SAVE PROGRAMS IN GREEK, LATIN CLASSICS

It is unconscionable that the UH-Manoa administration is considering eliminating the bachelors degree in classics, the study of ancient Greek and Latin languages and literature.

Latin is the foundation of the Western legal system. England and the U.S. retain their "common law," based on Latin law. Latin language and literature form legal thinking for judges and lawyers. Legal terms have Latin concepts, that we would ignore at our peril in a courtroom, such as sub poena, habeas corpus, nolo contendere, affidavit, de jure, contra lege, sub judice, etc. Latin words are also used in the biological and natural sciences.

Greek is the language of medicine. It is crucial that doctors and nurses grasp in a medical emergency and in an operating room the meaning of asphyxia, ischemia, hemorrhage, apoplexy, pneumohemopericardium, cephalhematocele, etc., and know what to do about them.

Classic studies are fundamental to all the humanities and the social and natural sciences. UH-Manoa should continue to offer Greek and Sanskrit to remain a great place of East-West comparative studies.

Luciano Minerbi | Honolulu

MARIJUANA LAWS

LEGISLATURE SHOULD TAKE HINT ON REFORM

Mahalo to Spencer McLachlin for his op-ed piece on marijuana (May 25). The illicit marijuana business probably exceeds $50 billion per year in this country, and the federal government spends $12 billion annually "stamping out marijuana." All of this with no end in sight.

The vote on the Big Island last election last November was about 35,000 to 25,000 in favor of making marijuana a low law enforcement priority. I hope the Legislature takes this hint and reforms this state's marijuana laws.

Phil Robertson | Kailua

GUANTANAMO

PRESIDENT LEARNING SOME HARD LESSONS

The president is learning fast, albeit from the school of hard knocks. Closing Guantanamo seemed like a campaign commitment no-brainer that would delight his leftist core and calm feckless Europeans hysterical over the prison's existence. The prospect of adoring European audiences alone was too attractive to pass up.

But reality has intruded again.

With constituents aroused over the thought of terrorists as neighbors, Congress is refusing to fund the closure and relocation.

It is time for the president to face facts and recognize that the remote and absolutely secure Guantanamo is the ideal place for the captured terrorists who, given the half the chance, would be back in the jihad business. Of course, the much-maligned Bush administration figured this out a long time ago.

Tom Freitas | Hawai'i Kai

PEACOCK KILLING

RESPONSE SEEMS LIKE A WITCH HUNT

The May 23 story on the Makaha lady who killed a feral peacock with a baseball bat was shocking in that she was charged with a crime. How was her act different from a hunter killing a feral pig? How is it different from killing crowing roosters, poisoning rats or squashing roaches? It sounds like nuisance control, rather than torture or cruelty.

It must be the peafowl's beauty that made this a crime. It seems that city prosecutors took this action in response to public outcry — sort of like a witch hunt or a lynching.

Sally Youngblood | Hale'iwa

NATATORIUM

VESTIGE SHOULD BE SAVED, RESTORED

Please save the Natatorium. Prior to destroying the grand old lady Waikiki Theatre, I wrote to the editor in hopes that a group of citizens would try and save her. Well, no response or interest at the time and now what did we gain? A shoe store and more restaurants!

Any other city on the Mainland and around the world would not even consider destroying their past; they would enhance it to bring pleasure and history to the next generations.

The Natatorium should be restored to its original construction in all areas.

Once it's gone, it's gone forever.

Ron Baumgartner | Waikiki

FISCAL CRISIS

LET'S LEARN FROM CALIFORNIA'S ERRORS

"The state has been living beyond its means for years."

"The state has few limits on what state government can spend."

"We should have been limiting the growth of government for years."

"Voters said they no longer want the Legislature to balance budgets with higher taxes, complicated transfer schemes or borrowing that pushes problems off into the distant future."

"This is the year everything has fallen apart. We don't have an alternative. We're literally at the day of reckoning."

Excerpts from a disaster movie? No, it's from an Associated Press article describing the real-life fiscal disaster California now faces.

Can we have our legislators pull their heads out of the sand (Rep. Marcus Oshiro), see what they are made of (Sen. Colleen Hanabusa) and make the tough decisions (insert name here)?

If any good can come from California's mistakes, it's that we don't follow in their footsteps.

Orson Moon | 'Aiea