautiful Waikiki has become. The plantings have softened the effect of the concrete buildings and Waikiki seems to have taken on a new tropical aura.

Many kudos to those who planned and executed this change.

Inter-island jury duty not worth the expense

Just days ago, I was summoned for jury duty on Oahu. Problem is, I live on Maui, and the court wants to fly me to Oahu, pay for airfare, a hotel, rental car, meals and per diem, and who knows how long this trial will last?

This is absurd. With 1 million residences on Oahu, the system has to farm out to Maui, at such a great expense, so-called expert decisions?

I'm going for "the excuse," to get out of it, and some other nitwit can decide if the guy with the machete had the right to kill his father.

Sorry, but I'm busy.