Letters to the Editor

Keeping out gambling as market ploy absurd

The Third World country mind-set on this island has got to stop. Referring to Hawai'i as having a unique marketing advantage in not offering gambling is absurd.

Tourists, to any destination, will find the tourist attraction that appeals to them. I have gone to Las Vegas. I never gambled.

The mind-set that allowing gambling in the Islands would take money away from other attractions is another example of muddled thinking. If those attractions appeal to tourists, they will visit. Maybe some of those attractions should not have been developed in the first place.

Diane Tippett

Only Hawaiians can feel history's loss

Recently, a pure-Asian-born acquaintance raised in Hawai'i tested my reaction by stating "I'm Hawaiian."

Instead of arguing his point, which was his intention, I merely told him that "If the Kamehameha Schools defines being 'Hawaiian' as those with any fraction of Hawaiian blood who academically and socially fit their standards, and the Hawaiian Home Lands Department states that qualified Hawaiians have 50 percent Hawaiian blood (by the way, I have the 50 percent), then you are entitled to your own definition of 'Hawaiian.' "

It's a matter of semantics, right?

In other words, people can call themselves "Hawaiian" because they are born and raised in Hawai'i, or have resided here for more than a year (and are considered a resident of Hawai'i and therefore a "Hawaiian").

However, I thought about this after meeting a blond, blue-eyed, fair-skinned man on New Year's Eve. He stated that he was South African because he was born and raised in South Africa.

I thought to myself, "If I were born in Japan, would I be Japanese, even though I am a dark-skinned Hawaiian?" It would seem presumptuous of me to assume so. And I'm almost positive the Japanese there would not accept my statement, nor would they allow me to apply for scholarships, grants and schools strictly for Japanese people.

So why is it different here in Hawai'i just because we are supposedly all Americans previously from other countries?

Hawai'i is different from other states in several ways. We were not admitted to the United States; we submitted. Our queen was imprisoned, and our monarchy and government overthrown. That is how we became a state. A real "Hawaiian" suffers from the loss, and does not gloat because of it.

J. Scharsch

Without teachers, where would we be?

I am a student at Lanikai Elementary, where our teachers don't strike. We are a Charter School, but I support the other teachers. I think they deserve a raise.

Ben Cayetano tricked everyone by saying he wanted education first. It was on the top of his list. Did he pull through? Students can't go to school and learn because of the strike.

Teachers wake up early to teach and go home late. If it weren't for teachers, what would the world be like? How would we learn?

Andrea Edmunds
6th Grader, Lanikai Elementary School

Ambulance copter could save time, lives

Regarding the April 9 article "Neighbor Islands medical transport system lacking": The biggest mistake the state made was in 1997 or 1998 when it allowed Mercy Air (Helos), on the grounds of Maui Memorial Hospital, to go out of service. Each flight had a flight nurse and paramedic.

Army MAST flights normally only carry emergency medical technicians, who do not have the same training as those on the Mercy Air Helicopters flights did. With quarters right on the grounds of the hospital, the Mercy flights could be airborne within 10 minutes of being called out, as opposed to the fixed-wing aircraft in Honolulu and other islands where you were lucky if the crew was airborne within 45 minutes and then another 45 minutes to an hour to Maui or less time to Kaua'i.

Even when the aircraft was stationed on the Big Island, you were still talking about two hours-plus to load the patients and get them to O'ahu hospitals. Several of the O'ahu hospitals had landing pads, so the Mercy Air copter was much faster and more efficient.

Another seemingly constant problem was the reluctance at times for the doctor or emergency rooms on the Neighbor Islands to call for the helicopter. It was not as cost-effective, but it could get the patient to O'ahu much faster, which I believe was the more important issue.

Refueling for the helicopter on the Neighbor Islands was always a problem, especially on the Big Island and Kaua'i. If a statewide system to include helicopters were set up, including all of the support systems needed, such as repairs, refueling stations, etc., it could be a viable system and a lot of lives could be saved.

John Heatherman
Kailua