WHY IS DANGEROUS ACTIVITY TOLERATED?

I'm writing this on Christmas night and the illegal explosives — no, they're bombs - and aerials are worse that ever.

We had to move our Christmas dinner indoors and close the windows because of the incredible disruption. Still, it did not work as the explosives have become larger and louder.

So, if it was your goal to ruin the spirit of Christmas for many neighborhoods, congratulations, you have succeeded. Apparently it's more important to set off bombs than respect the Christmas holiday — and the aloha spirit of respecting your neighbors.

Why hasn't this issue become a major focus of our media and Legislature? It goes on every year from October through December, seemingly with no action to stop it. The police do their best but the only way to stop this is to halt the explosives from entering our harbors in the first place.

Sen. Will Espero will be re-introducing a bill in the 2010 legislative session to create a task force to investigate how these explosives enter our islands. When this legislation is ready for the public to testify, everyone needs to be there to support this effort!

We have to ask ourselves — why is this dangerous activity tolerated at all?

MARK BARNES | Waipahu

FEDERAL MONEY

HAWAII'S PURSUING OF PORK IS NOT RIGHT

I'm 4,000 miles away in the Midwestern state of Missouri. It's in the news today (Dec. 23) that Hawaii receives a disproportionate amount of money from the federal government compared to other states. Over $300 a person for Hawaii where Georgia receives about $11 a person. Is this right or just? The entire nation is sharing in a financial recession. And is it just? The federal government is taking money from me, from my family, and giving it to you. I don't see how anyone can justify this behavior.

I'm calling you to task for sending congressmen and senators to Washington who appear to relish in abusing the relationship between us by pursing this "pork." This is not right, and I feel confident in believing that you would be offended if the roles were reversed.

CLAY ATKINS | St. Louis, Mo.

OBAMA VISIT

STICK TO WHAT'S NEWSWORTHY

Is it really necessary to take up space with the daily doings of the president and his family? Maybe they would like to be left alone to enjoy their vacation.

Surely, there must be something more important going on in the state.

He's my president, too, and I am concerned with his well-being, but I don't need to know when he exercises, or eats, or goes from Point A to Point B. That's something you keep track of with a senior citizen with dementia or those who can't take care of themselves.

Tell us when he visits Kapiolani hospital to visit disabled children or Tripler Army Medical Center to visit injured troops.

Now that would be newsworthy and much appreciated.

JIM FROMM | Waipahu

PROPERTY TAX

NEW MONEY WILL AVOID OAHU

After building a second home here on Oahu and employing local workers who paid income tax, buying building materials from local suppliers who pay a business tax, and paying sales tax on all the items I bought to furnish and finish the project, the city and county adjusted my property tax accordingly to reflect the new value. By the way, I now pay almost 10 times the original property tax bill.

Apparently all this added revenue was not enough. Because I don't spend at least nine months a year here, I have been labeled a non-homeowner, which of course has been done to allow for a new tax class of homeowner rather than one who lives here year-round. It turns out that because I don't live here year-round it is assumed that I can afford to pay more tax than my neighbor.

As foreclosures mount and property values drop with a corresponding almost 10 percent drop in property tax revenues, it will come as no surprise that values and revenue will continue to drop because new money will go elsewhere rather than take a chance here on Oahu.

MICHAEL NEWMAN | Haleiwa

RESEARCH GRANTS

MOTH PROJECT KEY IN SCIENCE AND ECONOMY

On Dec. 21, Sean Hao included my grant "Evolution of Hawaiian Moths" in an article on "wasteful" stimulus fund spending identified by Sens. John McCain and Tom Coburn. Yet my grant was not mentioned in the senators' report.

Further, our grant supports a postdoctorate, graduate student and four undergraduate researchers, plus high school interns, and provides UH with $162,848 to pay staff — badly needed funds during these severe budget cuts.

The research will reveal the diversity of a group of uniquely Hawaiian moths with more than 400 species, and the results will be of great use to land managers interested in saving Hawaii's natural heritage.

Without this research we simply don't know how many species there are, what they do, or how to manage them. The project involves DNA sequencing and contributes to a greater body of knowledge about gene evolution, which has broad applications to agriculture and medicine. This grant was very competitive after years of work, and will employ many people and educate students at many levels in cutting-edge technologies.

The discoveries that come will enrich our knowledge of this special place and help us conserve it. I wish a local reporter had made a better effort to investigate.

DAN RUBINOFF | Associate professor, University of Hawaii-Mänoa