Letters to the Editor
Drug court needs 'stick' of punishment
You missed my point in the April 11 debate coverage of a bill to make probation and treatment mandatory for nonviolent, first-time drug offenders.
I said the bill rests on a "naive" premise that our prisons are filled with nonviolent, first-time drug offenders. In fact, almost all such persons currently receive probation, not prison.
The city prosecutor, however, strongly opposes mandating probation, believing that taking away judges' power to send drug offenders to prison removes a tool that helps make drug court work. Let's support the drug court's program, which depends upon the stick as well as the carrot.
The same article contrasted me with Rep. Cynthia Thielen's plea for more drug treatment. Yet my speech also called for more treatment, adding that Republicans have identified tobacco settlement money, inappropriately diverted to a "rainy-day fund," as better used to overcome substance abuse.
Galen Fox
House Republican Leader
Campaign reform bill opposition 'galling'
In the April 11 Advertiser, Rep. Bob McDermott, R-32nd District, is quoted as objecting to the campaign finance reform bill currently being considered by the Legislature.
"If they are worth their salt, they should be able to raise money without publicly funded campaigns," he said.
After checking Rep. McDermott's 1999 campaign contributions, it is obvious he is definitely "worth his salt" to Philip Morris, which gave him $1,000, and R.J. Reynolds, which contributed $500. If we were cynical, we might wonder how the two tobacco companies expected Rep. McDermott to "earn his salt."
McDermott adds that he thinks it's galling public money might be used to finance a candidate he does not support. Some of us think it's even more galling to see what some of our representatives and senators do to "earn their salt" at the expense of the taxpayer under the current system of campaign financing.
It is interesting that we hear a lot from the Republican Party about cleaning up politics in Hawai'i; however, when it comes to actually doing something about reforming campaign financing, Democrats like Brian Schatz and Les Ihara are leading the charge, while McDermott, a Republican, is supporting the status quo.
Peter Knerr
Health care safety net is getting bigger holes
The state has many priorities to balance and fund. One of the essentials is basic health care for those most in need.
Last year, community health centers served over 22,400 uninsured people in Hawai'i — a 20 percent increase over 1997. The state has been contributing $1.9 million toward the $6.6 million cost of caring for this group. Unfortunately, $800,000 has been dropped from the state budget for this purpose for next year — a 42 percent cut at a time when needs are increasing.
We should all have compassion for the uninsured and want to see their needs met, but even if we're only concerned about the cost, we should be alarmed at this cut.
Without access to community health centers, a much greater number of uninsured people will be more likely to do one of two things: 1) gain access to health care through hospital emergency rooms; or 2) delay seeking care until they are so sick they need to be admitted for in-patient care.
Either of these is incredibly expensive and unnecessary, and we'll all be the ones who pay for it.
Beth Giesting
Hawai'i Primary Care Association
California's problems clearly parallel our own
A recent letter to the editor asserts that there is no similarity between the energy problems currently faced in California and those of Hawai'i. I disagree.
This is exactly the problem we face. Many here seem to believe the energy fairy will provide all the energy we need, just as those in California believed and continue to believe.
California has not built a major power plant in over 10 years. Meanwhile, the demand has continued to grow. In addition, it has built few additional transmission facilities, either for electricity or for natural gas used to generate electricity.
The engineers knew that eventually they would reach the point where there would be inadequate resources available to meet demand. Hawai'i's situation is similar.
When demand for power exceeded supply in California, coupled with the very shortsighted deregulation system they had set up for themselves, they found they had inadequate power to keep the lights on. On other occasions when they had adequate power, they had inadequate transmission facilities within the state to deliver the power where it was needed. To this day, they still refuse to recognize the basic problem.
California has decided it will do everything by consensus, thus ensuring nothing much gets done. We in Hawai'i have adopted the very same strategy for solving our problems. Just as those in California put their faith in the energy fairy, we put ours in the same energy fairy, along with the education fairy and the transportation fairy.
Believe it, we could get the same results they have in California. If we persist in thinking we can meet our energy requirements by building nothing but wind mills and solar panels, and not building any additional transmission facilities, then we should expect the lights to go out here, just as they have in California.
Colin M. Jones
OHA infighting hurts its reason for being
OHA should be renamed the Office for Hassles and Arguments.
While trustees squabble over administrative and personality differences, Barrett proponents plot to dismantle Hawaiian programs. Like Nero fiddling away while Rome burned around him, OHA members prefer to wage civil war against each other instead of facing the larger and much more dangerous common enemy.
The new board promised the best, the brightest and the most committed, but, regrettably, the internal fighting appears to be the same old stuff.
It's time for Hawaiian leaders to lick their wounds, bury their egos and realize the enemy is not within, but right in front of them, daring them to blink. Imua!
Wesley Kamakawiwo'ole
Mililani
Rene Mansho doesn't deserve to stay on
The movement to remove Councilwoman Rene Mansho for her indiscretions is picking up.
Some are saying she has paid a fine and has volunteered to pay from her own funds. Well, that is only expected — that is not anything praiseworthy. Further, fines paid from her campaign funds are not right. Constituents made those contributions expecting her to do her job, not to be spent on herself or for her personal pet projects.
A constituent remarked that she has done good things for the community. Well, that is only expected. You do not elect someone to office to do bad things.
Now, a high elected official stated that she should not be kicked when she is down. Well, she put herself there. He added that her removal will cause disruption. If we follow that reasoning, then no one will be removed from positions of leadership for committing crimes.
Her constituents who are working on her removal have been let down. She has served too long, and arrogance is written all over her actions.
Howard S. Okada
Editorials on ethics, Harris contradictory
Your editorial of April 12, "Mr. Mayor, don't forget about the city," was not congruent with your earlier position on ethics.
You urged city officials to focus on genuine conflicts, not just legally proscribed ones. I believe you mentioned that avoiding even the appearance of possible conflict of interest is critical.
Now comes Mr. Mayor announcing he will resign in about 15 months to run for governor. Until he resigns, he and his administration will be in constant conflict between helping look good right now as opposed to what's best for the city and taxpayers long term. There will be hundreds of temptations every day to use city money, influence and favors to help assure the election of Gov. Harris.
It's an ethics problem. Might be legal, but it does not pass the smell test. It's even barely possible that the problems are more apparent than real, but the temptation is there — in spades.
You should call for Jeremy Harris to resign immediately. Or, renounce your earlier ethics editorial. You can't have it both ways.
Richard "Dick" Rowland
A'iea
Self-congratulatory orgy was out of place
I was mesmerized recently watching 'ñlelo as the Legislature conducted a ceremony honoring all our past legislators and what they had accomplished for our state.
On hand were the three Oshiros: Paul, Marcus and the patriarch Bob, all beaming in their acknowledgement of their great works. Not present were former speaker Danny Kihano, Henry Peters, Milton Holt, Marshall Ige and many other distinguished but indicted or incarcerated Democratic dignitaries.
As they patted each other on the back for the fine state of the state they have left us with, the teachers were out pounding the pavement, trying to get a much-needed raise.
With all the work yet to come for the Legislature to adjourn in May, a ceremony dedicated to telling each other what a great job they have done seems so out of place. Yet, isn't that how we got here in the first place?
Garry P. Smith
'Ewa Beach
Beach renovation critic is wrong
Marion Kelly, in her April 13 letter, condemns state plans to renovate Kuhio Beach. Unfortunately her arguments are riddled with misinformation and error. Worse, she uses slick word-play in an attempt to mislead our thinking. Let's take her arguments one by one.
• Kelly implies the human origin of Kuhio Beach is grounds for not maintaining it. On the contrary, Kuhio is now a critical component of the $500 million that Waikiki Beach annually feeds into the state general fund — the same fund that pays for the conservation and access to Hawai'i's public lands, public education, health care, road maintenance and system of state government.
• Kelly claims the planned groin system at Kuhio is similar to one in the 1950s. This is false. The single T-head groin tested in the 1950s had no design basis, was not open to beach-sustaining waves and did not benefit from simultaneous sand replenishment, the key to successful beach restoration.
At the same time in front of the Royal Hawaiian, quantities of sand placed on the beach with no stabilizing structures washed quickly away and buried the reef. The resulting sand bar is still prominent today.
• Kelly wants us to believe that Waikiki Beach has more sand than ever. In fact, over 35 percent of Waikiki Beach is unusable at high tide or completely eroded away. Kelly is advocating letting our favorite beach simply disappear into the ocean.
• Kelly calls for more analysis of Waikiki Beach. The 3-foot-high stack of engineering reports on the floor of my office are proof positive that Waikiki is thoroughly studied. It is time to act in rescuing Kuhio Beach. Kelly's desire to spend more public money to write more reports reveals her stonewalling tactics.
• Kelly pleads to preserve the stagnant, cloudy, unhealthy water of the Diamond Head basin for the use of children and the elderly. I fail to understand her reasoning.
• Kelly claims the engineer behind the new design has no experience in Hawai'i. This is false. Olsen Engineering not only has worked in Hawai'i repeatedly over the last decade, it has partnered with local firms on jobs to mutually exchange the most advanced coastal engineering concepts.
Indeed, engineers at Olsen recently published a numerical model of the famous Maui surf site "Jaws" in an international research engineering journal. They have abundant experience in Hawai'i's waters.
Kuhio Beach is narrow and eroded because the crib wall prevents the ocean from naturally renourishing the sand there. The inimical water of the Diamond Head basin is never clear enough to see to the bottom, and stories of infections and diarrheal disease are common.
Chip Fletcher
Professor, Marine Geology and Geophysics, UH-Manoa
