The Maui News has long been proud of our tradition of running a lot of letters to the editor. As has been noted here many times, as many letters appear on these pages as in any paper we've seen.
The "Letters" section is a public forum, a chance for individuals to express opinions, sometimes buttressed with facts and other times by supposition, extrapolation and imagination. The policy at The Maui News is to run as many letters from as many readers as possible, editing them for readability, length and civility. While it's appropriate to attack an idea, it is not appropriate to attack the person promoting that idea.
While often entertaining, the letters also offer a window into the community with readers sometimes acting as reporters and observers of events. Judging from the reaction, these reports are read avidly by county and state officials. The letters can be used to rally community support for a cause, and also to react to the way The Maui News reports events and issues in the news columns.
Readers are also free to respond to the opinions expressed in local editorials such as this one. In fact, a major goal of local editorials - traditionally reflecting the opinions of the publisher - is to stimulate public debate of current events.
The letters must contain your name with a contact phone number so we can verify authorship. They should be sent to letters@mauinews.com or submitted on the mauinews.com website through our virtual newsroom.
So, again, we invite readers to submit letters - they appear online as well as in the paper.
(Portions of this editorial have appeared previously in The Maui News.)
* Editorials reflect the opinion of the publisher.
