COACH CAUSED GREAT PAIN BY DEALING 'ICE'

Don't squander your compassion on Mike DeKneef and his three-year
incarceration in a federal "country-club" prison camp ("Drugs put DeKneef a
long way from home," Star-Bulletin, June 16). Save your sympathy for those
whom he helped set on a journey of drug addiction through his dealing of
crystal methamphetamine.

Drug users disrupt people's lives and cause emotional trauma when they
commit crimes to buy the drugs they crave. But these tribulations are
relatively short-lived when compared to the harm caused by users who turn to
dealing, and thereby draw others into lives of misery.

When coaches Vern Ramie and Ed Cheff tell their players about Mike DeKneef,
it should be the story of the selfishness of a guy who dealt crystal
methamphetamine and drew others into a spiral of degeneration in order to
feed a cocaine habit, rather than the story of a guy who messed up his own
life and those of his wife and kids.

Father's Day may indeed be hell for the "loving husband and father of two,"
but how many other once-loving husbands and fathers are now family abusers
living on the edge of society because DeKneef's acts helped them get
addicted?

DeKneef should recognize that his drug dealing was a far greater sin against
society than his own use of cocaine and spend his time in prison searching
for a way to atone.

Michael A. Ho

FATHER'S DAY DESERVED A HAPPIER STORY

Father's Day is a day of happy celebration for fathers and grandfathers.
What did you print as the headline in the sports section? The story of a
father who saw his former coach arrested on drug charges, but learned
nothing from it; a father who knew it was wrong to sell cocaine and "ice"
but did it anyway, not thinking of the consequences and how his family would
be affected.

He is lucky to be alive and not serving more time than he was given.

Why not tell the story of a grandfather who is supportive of his
granddaughters, who encourages them to enjoy and excel at sports and school,
who goes on field trips with his granddaughter and her class because she
wants him to and because her class enjoys his company? One who makes an
effort to go to their games and cheer for them when they are playing? A
grandfather who is proud of and does all he can for his granddaughters? He
doesn't have to teach them right and wrong because he sets the example to
follow. (Don't forget grandma, who is just as involved and caring as he is).

That is the kind of story you should print on Father's Day. It's the story
about my uncle, who is the best father I know.

File Keliiaa

Waianae