COPPER THEFTS

STATE SHOULD SWITCH TO SOLAR-POWERED LIGHTS

The recent news about copper wire theft on H-2 has me thinking that we live in a state that has year-round good weather. If it is going to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to replace wire, why not look into solar-powered lights?

Hickam Air Force Base has solar- powered lights in its parking lots.

It may cost more, but, heck, we won't have to foot the bill for a bunch of hooligans who have no sense.

SECOND AMENDMENT

U.S. CITIZENS HAVE RIGHT TO OWN GUNS

In his March 5 letter, "Government regulation of guns fully justified," David Chappell quotes the Second Amendment, stating that "the right of the people" should be taken in context of the mention of "militia."

For the government's legal definition of "militia," we turn to the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, which states that the militia is composed of all able-bodied males between the ages of 17 and 45.

With this definition in mind, Mr. Chappell should now understand that the writers of the Second Amendment wanted gun ownership kept in the hands of American citizens, not necessarily just in the hands of a standing army.

On a somewhat related note, some readers have written to The Advertiser asking why the Koko Head shooting range is located so close to residential and recreational areas.

Bishop Estate gave that land to the City and County of Honolulu in 1928, and in the 1930s the Hawai'i National Guard utilized the land to create a firing range. In 1950, the city opened the facility to the public.

Hence, the range predates all residences in the area, and may even predate those who would like to see it closed.

GUN CONTROL IN INTEREST OF THE COMMON GOOD

Some would have us believe that the Second Amendment unconditionally guarantees citizens the right to bear arms and that any sort of sensible regulation of guns by the states is unconstitutional. This is simply not true. The right to bear arms is allowed only conditionally based upon the need for our national defense in the form of "a well-regulated militia."

Our national defense is now the duty of the U.S. military, which does not allow wanton gun toting among its members.

Although we do have a tradition of citizens owning firearms, the District of Columbia, Hawai'i and all states have a legitimate constitutional right if they so choose to "ensure domestic tranquility, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty" for themselves by regulation of modern weaponry.

Gun pushing has made us one of the top 10 murderous countries in the world. Common-sense gun control is in the interest of the greater good; it is a right and it must not be relinquished to the federal government, ever.

MAHALO

MANY ISLANDERS CAME TO AID OF INJURED HIKER

My first visit to O'ahu had been wonderful, exploring the North Shore and Windward coast and visiting long-lost friends. The weather and sights are awesome, But what really stood out was how friendly and kind-hearted the people of Hawai'i are.

A hike up to the Lanikai pillboxes late Sunday afternoon ended with a ride in a basket dangling from a helicopter after I fell and broke my ankle.

My companions, Eric Larson and 10-year-old Justin Alsop, were helping me inch down the mountain on my bottom when a hiker named Bob appeared and called for help on his cell phone.

Another hiker, Jim, happened by and lifted me onto his back, carrying me a long way down the treacherous trail.

Meanwhile, Justin's dad, Frank, hiked up to meet us with a flashlight, while Melissa and Cody Alsop manned the phones from below to coordinate a rescue. As night fell and the steepest part of the trail was yet to come, to my great relief we could see and hear that professional help was on the way.

I owe a big debt of gratitude to the people of Kailua, including the Alsop family, the paramedics, firefighters, helicopter crew, the ER team at Castle Medical Center and especially Jim, who risked his own safety to help rescue me.

MAINTENANCE

Can't state clean up highways, freeways?

The state wants to spend millions to buy property on the North Shore to protect the 'aina. How about cleaning up the highways that get the residents and tourists there?

Recently the H-1 and especially the H-2 have begun to look like a dump. Maybe they forgot to tell us the Waimanalo Gulch Landfill has been closed and the highways are the new dumping ground.

ATHLETICS

UH SHOULD BRING BACK COLLEGIATE WRESTLING

I would like the new University of Hawai'i athletic director to bring back NCAA wrestling to UH.

UH dropped men's wrestling in 1975, the year I graduated from high school, so many of us had to attend Mainland colleges to compete. I wrestled three years in high school and two years in college at Pacific University. On returning to Hawai'i in 1979, I continued wrestling as head coach, assistant coach and currently officiate.

Why not offer both men's and women's NCAA Division I wrestling? We testified at the Capitol with the late Stan Sheriff, but his excuse was a lack of funds, mainly for travel.

We have many talented high school wrestlers in Hawai'i who would love to compete at home.

The mat, equipment and uniforms are very affordable and the coach(es) may be local or brought in. Are there others who feel the same way I do?

GOVERNMENT

Why isn't more done for Island homeless?

Take a stroll down Hawai'i's world-famous Waikiki, lined with its high-end shops, cute little knickknack stores, street entertainers, yummy restaurants and the beach.

You wouldn't have to look closely to see one problem that Hawai'i's legislators seem to put at the bottom of their list —homelessness.

While legislators are busy trying to quantify and beautify Honolulu's economy, they ignore the silence of people without homes.

How do they think this looks to tourists and future investors trying to enjoy their vacations or trying to open their new hotels?

It's an issue of humanity over politics.

Why has government not done more to help? I just can't fathom how a state with so much beauty and aloha spirit can overlook such an important issue.

HISTORY

FOR U.S., VIETNAM WAR ENDED WITH PEACE PACT

An Associated Press story in the March 16 Sunday Advertiser, stated that "shocked" Americans... "undermined support for the (Vietnam) war, which ended in 1975 with the fall of Saigon to communist troops." This view perpetuates the fallacy that the communists drove America out of Vietnam; nothing can be further from the truth.

For America, the Vietnam War ended with the peace settlement negotiated and signed in Paris on Jan. 27, 1973; American troops departed in their entirety on March 29, 1973. The evacuees pictured in news reports in 1975 were civilians and Vietnamese military.

Our government "of, by and for the people" actually works. Protests of the late 1960s and early 1970s stimulated our representative leaders to force the North to the peace talks. We left the country in a state of peace.

Two years after we had negotiated the peace treaty, the deceptive North Vietnamese broke it and re-invaded the South. The war that ended with the evacuation of Saigon was a new conflict, initiated by the North Vietnamese and which only involved the North and South; a civil war without foreign (American) involvement. Let's tell it like it is.