Letters to the Editor

Galleries will tell unknown story of queen

I am sorry that Carolyn Peters is strongly opposed to plans to improve Washington Place (Letters, Feb. 21). However, her letter did not accurately state our plans for restoring Queen Lili‘uokalani’s former residence.

Washington Place would remain the formal public residence of Hawai‘i’s governors and the setting for historic events into the future. But plans call for the upstairs modern-day bathrooms, bedrooms and closets to be transformed into the Queen Lili‘uokalani Galleries, which will tell the largely unknown story of our beloved queen. The first family’s private quarters will be in a new structure on Washington Place grounds.

The people of Hawai‘i will finally have access to a part of this beautiful home that has been off-limits for 150 years. Our people will have a place to learn new things about their history.

Jim Bartels
Washington Place curator

Solve our education problems without delay

There are at least two massive deficits in the local public schools that do not require experts or mandates to recognize or solve: There are too few textbooks and too few classrooms.

Buy the books and build the classrooms. Start now.

And the Felix controversy reminds me of racial segregation in the South. Everybody saw the injustice, but it took Uncle Sam to integrate those schools. The same kind of action may be required to get special education for our kids in Hawai‘i.

I do not see that this state will address special education any time soon without a firm push. Perhaps other citizens of this state are happy to be bottom feeding with Alabama and Mississippi, but I am not. Remember, there is no one so blind as he who turns away.

Education is not a liberal or conservative issue. It is an issue of basic human rights.

David T. Webb
Mililani

New education center will teach us manners

I am thrilled that Hanauma Bay will have its new education center. Generations of visitors will now be encouraged to visit the bay to learn more about and appreciate its ecological properties, not simply for the fun and the sun.

Hanauma Bay is a special place that exists to bring people and marine organisms in close proximity, where we, and not the fish, are the visitors. And as our tutu remind us, as visitors we must not overstay our welcome, be rude, make a mess or steal from our hosts.

With our improved behavior, Hanauma Bay’s manini, uhu and humuhumu-nukunuku-a-pua‘a may just invite us back for another visit.

Robert H. Schmidt

Republicans finally have a House voice

Imagine being hired for an important temporary position that requires your special talents and abilities. And then, on the first day, you are told to go to the basement, with instructions to sit on your hands and keep your mouth shut. Until the contract is up ... in two years.

That is exactly the position Republican lawmakers have been in, in every session of the Legislature, for as long as I can remember. According to parliamentary procedure, the speaker of the House, Rep. Calvin Say, has the power to kill any legislation he wants, quietly and effectively.

In this historically Democratic House, that means Republican bills are rarely heard in committee, and almost never make it to the full House for a vote. The Republican voice may have been heard on TV and in the paper, but it is almost never found in the actual legislation.

But now the Republicans finally have a tool.

In the last election, Republicans achieved enough of a presence in the House to use parliamentary procedure to make legislating difficult for the Democrats without Republican cooperation. Finally, a tool to make the Democratic leadership really put one or two Republican ideas on the table. That’s what all these Republican maneuvers are about.

The 19 Republican members of the House have the right to aggressively represent their districts, and the House leadership should respect that right and put their issues on the table. I’m sure Republican cooperation will quickly follow when their voice is really heard.

David Grygla

Sex offenders already are in neighborhoods

I’m having a hard time understanding the mentality of members of the respective neighborhood boards in Kapolei, ‘Ewa and Wahiawa. Have any of you ever checked out the Hawai‘i Sex Offender’s Registration at www.ehawaiigov.org/HI_SOR?

You people don’t even realize that you have living among you a heck of a lot of adult sex offenders already, much more to worry about than a facility for six juveniles who are seeking help.

As of Feb. 26, Kapolei has 31 offenders who live or work in that community. ‘Ewa and Wahiawa have 36 and 50 respectively. And that’s just the ones who are registered; God knows how many are not.

It’s time for you to stop being so selfish.

Oh, by the way, for those of you in Pearl City who were making noise when it first was announced that the facility would be in your neighborhood ... you have 50. Give me a break, people.

M. Hart
Mililani

Letter writer confused sentiments over dogs

I strongly agree with the sentiment, if not the facts, behind David Estrada’s Feb. 28 letter, "Dogs shouldn’t be valued over children."

I agree that dogs in public parks and on beaches should be on leashes and under full control of their owners at all times, and that the owners should clean up after their pets. I have no problem with the police hauling people into court if they don’t comply with that social contract.

That is what my Feb. 10 letter advocated, and that is what Sen. Fred Hemmings’ bill advocates. Did Estrada get my pro-leash letter confused with some other letter writer who favors letting savage dogs run wild so they can molest innocent beachgoers?

Jim Henshaw
Kailua

Hate crimes bill would give judges flexibility

Your Feb. 28 editorial regarding hate crimes legislation is flawed. Both the tracking and the sentencing portion of the hate crimes bills are needed.

The bills would not "handcuff judges" with a mandatory minimum. In fact, this legislation would give judges additional discretion in sentencing.

A current law for extended terms of imprisonment reads: "A convicted defendant may be subject to an extended term of imprisonment ... " This is currently used by the judiciary to impose harsher sentences on persistent offenders, professional criminals, dangerous persons, multiple offenders and those committing crimes against the elderly, disabled and minors under the age of 8.

The hate crimes bills merely include hate crimes offenders in this list.

This addition gives judges more flexibility in sentencing, not less.

Holly J. Huber
Civil Unions-Civil Rights Movement

Hawai‘i delegation should back tax cut

It will be interesting to see how our congressional delegation will vote on the president’s tax cut.

Let’s see if they care that their constituents currently pay the highest taxes in the nation.

Let’s see if they care that our tax burden helped drag Hawai‘i down into the state’s worst economic condition in decades, and that we sat out the greatest economic boom in the nation’s history.

Let’s see if they recognize that a budget surplus really means that their constituents were overcharged. Let’s see if they think we might benefit from getting some of our own money back.

Let’s see if they even remember it’s our money.

Let’s see if they think we won’t remember during the next election.

Robert R. Kessler

Rep. Yonamine showed integrity after his arrest

On Feb. 9, The Honolulu Advertiser reported that Rep. Nobu Yonamine was arrested for DUI, his second offense.

He stated that "he had let down his family, his constituents and the people he represents, and searching his conscience told him to resign." He did not deny what he did, nor did he give an excuse of any kind to try to cover up the incident. He demonstrated to Hawai‘i residents what is missing in the state and the nation: integrity.

Mr. Yonamine, I commend you and respect you for your courage and honesty for acknowledging your wrongdoing to the public, to your family and to your voters, and by doing the right thing.

Eric G. Matsumoto

It’s the law, and chef Chaowarsee broke it

As a full-time immigration attorney, I have followed with interest the recent media coverage of the case of chef Chai Chaowarsee. To the degree that the Immigration and Naturalization Service is blamed for Chaowarsee’s unfortunate situation, the blame is misplaced.

Under current U.S. immigration law, if an alien — even one with a green card — who has appealed an order of deportation leaves this country while the appeal is pending, the appeal is deemed abandoned and the order of deportation becomes final.

Such individuals face a bar of at least five years before they can return. That is the law. Although this bar can in some cases be lifted, the INS cannot simply do so at its discretion.

Those who feel the law is too harsh need to direct their concerns to Congress, not the INS.

David P. McCauley

Prayers are rare, but they’re for coach

Along with the hundreds of thousands of concerned fans of June Jones, I also relay my best wishes to Jones and his family.

Having been a UH season ticket-holder for over 20 years, I have seen the good, the bad and the ugly. I was ready to turn in my season tickets (12) until they announced the hiring of Jones. I then witnessed the greatest turnaround in NCAA history.

I am not a churchgoer; however, my prayers for Jones’ speedy recovery are real. In fact, the last time I said a prayer was in 1969-70 when we were under a heavy rocket attack in Vietnam. My prayers were answered then and I’m sure they will be answered once more.

Stan Mukai

Renewable energy is on HECO’s front burner

Regarding Jim Harwood’s Feb. 22 letter about renewable energy: Readers may be surprised to learn that combined, HECO, HELCO and MECO sell over three times as much electricity from renewable sources compared to the Mainland average, if you factor out power from large, federally funded hydroelectric projects.

And our solar water-heating program is by far the biggest in the country, even though our population is minuscule compared to most other states.

Those wind farms years ago in Kahuku? Our parent company, HEI, was on the cutting edge of wind technology when it invested over $30 million, over and above any federal funding, in the Kahuku Wind Farm project before selling it to a wind developer, who eventually shut it down.

But the experience did help bring the technology to where it is today. We are now planning to add 33 megawatts of wind power from three major projects on the Big Island and Maui, where the wind conditions make it more economical than on O‘ahu to generate wind power.

The letter questions the current practice of having customers pay the actual cost of fuel purchased to produce electricity. But one need only look at the current California energy crisis to see the economic chaos that happens when caps are put on retail prices utilities can charge while the costs they have to pay are set by the market.

At this time, it’s too expensive and unreliable to bank our entire energy future on renewables, but they play an important part in a total plan that balances cost, reliability and environmental impacts.

Lynne Unemori
Hawaiian Electric Co.

Come back, Lou Boyd, everything’s forgiven

Boy, do I miss Lou Boyd. His replacement, Kathleen Nelson, is careless to the extreme. Two recent examples:

She claimed Ian Fleming got "007" from the Georgetown zip code. Bond made his appearance in 1953’s Casino Royale, some 10 years before zip codes were introduced in the United States.

She wrote that Kurt Vonnegut and Dr. Seuss went to college together and were in the same fraternity. Vonnegut went to Cornell and Seuss [Theo. Geisel] went to Dartmouth.

Hope you’re enjoying your retirement, Lou — we aren’t.

Mark Stitham
Kailua

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