Harris is of no value to city business while running a campaign for governor. Honolulu needs a real mayor now.

The election to replace Harris should not be delayed to late 2002 as proposed. It should be held immediately, and all of the expenses related to such election should be paid for by Harris — who should also take himself off the county payroll as of the date of his announcement.

His actions now, in handling this matter properly, will set the stage for qualifying him to run for governor in the eyes of all voters.

John Michael White

Overhead lines can survive hurricanes

Sally Jo Manea's April 4 letter talked about utility poles and hurricanes. As a point of clarification, overhead lines and poles can be designed and constructed to withstand hurricane-force winds. That's what we plan to do for our Kamoku-Pukele line.

On Kaua'i, the steel pole transmission line designed for high winds survived Hurricane 'Iniki.

A Hazard Mitigation Report, prepared after 'Iniki by the U.S. Department of Energy, did not recommend undergrounding lines, primarily due to the high cost.

Our crews work with both underground and overhead lines. They will tell you that both have advantages and disadvantages. While overhead lines may be vulnerable to adverse weather, problems are easier to detect and fix. Underground lines are vulnerable to water penetration, termites and construction dig-ins, and problems are harder to detect, more costly to repair and take longer to fix.

For transmission line projects, Hawaiian Electric tries to balance a variety of factors — cost, operations and maintenance, environmental and engineering requirements — when deciding whether the utility lines should be placed underground or overhead.

Ken Morikami
Hawaiian Electric Co., Manoa resident

Sprinkler retrofits are a no-brainer

As the son of a firefighter, I was bothered by George Pevarnik's April 9 letter regarding the retrofitting of sprinkler systems in all high-rise businesses and condominiums.

Yes, firefighters get paid to go into harm's way. But, how much do you think they earn? Is any amount of money enough to justify a senseless death that could have been prevented by simply retrofitting a building with a sprinkler system? A sprinkler system has the ability to prevent unnecessary injury to firefighters and save the lives of those trapped inside a burning building.

While it may cost money to install sprinklers, it is likely that the amount of property damage incurred by a retrofitted building during a fire would be reduced, as the fire has a lower probability of spreading. One must remember that firefighters bravely provide a service by risking their lives to help others. As a society, we should repay them by doing whatever is reasonably possible to reduce their chances of serious injury. This includes placing sprinklers in high-rises.

In addition, the occupants of retrofitted buildings benefit as they have made themselves significantly less susceptible to a fiery death.

Clifford Wassman
Mililani

'Kanaka lament' plays loose with the facts

In Alani Apio's verbose "Kanaka lament" (Focus, March 25), he rants against the citizens of America. Apio probably means the U.S. government, but in this democracy, we the people are the government.

He gave us a whole page telling us three things: He is oppressed by the "white" man; the white man stole his land; the white man destroyed his culture and race. Let's shed the light of day on these assertions.

How is Apio oppressed? He has access to free education and subsidized health care; he can hold public office and vote for whom he wishes; he can pursue his religion and culture, and speak Hawaiian; he has the right to assemble and protest, and he can hire a lawyer to sue those he feels are oppressing him. Maybe Apio feels oppressed by the laws of Hawai'i and the United States. Well, sometimes I feel oppressed, too, Mr. Apio.

He says the white man stole all the land in Hawai'i. I don't know about where he lives, but here on the Windward side of O'ahu, I beg to differ. The single largest landowner is the Bishop Estate, followed by the Campbell Trust, of which part-Hawaiians are the beneficiaries; a Hawaiian-American hui owns huge tracts of land through the Punalu'u area and many Chinese-American hui own large parcels from Kane'ohe on up the coast. Where are these white male land grabbers?

How could the white man destroy his culture and race? Did the white man force Hawaiians to intermarry with other races? Isn't it a fact that Apio's own forebears are to blame for the dilution of the Hawaiian race and culture?

Art Todd
Kane'ohe

Hawaiian monarchy didn't give land away

Regarding Toby M. Kravet's April 9 letter: I feel the Hawaiian monarchy sought out knowledge, appreciation and a better way of life for themselves (and their people). I don't think they meant to say, "Hello, anybody, come to my land and take my people, my kingdom, my way of life. I'm trying to open my heart here, and let you know about Hawai'i. It's a beautiful land with beautiful people, so come and take it from me. It's yours."

The Hawaiian monarchy wanted respect around the world, and it wanted the international world to know of Hawai'i's existence. I'm not sure if the Hawaiian monarchy (at the time) was doing this for its own self-worth or for its people, but the fact remains: A group of businessmen stole the land from its rightful owners, the Hawaiian people.

It's sad when people like Kravet and others keep forgetting about how the Hawaiian people lost their land to those who took advantage of a giving and loving people. People who are not going to let Kravet forget about it.

Gilbert K. Mahi
Pearl City

Tourism-impact study could be of great benefit

If in fact Gov. Cayetano's tourism-impact and carrying-capacity report comes to fruition, then the initiative could be a turning point in Hawai'i's history of haphazard development.

The process needs to have teeth, one that not only determines threshold levels of stress to both natural and human resources, but also contains enforcement mechanisms to control and restrict development projects and other factors causing reductions in verifiable quality-of-life measures.

No amount of money — certainly not the $1.2 million reported price tag — can equal the value of controlling the forces negatively affecting life quality of our citizens and the vitality of those natural systems that alone can be called the "golden goose" of Hawai'i's economy.

The key to this process is regional quality-of-life indicators. These indicators guide developers, planners and government officials in short- and long-term economic and land-use decisions by providing a more holistic estimate of overall prosperity and community health than society has ever received from the partial measurement called gross state product.

This report must lead Hawai'i away from the historic "limitless growth" paradigm to a realization that we must put the brakes on growth when it begins to damage the life-support systems and life quality our communities and economy depend on.

Richard Weigel
Hawai'i Sustainable Lifestyle Network

Where's Ben when he's critically needed?

We want an education system that BENefits kids by providing a qualified teacher for every classroom.

Where's BEN?

We want an education system that BENefits teachers by making it economically feasible for them to stay in the profession without taking second jobs.

Where's BEN?

We want an education system that BENefits educators by providing them with the fairness, support and respect they deserve for the vital role they play in the future of all of our citizens.

Where's BEN?

We want an education system that BENefits our community and our precious environment by enabling us to attract clean industry and families of these firms who know education is the key to the future and won't move here unless there is a quality education system for their children.

Where's BEN?

Education BENefits us all.

Where's BEN?

Joan Stone

Teacher pay claim ignores the math

The state Office of Collective Bargaining needs to go back to school. In its full-page ad in the April 11 Advertiser, it made the following statement: "Beginning teachers would have seen a pay increase from $29,000 to $35,000."

This equates to about a 20 percent increase in pay. Was this just bad math, or was the office trying to exaggerate and fool the public?

In truth, the 14 percent pay raise proposed by the governor only results in an increase to the salary schedule of 7 percent. The other 7 percent is proposed to "unlock" the currently frozen step-pay schedule to allow teachers to progress up the pay scale after their third and fourth years.

Charles T. Queen

Cherry Blossom queen has acquited herself well

Three cheers for Catherine E. Toth, the 2001 Cherry Blossom queen who wrote a positive and educational article about her experience in the Cherry Blossom Festival pageant.

As a former Narcissus Festival queen, I remember how misunderstood our cultural pageants were. Too many reporters enjoyed stereotyping all pageants into what was a popular sentiment of the times, i.e., pageant-bashing.

Not all pageants are alike. There is a range out there, so any young lady who is considering the experience should carefully review what is being offered, from training to expectations.

Cherry Blossom and Narcissus festivals concentrate on teaching the pageant participants about the Japanese and Chinese cultures and heritages. The culmination of the months of preparation is still the search for the "ideal" representative of her community.

Over the years, the concept of "ideal" has happily matured to a well-rounded person. Catherine sounds like an outstanding Cherry Blossom queen, well-rounded and well-grounded. Congratulations!

Queenie Mow Chee
1971 Narcissus Festival queen

Senior citizens being taken advantage of

On April 5, I was at the state Capitol to testify on SR91 and SCR123, resolutions on studies on legalized gambling.

When I entered the Capitol, I saw a large group of senior citizens wearing brand-new T-shirts, and on the front of the T-shirts was the message, "Gaming for Better Education."

One of the seniors recognized me and we began to talk. I asked him if he was for gambling, and he said, "No," that he was given the T-shirt to wear and was told it would help the teachers.

A Filipino lady sat next to me; and when I asked her if she was for gambling, she said, "Gambling — I no like gambling — bring bad people and bad for our children. I helping the teachers."

They did not know that gaming meant gambling. It bothered me that they did not know why they were at that hearing.

Please, let us not take advantage of senior citizens.

Irene Matsumoto

Special-ed program is hurting regular ed

It's politically incorrect to voice this opinion in too many places today, but I think this whole special-education thing has grown out of hand.

Today, the term "disability" has been applied to so many different conditions that it is beginning to lose any significance at all, since there is a disability that can be claimed for almost anything. And the most unfortunate side effect of this is that those individuals who are truly disabled and are in need of special accommodations are at risk of becoming lost in the sea of all of the newly defined disabled population.

Compounding the situation is the fact that there is definitely a class of students who are being neglected as a result of all of this. What about the student who is not singled out for something (either being gifted/talented or being "special ed")?

As a former regular-ed teacher, I have firsthand experience with the challenges a teacher faces in giving attention to each student, especially when some need more attention than others. Inevitably, some fall along the side and have to fend for themselves. Will there need to be a lawsuit by a "regular-ed" parent to help sway the balance back toward the center?

Judge Ezra may have had good intentions, and the legal case that sparked all of this definitely demonstrated the lack of common sense displayed by the Department of Education at that time, but the cure has grown into more of a problem than what it was originally intended for.

Aaron Mersberg

Too many laws are choking our society

Congressional and state legislators need to take a lesson from history. More than 2,500 years ago, the renowned Chinese sage Lau Tzu warned that government laws often made things worse, not better.

Today, too many unenforceable, frivolous and taxing laws choke our society. Thousands of laws, attempting to micromanage society, have made things more unmanageable. More laws are then passed to help weak laws and make things more confused.

Special-interest groups and insecure people share the blame. They lobby for more laws and diminish the freedom of others for their own selfish desires. People and government must understand that there is a special nature in the way things are and that laws cannot correct most things.