Letters to the Editor
Smokers don't have a right to kill others
Freedom should not kill others.
When tobacco products kill over 400,000 people each year, it's not a "right to smoke" issue, it's a health issue.
If our leaders refuse to do anything about this threat, then it is time to change the leadership of our City Council or state government. They are not looking out for our best interest by refusing to implement a smoking ban.
This is what America is all about: the right to change the laws that do not protect the innocent. The right to smoke should not give smokers the right to kill others in the process — the same as drinking, owning a gun or suicide.
It has to be done responsibly. You can't hurt or kill others around you who don't agree with your lifestyle.
Alvin Wong
Pearl City
Smoking ban would hurt Island businesses
The Advertiser's continued support of a restaurant smoking ban in Hawai'i (editorial, Dec. 15) is both near-sighted and misguided.
The restaurant business is a tough business that is already heavily regulated. The industry must maintain enough flexibility to serve the needs and desires of a broad and diverse range of people in Hawai'i and our visitors.
Bankers and business people alike will tell you that the restaurant industry is a competitive business. This is true for both the big-business restaurants and the small mom-and-pop operations around the Islands. Most restaurants are lucky to be able to turn a 5 percent profit.
In an already-burdened industry, a complete non-smoking ban would reduce an already slim profit margin.
It is also a mistake to compare the smoking ban in restaurants to the smoking ban in theaters and on the airlines. Airline flights and movies are time-specific products with little chance of further sales being made after the initial ticket purchase.
On the other hand, many destination businesses such as malls and restaurants aim to keep their customers in their premises as long as possible to continue to make sales. If a customer has to leave the table to go outside to have a smoke, it may be just enough for that customer to decide to pay his or her bill and leave. The lost sales may be the difference of a restaurant staying in business or shutting down.
The most credible proponents of the smoking ban in restaurants are the people concerned for the welfare of workers exposed to secondhand smoke. However, in my experience managing restaurants in Hawai'i, servers often request to be put in the smoking section because generally smokers tend to stay longer, have higher average checks and tip more.
Bill Tobin
Counties don't keep traffic fine money
Tom Baier's Dec. 19 letter to the editor is a prime example of how little people understand their own government. He complains that there are far too many vehicles without current registration or safety checks. He wants better police enforcement so that more fines can be generated.
Unfortunately, the current structure of our government prevents the police and DMV from using funds generated by fines. Once a citation is issued, it is turned over to the state for processing. All traffic fines are collected by the state and they go directly into the state's general fund.
The police and DMV are part of the county government, not the state government.
Hawai'i is the only state in the nation that has this structure. The counties don't get a single dime from traffic fines. For years now, the county mayors have tried to get a portion of the funds released to the counties just to cover expenses, but they have been ignored.
As a result, the counties really have very little incentive to enforce traffic laws. It's just another classic example of the counties doing all of the work and the state hoarding all of the money.
Debbie Stelmach
Kailua
Counter airfare hikes with more competition
The merger between Hawaiian and Aloha airlines has brought on fears of higher fares because of lack of competition. Why not use the cruise-ship lines?
Why can't they offer a no-frills, transport-only fare. A $30 or $40 fare-paying passenger is better than having zero dollars in unfilled passenger space.
How about bringing in a large ferry company to bring some competition to the market? This could even give Young Brothers some competition.
Granted it may take longer, but the rising cost of airfares might make it a minor point.
Eric Ishida
Hawaiian Air should keep its name, logo
In our present economy, I understand the need for Hawaiian and Aloha airlines to merge. However, I am concerned about the name of the merged company.
Hawaiian Air will hold 52 percent of the new organization, Aloha 28 percent and TurnWorks 20 percent. This makes Hawaiian the acquiring airline in this merger. I know of no other airline merger in which the name of the acquiring airline was changed. The most recent example is American Airlines and TWA. American is not changing its name.
Another example of a merger outside of the airline industry is that of Kapi'olani Health, Straub Hospital and Wilcox Hospital. The new parent holding company is Hawai'i Pacific Health. None of these medical systems in this new organization is changing its name. Why? The answer is simple — their current names are recognized in the community for excellence in medicine and quality service.
Hawaiian Air is already internationally recognized as Hawai'i's flagship carrier. It is known for its outstanding customer service. Changing this name does not make good business sense.
I urge Greg Brenneman to keep the name Hawaiian Air and the logo. Continue to keep the name Aloha Holdings Inc. for the parent company, but develop a logo incorporating Hawaiian and Aloha's present logos to represent their merger into a stronger Hawaiian Air.
Terri D. Jones
'Aiea
Public won't benefit from airline merger
The recent news about the merger between Aloha and Hawaiian airlines has brought out a lot of concerns among Island residents. Economically, it might make sense for both airlines to merge; however, who will benefit from the merge?
We all know that many employees from both sides will lose their jobs. The airfare will increase after two years. The coupon voucher that Island residents have been using will be eliminated; fares will be based on "seasonal" periods.
With one airline, price will come before good service. It will be harder to get to another island if there is an emergency because of the limited number of flights.
After the merger, will the airline care about complaints? I don't think so. With one airline, you'll just have to cope with it; otherwise, you can swim.
By the way, if Hawaiian Airlines claims to be publicly owned, why didn't it ask its customers about their opinion on merging?
Keola Mendoza
'Ele'ele
Anti-harassment rule should apply to all
Regarding the DOE's attempts to implement the anti-harassment rule: Columnist Lee Cataluna brings up two points well worth repeating: 1) Committees are by nature inefficient, and 2) for the rule to work, teachers and administrators must step up to the plate.
If the state must have a committee, I have a suggestion to minimize the inevitable deadlocks: Modify the assignment of this committee to that of defending the rights of all students. Never mind for now categorizations such as sexual orientation, ethnicity, size, shape, etc. — and all the agendas they engender. Hopefully, even a state-appointed committee will be able to achieve this simpler yet perhaps more efficacious goal. There should be no excuse, then, for not coming up with some meaningful results.
No red-blooded committee member, no matter how strong or divergent his agenda, would vote against a policy that protects the human rights of all our students, would he? Once a clear policy is established, we could move on to the more important task of putting it into practice.
With a basic guideline — any guideline — to work with, committed teachers and administrators (and the advisory board and monitoring committee, of course) can take a stand and defend the rights of all students, sexual minority or otherwise.
David Namiki
Media must stand up to homosexual agenda
I usually try to avoid getting involved in the debate over homosexuality, but I have finally been pushed to taking a stand on the issue.
It seems to me that gays and lesbians are doing everything in their power to take over public schools, and I don't think this is right. Just recently, the pro-gay faction of the Chapter 19 committee issued a report calling for homosexuality to become a permanent part of our school's curriculum.
So why has everybody become so scared of the gay lobby? The media must realize what gays and lesbians are doing to our schools. But they seem to have decided to treat them with kid gloves and have been letting them get away with whatever they want.
It would be nice if one local reporter were courageous enough to stand up to them and start writing the truth about the real motives and goals of gay activists.
Steve Osborne
Pahoa
Criticism of school gay policy is unfair
It's unfortunate that, for some, misunderstandings and hard feelings seem to exist about the Board of Education policy dealing with student conduct (Chapter 19).
Superintendent Pat Hamamoto has been attacked unfairly. She should instead be commended for showing a sense of fairness and wisdom in involving all interested parties in policy implementation strategies.
We need school climates where both students and Department of Education employees foster support, respect and fairness for all protected categories, not just for sexual orientation.
I am a member of the initial task force, consisting of four pro-family and four pro-homosexuality supporters, plus several DOE personnel. The challenge faced by this group and the DOE isn't whether to implement Chapter 19 (all appear to favor that), but how best to do so.
If students focus on academics and other important school issues and use self-control to avoid sexual-related behaviors, verbal and non-verbal, one's sexual orientation shouldn't surface. Thus harassment in this area should diminish and hopefully disappear.
This "don't tell, don't do" method is the best, and in my view the only one, that balances the rights and respects the feelings of those on all sides of this issue.
Phillip C. Smith
Marked crosswalk must be respected
On Dec. 13, one of our teachers was hit by a car while crossing University Avenue in front of the University Lab School. He was in a marked crosswalk attempting to cross from the express bus stop over to the school.
Drivers seem to have lost any sense of courtesy with regard to allowing pedestrians to cross the street. Every day in this location, numerous children and adults attempt the human dodge ball game with the cars coming and going on University Avenue.
The city was gracious enough to provide a marked crosswalk so students and others could cross from the bus stop to the school. Unfortunately, this crosswalk is right in the middle of the block between two large intersections with stoplights. So the chance of getting a light installed there is very unlikely.
What is needed is for drivers to exercise a little common sense and courtesy. Come on, give the children and adults a chance to cross the street. If you slow down or even have to come to a complete stop, it shouldn't take more than 30 seconds to allow someone to cross in front of you.
Please, drivers, give them a break before someone else is injured or killed because you couldn't slow down for half a minute.
Glen Schmitt
Big Brother finally taking over our lives
Even as our president and his cohorts have fomented a frenzied patriotism throughout the country, they have limited civil rights, subsidized many of the nation's largest corporations and worked to give tax relief to the wealthiest segment of the population.
Locally, the governor has assumed extraordinary executive powers, the state's airline industry has been granted a monopoly, oil and shipping companies continue to hurt the public, and intrusive cameras are springing up ubiquitously along our roadsides.
Although it is 17 years beyond the predicted date of his prescient novel, the greatest tragedy of Sept. 11 may turn out to be the emergence of George Orwell's Big Brother.
Robert Chanin
Kailua
Don't gamble on tourism
Japan Airlines is reducing its flights to Hawai'i but is increasing those it flies to Las Vegas. Is there a lesson here for Hawai'i's economy?
James Lam
