Letters to the Editor
Problems not a result of chief's leadership
As a recent retiree of Hawai'i's finest, I feel I am qualified to make this statement: I support Lee Donohue both as an individual and as the chief of police. His integrity is of the highest standards.
The recent problems of the department are not directly a result of his administrative leadership. With the size of the Police Department ranked in the top segment of the nation, decentralization becomes necessary.
Sure, Donohue technically is responsible because he is the boss, but it would be unfair and unrealistic to require him to know everything that is happening in the department. That is why he has deputies and assistant chiefs, to help him run the department.
The recent problems are not his or the department's; they are the problems of the few. Although they cast a shadow on the entire department, the people who make up the Honolulu Police Department should be proud of who they are.
According to the basic ideals of democracy, everyone (including police officers) is innocent until proven guilty. These charges may be proven to be correct and, when the time comes, those found guilty should be punished. However, Chief Donohue and the rest of the department should be allowed to move forward and do their jobs.
Joseph Aiwohi
State should target real culprit of problem
A few comments on Jan TenBruggencate's article on the lack of shoreline fish (Aug. 20).
Fishing is necessary to supplement the food needed by those families who have been raised in our Hawaiian lifestyle. They should not be made to suffer by adding more regulations as to how and when they will be allowed to fish.
The article says, "Among the prime suspects for the lack of fish in nearshore waters is too much fishing." However, the real question to answer is "too much fishing" by whom, humans or the introduced carnivorous ta'ape?
Could it be that what's responsible for the reduction of fish in our nearshore waters is the ta'ape, a fish introduced by the territory of Hawai'i's Department of Fish and Game in 1955, when it released them without first studying their impact on local resources?
It now is known that ta'ape eat everything in sight, especially fish eggs and the very young of our indigenous fish population — kumu, weke, moi, mullet, lobster, octopus, etc. Scientists acknowledge they made a mistake and failed to correct it when it could have been corrected. Although measures can be taken to control the ta'ape, the government instead spends its time creating more regulations to control the needy fishermen. Why should the fishermen be forced to pay the price for the mistakes of others?
Before the state creates more fishing laws for humans, it should first spend time and effort figuring out ways to reduce the ta'ape population and the industrial runoff that pollutes and destroys our spawning grounds for marine species.
Transcriptions of "Ta'ape: What needs to be done" by Raymond S. Tabata, published in 1981, by the Sea Grant College Program, are available from the University of Hawai'i at Manoa. Read it, find out what happened, and learn from their mistakes.
George Downing
Spokesperson, Save Our Surf
Utility not using outdated technology
Your Aug. 24 editorial, "HECO continues to invest in the past" and accompanying dinosaur cartoon hit a new low in effortless journalism.
It looks like the total extent of research behind them is the front page story two days before in the free Honolulu Weekly, which headlined "HECO: Wired to the Past." Both stories attacked HECO for using outdated technologies for power generation, among other things.
A little deeper research would have revealed that the largest power development program under way across North America by any company employs the same generation technology as the last and largest generation addition to the HECO system in 1992.
The Mainland company is Calpine and the generation technology is the combination of both gas and steam turbines (jet engines) in a highly efficient heat recovery mode with selective catalytic reduction for NOX control. This is the best practicable technology available today for liquid and gaseous fossil fuels. It is most definitely not a 19th-century technology, as you seem to think.
In fact, what you call the "wave of the future," decentralized generation, is truly 19th-century technology, when every farm had its own windmill for pumping water. Ironically, it sounds like back to the future is what you are actually espousing. What's next? Outhouses behind every home?
Dick O'Connell
Computers can't teach what kids need to know
In regard to the Aug. 25 letter, "Updated technology needed in classrooms": Thanks, Mr. Loganbill, but no thanks.
The last thing my child needs is the opportunity to sit passively in front of a machine and "learn effectively." Computers are wonderful things, but they do not teach critical thinking, innovation or reasoning. Give me an outdated piece of chalk and a teacher passionate about his or her subject matter any time.
Students would be better off if they attended a school where things such as music, art and physical education were offered and then were able to go home to a comfortable, quiet place where their families had time to read and talk to them. Consider these words from Michael Bellino, an electrical engineer at Boston University, "We need to teach the whys and ways of the world. Tools come and tools go. Teaching our children tools limits their knowledge to these tools and hence limits their future."
Let's stop spending money on technology that will be obsolete in a few years and instead finance teachers' raises and physical plant improvements. Let's help families give their children a strong foundation before they enter school. Let's concentrate on the people, not the machines.
Kathleen Byrne Heidecker
Wahiawa
Better planning needed to ensure plants' success
Ah, more fuzzy-thinking "improvement" to Kailua District Park, presumably at taxpayers' expense.
I was fortunate to be one of the few people who saw the eight gorgeous new fan palms that were planted in Kailua. They were a stunning addition to one of the most out-of-the-way and vulnerable parts of the park. I thought to myself at the time, "If those beauties are here tomorrow, I'll start believing in hobbits and UFOs."
Imagine kick-standing eight shiny new bikes in the same spot and hoping to find them all there in the morning.
Although the plants were only a hundred yards from the police station, you'd have to move the sergeant's desk right into the middle of them to have a hope for their overnight security. Inevitably during the night some troglodyte yahoos got the idea into their tiny brains to kick the plants into oblivion.
About nine years ago, probably the same park planners put in about 40 silver buttonwood trees around the periphery of the tennis courts, with drip irrigation to help them flourish. For about a year, the trees did wonderfully well. Then some enlightened "expert" was found to cut all the trees back to their original size or smaller. Some died. Some battled gamely on.
Every year or so since, despite pleas by tennis players to the park authorities, the same vicious pruning has been unaccountably repeated. Now half of the trees are history and the survivors are curious artifacts of a once attractive idea.
Jim Hayes
Kailua
Safe, courteous driving can prevent angst
I am driving Koko Head-bound on the H-1 Freeway. Like Like Highway is closed and so is the Punahou off-ramp. It is a Saturday afternoon, but it looks like Friday rush hour.
I am in the middle lane, cruising three car-lengths from the car in front of me. Some guy behind me starts honking his horn, gesturing for me to speed up. He continues to ride my tail while I try to ignore his honking and avoid looking in the mirror.
A motorcyclist pulls in front of me, so I back off to a safe distance, which angers the honker further. Laughing to myself, I let in the next car and the next one, too. Courteous driving is a bad habit of mine: I let people merge and go with the flow of traffic.
We pass the Punahou mess and traffic begins to thin out, as it always does. I remain a safe distance from the car in front of me and change lanes to get to an exit. I notice the honker is way back, behind some other "idiot" who wouldn't get out of his way.
I wonder where he wanted me to go. Even if I had driven on top of the bumper of the car in front of me, the traffic would not have disappeared. If we all maintained a safe distance and allowed cars to merge, we probably would have far fewer traffic jams, accidents and angry people.
Lisa Wiley
Coach 'Genie' leaving legacy of inspiration
In our fast- and hurried-paced society, we often forget to recognize dynamic and dedicated volunteers who have made a difference in our local communities. One such individual's unequaled kindness and compassion should always be remembered, as it will serve to reveal insight into the grace and power of the human spirit.
This virtuous and altruistic individual is Mr. Eugene "Genie" Kuraoka of Waialua.
Genie volunteered with the Waialua Little League Organization, as well as with the Waialua High and Intermediate School varsity and junior varsity baseball team. Genie spent countless hours imparting his knowledge of the game to children and motivating them to reach their goals in life.
No one can quantify the monetary amount that Genie personally expended on the youth from the Waialua Little League and Waialua High School over the past 25 years. Genie simply gave to others from the kindness of his heart, which befitingly personified his philanthropic and humanitarian nature.
Although coach "Genie" can no longer volunteer his time as much as he used to, he has left an indelible and lasting legacy of community service and inspiration to the kids (and grown kids) of Waialua and Hale'iwa. Genie's quintessential good-heartedness and generosity should be recognized after a lifetime of coaching and unbridled giving.
Mark Gerum
Homeless problem getting out of hand
Has anyone visited Ala Moana Beach Park lately?
A year ago the park was a haven to homeless people wrapped in a blanket and tucked under a tree. Today, there are small villages set up, replete with coolers, barbeques, an occasional clothes line and extra chairs when a park table fails to accommodate. Sleeping bags also are a common sight.
Observing these people on an almost daily basis, I have concluded that the only time they move is when park employees turn on the sprinkler system.
Is anyone concerned or working on a solution?
Diane E. Myslicki
