Letters to the Editor
The real America is right here in Hawai'i
A March 20 letter made me wonder what makes Hawai'i so special. The writer went into some detail explaining that the local lifestyle is not what the Mainland is interested in, and he's probably correct.
I went to a party recently that could not have happened on the Mainland. In attendance was a Filipino, a Chinese/Portuguese, two Japanese, two haoles — excuse me Caucasians — and one popolo — excuse me, African American. No place else in the world can seven guys (Americans all) from six different races party together at a local establishment, drinking, eating (heavy, heavy pupus), laughing and talking story, and then follow that up with a sojourn to another (Oriental) establishment, singing (well, at least trying to), drinking (very sensibly) and eating the night away.
My friends come from all walks of life, from all races and ethnic groups. That's not interesting to the Mainland television viewers? Great. Let the Mainland keep what's wrong with America, because here in Hawai'i, real America is where it's at.
Gary Suzukawa
Hawaiian language was indeed discouraged
Lahaina resident Richard McLean disputes that Native Hawaiians were discouraged from speaking their native tongue by missionary settlers in earlier times (Letters, March 23). He states this fact as "utter nonsense" and suggests that Hawaiians "get a grip and stop trashing others."
Well, Mr. McLean, I suggest you do some research on the Hawaiian language. My ancestors were in fact discouraged from speaking their native language in the late 1800s and even into the early to mid-1900s.
Even Kamehameha Schools, of which I am a proud alumnus, discouraged Hawaiian from being spoken for a time. Some schools even went so far as to physically reprimand Hawaiian students who translated classroom instruction to their fellow classmates who could not understand English.
I know this because I had two great-great grandparents who spoke fluent Hawaiian but did not teach my grandparents out of fear of having them rapped a dozen times across their knuckles with a ruler, as was done to them in school.
J. Ikaika Anderson
Waimanalo
Violence shouldn't be a police tactic
A March 26 front-page article, "Authorities prepare for protesters," and a more "in-depth" related piece, "Security plans gel for bank meeting" by Rod Ohira, about security preparations for the upcoming Asian Development Bank meetings, presented inaccurate pictures of what is likely to occur here and what occurred in Seattle.
If there is a lesson to be learned from Seattle, it is that there are no effective violent methods of crowd control. Violence should never be used on nonviolent persons, particularly if they are peacefully assembled, illegally or not, in large groups.
Another lesson is that an overwhelming majority of assemblers tend to be nonviolent. The suggestion made by Assistant Police Chief Boise Correa that 5 percent of the public who gather to protest meetings of this sort are violent is absurd.
Joseph Boski
Homeless aren't a threat to ADB
This is in reference to the bill before the City Council that would empower the police to use mounted officers and dogs to drive the homeless from the parks.
Some of the homeless people in Ala Moana Park are part of my church family. They are neither a threat to the Asian Development Bank nor to any citizen. None of them has been cited by police for anything other than "illegal camping."
Why is it necessary to put a law on the books that would target this one class of citizens with the terrorizing prospect of facing dogs and mounted police officers? Before voting on the bill, I would urge the Council to come down to the park, meet some of the homeless, and then decide whether they are the threat to society this bill implies.
Bob Walker
Let's work together on Manoa power line
The electrical transmission line argument — HECO against Manoa residents and the Outdoor Circle — leaves the sides poles apart and stretches their credibility.
HECO informs the Outdoor Circle, Hawai'i's authority on environmental aesthetics, that tall ridgeline transmission poles above Manoa will look fine with a lick of paint. HECO's initial impact statement saw even the UH Manoa campus as aesthetically unimportant and could therefore host 138-kilovolt overhead lines. Meanwhile, HECO, Hawai'i's undoubted power-distribution expert, is informed by the Outdoor Circle that O'ahu does not need any added electrical transmission links.
Now with the politics in full flood and supporters from both sides gathered at the Capitol, the incongruity of engineers and environmentalists professing special expertise in each other's subjects is buried beneath oceans of red tape and special-interest lobbying.
The solution, so obvious to everyone, including tourists who now vacation elsewhere and an increasing majority of people electing to live in new communities with underground services, apparently eludes the embattled and embittered protagonists, armed with their incredible tales.
As communities, we'll get what we pay for — no more, no less. Working together to obtain a collective vision for our future should be the goal.
M. Colgan
Hawai'i College of Design
Focus on university, not on new projects
The State of Hawai'i needs a well-educated workforce, not a shortsighted economic policy that keeps borrowing money for construction projects, trying to build its way out of every economic slowdown.
The governor believes he can find the money to support expensive capital improvements — a new medical school, a "world-class" aquarium, the redesign of Diamond Head crater and the profitable Ala Wai Golf Course as a park. But there is "no money" for the faculty salaries needed to maintain one of the state's prime assets: its university.
The governor needs to reconsider his position on the university. The faculty are not greedy, but they cannot be expected to stay in Hawai'i without compensation and support similar to that provided by Mainland universities.
Patricia Donegan
Governor is right on teacher raises
It's no surprise to read that Hawai'i Labor Relations Board member Chester Kunitake is accusing Gov. Cayetano of "trying to use the board ... to basically stop the teachers from exercising their right to strike under the collective bargaining law" (March 24). After all, prior to serving on the board, Kunitake was HGEA's public policy officer.
I support raises for teachers, but I agree with the governor that there is not enough money to give what the HSTA is demanding.
Keep on fighting, Ben; you're doing what's right.
Michael Peters
Campaign reform will be campaign issue
Thanks to the fine investigative reporting by Kevin Dayton and Lynda Arakawa, the voters have been able to see the clear connection between money and what happens in the Legislature.
The demise of the Pilot Project for Campaign Finance Reform by the Senate was obvious from the beginning. To avoid the criticism of not hearing the bill, which happened last year, it was heard for 2 1/2 hours by the three committees involved, with most of the senators present. The final blow was the 5-second huddle afterward, when the chairs alone decided to defer (kill) the bill without letting the other senators vote.
The public has the right to know who supports and who does not support campaign finance reform. And it certainly will be, and should be, a campaign issue in the next election.
Grace Furukawa
Ehime Maru couldn't avoid sub accident
Twice now I've read letters from readers pondering who was manning the Ehime Maru's sonar equipment and whether the Ehime Maru took any evasive action to avoid the accident.Ê
It's absurd to expect a fishing vessel to be able to reliably detect and identify a U.S. nuclear submarine — the Soviets invested billions of dollars and many years of training trying to reliably locate and track American submarines. It's not something you can readily do with a Bass Tracker.
Even if the Ehime Maru had detected the Greeneville on sonar, it's unlikely it would have known what it was or that there was an imminent danger of collision.
As to the question of evasive action, what evasive action could the Ehime Maru take against being struck from beneath? By the time she was alerted to the Greeneville's presence, the damage had already been done.
Ben M. Schorr
'Ewa Beach
Traffic management should be priority
This letter is to salute Steve Chong for his March 11 letter about roadwork taking too long in Hawai'i. Not only does it take too long, but the manner in which the work is done has to be the worst in the 50 states.
Contractors and their employees act as if they own the property, scattering their safety cones and equipment in the streets any way that seems to be handy for them. This unnecessarily causes delay beyond belief. It seems no one in government gives a damn or understands the economics related to traffic.
There should be a state czar of traffic management, schooled in the art of economics of transportation and traffic management. It is time all contractors and their employees, along with all policemen, be required to attend classes to learn of the importance of traffic management.
It is obvious no one in government really understands the cost of traffic delay, to say nothing of the frustration and rage it often brings.
Jack Feaster
Seabees deserved plaque at Punchbowl
I was a Seabee and served in Vietnam and the South Pacific. I was glad to see the article about the plaque at Punchbowl.
Those World War II Seabees especially did a grand job. Kudos to those responsible, and to you for publishing the report. I'll pass it on to all Seabees I know. Thanks.
Glenn "Wally" Wallin Sr.
Navy Seabee, 1968-72
Bicyclists shouldn't face oncoming traffic
I cannot let the March 24 letter from David Lipton go unanswered. His suggestion that bicyclists face oncoming traffic is absolutely without merit and would result in an extremely dangerous situation. I can only conclude that Lipton is not a bicyclist.
First, the accident he uses to justify his suggestion occurred in an area where there are shoulder or bike lanes of around 10 feet in width on both sides of the highway. Newspaper reports of witnesses to the incident clearly suggest that the vehicle swerved into the bike lane, struck the biker and then drove off. This does not suggest your everyday kind of accident.
Second, but more important, is a thing called the "closing speed." This is the speed at which two vehicles approach one another. When they are going in the same direction, the closing speed is determined by subtracting the slower vehicle's speed from the faster one. On the other hand, when they are going in opposite directions, the closing speed is determined by adding the speed of the two vehicles together.
I ask you, then, which closing speed allows both vehicle operators the most time to see one another and take appropriate evasive action?
Mr. Lipton, there are some loonies out there on bikes who may do what you suggest, but they will create a more dangerous situation for themselves and other road users, especially other bikers who are doing the right thing.
James V. Pollock
Kane'ohe
Same movies run at all the theaters
The movie screen saturation has become a disservice to moviegoers in that the same movies are showing at all locations of all three chains in Hawai'i.
However, once a particular movie has cleaned up all over the place, it disappears until it materializes in shrunken form on video or TV. What is gone is the opportunity to catch the one you missed at a second- or third-run theater — at a lower price since the first-run print is now a trifle worn.
Perhaps the exhibitors could think about reserving some of those mini-theaters in their complexes for second-run features at lower prices, as in days of yore. I'm sure the days are gone when double features for 99 cents were available. But two Oscar contenders for 5 bucks? Try it.
Lloyd J. Wood
