Letters To The Editor

Don Chapman
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July 30, 2008 - MidWeek
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‘Mariner’ follow-up

I’m writing to correct some of the errors included in Bob Jones’ column “The Ancient Mariner.”

Dr. John Craven served as director of the Law of the Sea Institute until the early 1990s, when the 21-member international board that governed the institute voted to terminate him as director. The University of Hawaii held only one position on that board, which was then chaired by Edward L. Miles, an eminent ocean policy expert based at the University of Washington. Dr. Craven was never locked out of his office at the institute, nor were his possessions there confiscated.

Mr. Jones’column also discusses an old employment lawsuit filed against UH in 1989. In that case, no findings of fact were ever made that the law school or any of its faculty members engaged in any discriminatory practices.

Each of the three professors mentioned in Bob Jones’s column - David L. Callies, Randall W. Roth and Jon M. Van Dyke - has been a distinguished member of the faculty of the William S. Richardson School of Law for more than three decades. Each is an outstanding teacher and writer, each is active in community affairs, and each has helped to make both our faculty and our student body the most diverse in the nation.

Aviam Soifer, Dean, William S. Richardson School of Law
University of Hawaii at Manoa


Inner beauty
Jade Moon’s column, “Drawing The Line on Wrinkles,” was right on target! As a senior citizen, I am getting weary of the hype of Botox and this ubiquitous youth frenzy is all aspects of society.

It seems if we are so obsessed with putting only healthy food into our bodies along with a myriad of vitamins, why would even consider injecting a deadly poison into our skin - for the sole purpose of looking younger? How hypocritical is that?

Kudos, Ms. Moon. You have an inner beauty. You don’t need Botox, unlike Nadia Comeneci and Mark Spitz. Does their endorsement mean exercise does not count?

I look forward to a time when we shift out values to revering age and the knowledge, wrinkles and gray hair that come with it.

We would certainly have a morally richer as well as monetarily richer society!

Celeste Voeks
Mililani


The real McCain

Thanks to letter-writer Carolyn Haley for a well-thought-out letter about John McCain, his first wife, his affair, his divorce and the current Mrs. McCain. I was not surprised that columnist Jerry Coffee, a longtime personal friend of the senator, left all of that and so much more out of his puff piece about the candidate. Maybe it was a space limitation. And maybe Mr. Coffee didn’t remember the Keating Five affair, or the charges that McCain collaborated with his North Vietnamese captors while a POW. Maybe readers should be encouraged to check out www.vietnamveteransagainstmccain.com.

In all fairness to Mrs. McCain, I am not bothered by her wealth. Aren’t all of our politicians and their spouses richer than the rest of us?

And when I saw Mrs. McCain on television news helping her husband down the steps so he would not stumble and be hurt or fall in front of the television cameras, my first thought was, “There is a caring wife, looking out for a much older man.” I must admit that my second thought was that she recognized that he is not all that steady anymore, and to be pictured falling down the stairs would adversely affect her chances of ever living in the White House.

Keith Haugen
Nuuanu

Drugs and teachers

Bob Jones asks, “If a teacher performs OK at work, but quietly smokes or snorts at home, what’s the harm except to him or herself?” If a teacher uses illegal drugs, he is likely to tell his students that illegal drugs are OK. As for teacher drug testing, it should be done at hiring and randomly thereafter.

Russel Noguchi
Pearl City

Send your letters to MidWeek Letters, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 500, Honolulu, HI. 96813; by fax to 585-6324, or by email to dchapman@midweek.com. Please include your name, address and daytime and evening phone numbers. We print only the letters that include this information, but only your name and area of residence will appear in print. Letters may be edited for clarity and space.
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