REAL ESTATE

FORECLOSURE HEADLINE UNHELPFUL TO ECONOMY

The main headline, "Home foreclosures tripled in Hawai'i," in your Sept. 19 issue is destructive and unhelpful to the local economy.

One must read all the way to Page A2, to get the true perspective by a professor of financial economics. One foreclosure filing for every 3,387 homes does not warrant your explosive headline.

As a real estate broker, I must assure you that we have stuck with those local lenders who we are familiar with and who have a long history in our local market. We advise everyone that underwriting guidelines have tightened and some of the exotic loans or loans issued to lower-score applicants are vanishing.

The environment may be changing in Mainland markets, but our local lenders are not forecasting doom and gloom for Hawai'i.

Your headline should read, "Foreclosures rise, but no doom and gloom."

Stop trying to scare people into reading your newspaper.

INSURANCE

VETO THREAT FOR KIDS' HEALTHCARE IS SHAMEFUL

Shameful. Shameful. Shameful. President Bush is threatening to veto healthcare for millions of uninsured kids. Millions of low-income kids will lose their health insurance unless the funding is renewed.

Why shouldn't children get healthcare like our politicians and the president get using our tax dollars?

The president is playing politics instead of helping sick kids. The new Democratic majority in Congress is working to fix our broken healthcare system — starting with our children — but President Bush and Republicans in Congress don't want Democrats to get credit for this popular effort.

Not preventing children from getting sick is shortsighted, immoral and wasteful. Let those who chose to get sick by smoking cigarettes help fund this program with their tax to help care for our children's health. It's the right thing to do.

ALAKAI

WRONG TO SINGLE OUT SUPERFERRY FOR ATTACK

I really don't understand why so many people are singling out the Superferry for attack.

Many letters seem to blame the Superferry for the rocks taken from one of the streams on Maui. The people on Maui must have tens of thousands of cars and any one of them could have taken the rocks and used it to make a wall and no one would ever have known. But just because the thief wanted to use the Superferry, it becomes the Superferry's fault.

As for the increase in traffic on the other islands, that doesn't make sense either because the residents of Maui and Kaua'i already have tens of thousands of cars, and visitors to those islands who reach their destination by plane rent hundreds of cars.

The 100 cars the Superferry will carry daily will increase traffic by less than 1 percent.

Lastly, I think people have already forgotten about the whale that was injured by a propeller recently. Why hasn't anyone demanded that all ships and boats with propellers be banned from the waters of Maui? This would make more sense to me since it has been shown that ships with propellers have damaged a whale. Also, this wouldn't single out any one business.

UH FOOTBALL

TYLER GRAUNKE SHOULD HOLD HIS HEAD UP HIGH

I agree with the comments made by University of Hawai'i football coach June Jones about the way fans treated Tyler Graunke during the game with Charleston Southern.

Where is the aloha? I sat next to a bunch of guys who booed from the moment Tyler stepped on the field.

There was a reason Colt Breannan didn't play.

I'm sure if Coach Jones felt differently, Colt would have been in the game in a heartbeat.

There are many more tough games ahead. Also, we won't have Colt Brennan as our quarterback next year.

The more reps Tyler or Inoke Funaki can get, the better. Let's support our team, no matter who plays.

Tyler, hold your head up high! You were wonderful!

ATTORNEY GENERAL

MUKASEY BRINGS STELLAR RECORD TO JUSTICE DEPT.

President Bush's selection of retired U.S. Chief Judge Michael B. Mukasey will help cure what is ailing the U.S. Justice Department.

Mukasey brings a stellar record of judicial intellect and fairness, hard work, and political savvy to an office that is badly in need of his character.

As a retired deputy U.S. marshal, I had the opportunity to observe Judge Mukasey in his courtroom. And, as one who was assigned to his protection detail, I also witnessed his actions away from the bench. He is unassuming, engaging and witty.

ATHLETIC FUNDS

UH SHOULD IMPROVE INTRAMURAL FACILITIES

Congratulations go to University of Hawai'i Athletic Director Herman Frazier for securing $500,000 in additional revenues for UH athletic programs.

Meanwhile, The Honolulu Advertiser aptly wishes for "win-win" results for the entire campus. After all, the entire campus community will be burdened on Saturday by losing access to important facilities during a busy part of our fall academic semester.

Win-win results are easily achieved. Frazier can give back to the entire community, even while keeping the funds within UH athletics' kuleana, by allocating a substantial portion of the Toyota windfall to improving our intramural facilities.

UH intramural facilities are woefully inadequate for a campus of our institutional caliber. To give just two examples: Equipment stays broken for weeks in an undersized intramural fitness room; the locker room at Duke Kahanamoku Pool remains dismally grungy, even after extensive reconstruction work was just completed there.

By providing quality physical fitness opportunities for UH Manoa's students, faculty and staff (and not just the elite athletes), we can all live healthier together. Like Toyota, we'll all be "moving forward."