Please tell me the following is a bad dream: The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) is proposing a gambling casino in Kapolei, with all known problems including financial risk, drug use and a social stepping stone to more of this development at all Islands.

Compare this idiotic proposal to the Hawaiian community gathered in a packed camp on Mauna Kea to protest (with the apparent consent of many Hawaiians) against the 30-meter telescope (TMT) that promises to make billions of dollars bringing from construction to construction years of scientific research that will put Hawaii at the forefront of the study of the universe and the future of life for all of humanity.

How can we be so stupid as a community?

Ron Nagy

Kaimuki

A better place to bet casino than Kapolei

DHHL has proposed a casino here in Hawaii to help fund the development of the Hawaiian homelands. I have a suggestion. Set up the casino in Las Vegas and just send the winnings to Hawaii.

Roger Garrett

Kapahulu

Gambling would hurt Hawaii’s vulnerable people

The idea that a casino resort in Kapolei is going to be a cash cow for DHHL – when we don’t have tourists, when the locals struggle to pay rent and wait in mile-long lines to get food for their families – could be fodder for one his late night monologue.

In reality, it’s a sick joke from an agency that supposedly exists to improve the Hawaiian peoples. Gambling (please don’t use the euphemism, “gambling”) is what Vice Hawaii does not need in any way, shape or form.

Las Vegas, our “ninth island”, has everything our residents need to gamble. It always hits the hardest hardest on the weakest, who can least afford it, and drains resources.

Please do not give this bill the light of day. Otherwise we see a dark night on Hawaii’s shores.

Lori Arizumi

Ewa Beach

Stop using gas-powered landscaping equipment

The state has set itself an ambitious goal to reduce fossil fuel consumption, which is an outstanding goal. The use of electric buses is a big step forward (“Honolulu introduces the first of 17 new electric buses”, Star Advertiser, December 15). The new buses are quiet, do not burn fossil fuels and do not emit harmful gases or particles.

Why not continue down this path and stop using gas-powered landscaping equipment? Battery or cable blowers, hedge trimmers and lawn mowers have been around for decades. One of the biggest problems with on-site protection is hearing these noisy devices.

The countries of the European Union prescribe their use. Why not us

Jack Schneider

Waialae Iki

Keep occupant infections in daily COVID-19 count

Mayor Kirk Caldwell has asked Governor David Ige to remove prison inmate COVID-19 counts from daily counts as it skews results.

This would hide the problem in the prisons by not presenting a transparent picture of the outbreaks there.

Not only should we continue to include areas with cluster infections in our daily counts, we should also target those places with primary vaccinations as soon as they become available.

Cluster outbreaks must be controlled before the COVID-19 vaccine can be made available to the public.

Detention would be a cruel and unusual punishment if the state did not do everything it could to stop the wave of infections in our prisons.

Stuart Shimazu

Kapahulu

Trump’s behavior suggests a mental health problem

I seriously have a feeling that President Donald Trump has some mental health issues. His thinking is not rational. How many times does he need to be reminded that he lost the election?

He even thought about declaring martial law. Enough is enough. Perhaps Vice President Mike Pence should try to invoke the 25th amendment and declare Trump incapable of performing his duties as president because of his mental state.

The president puts the US in serious trouble for lack of leadership.

We see hacking by foreign powers to see if they can undermine the US. Trump needs to give President-elect Joe Biden access to the Pentagon so he will be up to date when he becomes President.

Trump refuses to recognize anything other than his re-election. Enough is enough. Trump lost the election, period.

George Higashi

Kaneohe

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