Letters to the Editor
Stop destroying our surfing sites off Waikiki
It is fact, not fiction, that more sand exists today in the entire Mamala Bay, Waikiki, both on the beaches and in the shoreline water.
Sand covers the reef that used to produce excellent surfing sites. There is more sand on the beaches there today than ever existed in the past 100 years.
In order to increase beach sand at the request of our tourist Industry, the state Department of Land and Natural Resources is attempting now to tap into federal funds that are available, nationally, for beach erosion projects.
What we should be doing is to encourage support for funds to adopt a sand nourishment plan for beach areas in Waikiki where sand could be added. Additional sand should not be placed where it can damage our surf sites and reef habitat. Instead, we should take sand off the reef at Mamala Bay and give us back our surf sites and allow the reef to grow again.
Instead, the DLNR is attempting to push the shoreline farther out into the bay, endangering our surfing sites and further smothering the reef. Now it also wants to place large rock groins in the water along the shoreline of Waikiki, claiming that these monsters will prevent sand erosion of any expanded beach.
Fact: Groins have been tried and have a bad reputation in Hawai'i and other U.S. coastal areas. In many cases they have failed to prevent the natural ebb and flow of sand beaches.
George Downing
Spokesman, Save Our Surf
Good reasons abound for learning Hawaiian
Allow me to respond to Toshio Chinen's July 6 letter. Huh? What? Since they aren't major world languages, people should stop studying Welsh, Gaelic, Flemish and hundreds of other languages, too, right?
Let's boil the linguistic pool down to a handful of languages. Won't that make the world an interesting place to live.
Not too long ago, the Hawaiian language was endangered. Today, my hapa haole son proudly comes home from school proclaiming, "I can speak three languages: English, Japanese and Hawaiian," thanks to the foresight of his school and the dedication of his makua. What a lucky kid.
Look at the world popularity of Irish music and culture. What has this popularity done for Ireland, its economy and the lives of millions around the world? (Have you enjoyed "Riverdance"?) That will only continue because a minuscule percentage of the world's population is learning Gaelic.
From your name, Mr. Chinen, I assume you are Japanese or of Japanese decent. Thirty years ago, people would have laughed at anyone who dared suggest that our children study Japanese.
English has become the international language of business. In another 100 years, maybe Hawaiian will become the international language of aloha. But that can only happen if our children, native Hawaiian and other kama'aina alike, learn while they are young. Pride in one's heritage begins with pride in one's language.
I, for one, am proud to say I live in Hawai'i and I hope to show that pride, respect and aloha by one day being able to speak Hawaiian, even if it won't help me get a job. Let's face it: Speaking Hawaiian is cool. (And learning a third language is much easier than learning a second.)
Luther Killebrew
Introduction of bonsai predated the 1960s
I was most gratified to read "Japanese Consulate honors efforts in Hawai'i" in the July 5 paper, which mentions the fact that I would be one of the recipients of an Imperial Award.
However, that portion of the article referring to me contains a gross overstatement, which I would like to correct. I refer to the statement that I "introduced bonsai to the people of Hawai'i."
Bonsai was introduced into Hawai'i possibly many years before I was born, through nameless Issei immigrants who brought this cultural art with them to Hawai'i and took local trees such as ironwood (casuarina equisterfolia) and trained them into bonsai.
Also, in pre-World War II years, captains of Japanese merchant vessels and Japanese naval training ships maintained Japanese bonsai in their cabins and gave them as gifts to local inhabitants in appreciation of the Hawaiian hospitality bestowed upon them (this was before the present rigid plant quarantine laws were adopted).
Unfortunately, most of these prized bonsai were destroyed by their fear-stricken owners after the Pearl Harbor attack to avoid suspicion or apprehension by the FBI for possession of Japanese artifacts.
After the war, local Issei bonsai hobbyists organized the first bonsai club in the 1960s called the Honolulu Bonsai Kenkyu Club, but most of them have now passed away.
My interest in bonsai started in 1964, so it is quite evident that in no way can the introduction of bonsai to Hawai'i be attributed to me, and I will have a hard time living down that statement.
Ted T. Tsukiyama
HPD officers should wear aloha shirts
Regarding the July 8 article "Touch of aloha for police force": What a wonderful concept for the coastal town of Capitola, Calif., in implementing aloha attire for its police force, thanks in great part to its mayor.
This optional summer wear has been received with overwhelmingly positive feedback from their community, creating an improved sense of communication and approachability between officers and the public. One officer reportedly received praise from over 60 people within one 10-hour shift, proving the effect this token of aloha has on people.
In our state, where tourism and the aloha spirit go hand-in-hand, how appropriate and beneficial this would be to our own Police Department. Although this idea may have come up here before, now that it's been proven to work in California, hopefully Chief Lee Donahue will reconsider it.
A well-designed Hawaiian print shirt (with badge number) would be a very cost-effective and efficient way to convey the message of aloha, and will surely enhance the public's relationship with the great men and women who serve in the Honolulu Police Department.
Pomaika'i R. Souza
Innovation at expense of humans is not right
Regarding the Wright editorial cartoon on July 2: I am not a Luddite, but I do not believe that fetal stem cell research is right.
There is a big difference in mechanical innovations and growing humans for experimentation. I believe that innovation will occur and is necessary, but innovation at the expense of humans is not right.
In World War II, the Nazis used humans for medical experiments. The world called it an atrocity. Now here we are 60 years later and we say that using humans is the right thing to do, the wave of the future.
They say that history repeats itself. I think we have come full circle. What is next? Growing humans so we can harvest their organs?
Kenneth P. Harmeyer
Look at what Mirikitani did before attacking him
It saddens me to read so many vitriolic letters about Councilman Andy Mirikitani. I am sure most of these people do not know how much Andy has done for his community and the rest of O'ahu. The following is but a partial list of items initiated by Andy:
• Bulky-item pick-up, now on a regular monthly schedule (you no longer have to wait forever for a truck to make its way around the island to get to your district).
• Day-care centers in the parks.
• Police substations in various places in his and other districts.
• Money for the swimming pool nearing completion in Makiki District Park after the residents had been asking for many, many years.
When the city built a new concession stand at the 'ewa end of Ala Moana Park, it was going to demolish the old building until Andy convinced it to renovate it to make a storage area for the lifeguards' surfboards.
Andy and his staff also walk around the 5th Council District to make a note of problems in the area, like essential signs knocked down or missing, graffiti, huge potholes, abandoned cars and houses, and many other items that are then reported to the responsible government department — then hold the departments' "feet to the fire" until these things are resolved.
Mirikitani truly cares about his constituents, and while he has fallen by the wayside, there is no reason to kick him when he is down.
Norma Jean Nicholl
Gay Americans are denied basic rights
It seems some people just don't get it when it comes to equal rights.
Clayton Loveland's missive of July 9, wondering what rights were taken away from gays when they were denied the right to vote, is a fine example.
Yes, it is true that gays have never been allowed legal marriage, so encoding that discrimination in the state's Constitution doesn't take away that particular right. However, there is this one little issue in both the state and federal constitutions called "Equal protection under the law." By denying marriage licenses to gay and lesbian American citizens, they are denying equal protection under the law as promised by the constitutions.
Unless there is a compelling reason, it is unconstitutional to deny one group of people the rights given to others. The roughly 1,300 rights, benefits and protections granted to heterosexual couples along with their marriage licenses are denied to gay Americans. And that is simply unjust.
Ken Scott
Animal quarantine veto was warranted
The governor's recent veto of legislation that would have provided state subsidy of animal quarantine fees for another year has been met with some disappointment, especially from the military community, as expressed by Sgt. Maj. Barbara S. Smith (Letters, July 3).
The state is certainly cognizant of the contributions of the military to Hawai'i and its significant assistance in our local communities, but we are first and foremost tasked with being stewards of our limited state resources. The veto was based on two primary reasons, which were consistently articulated throughout the legislative process.
The quarantine program is a special-fund program that is required by law to be self-sustaining. The program is mandated to operate by fees paid by the users of the facility.
The governor approved a fee reduction last year, authorizing $500,000 as a one-time measure to help defray quarantine costs while federal legislation was being pursued to provide subsidy to active-duty military users of quarantine.
At the beginning of this year, military personnel transferred to Hawai'i and other duty stations with quarantine began receiving a federal subsidy of $275 per household for pet quarantine. They also received a fee reduction from the state, which either amounted to $220 for grades E-1 to E-6 or $120 for grades E-7 to 0-3.
Since a federal subsidy is already being provided, with the potential of more federal dollars becoming available in a few years, continuing to subsidize a program that should be self-sufficient is not prudent.
James J. Nakatani
Chairman, Hawai'i Department of Agriculture
Commitment to God is a matter of history
Mitchell Kahle, in his July 8 letter, likes the idea that Rep. William Stonebraker is to be investigated by the attorney general for publicly stating that he has a commitment to God. I suggest Kahle familiarize himself with some of our history books. Not the altered ones in the schools today, but the original ones.
Although Thomas Jefferson was in Europe at the time our Constitution was drafted, it was he who said, "If we deny the existence of God in our public life, how can we have liberty?"
There is no question about the fact that Franklin, Jefferson, Barlow, Payne, Lee, Allen, Dearborn and a few others were not Christians. But we are talking about only 5 percent of the 250 or so Founding Fathers. Of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence, 27 had seminary degrees.
George Washington, in his farewell address (not the modified version), mentioned the French Revolution and stated, " ... they separated religion from education and from government, and look what they got."
Rabbi Daniel Lapin in his book, "America's Real War," attributes the fact that this country has opened its borders to Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and people of any other persuasion, all without religious examination, precisely because this nation is founded upon Christian principles.
The Founding Fathers consistently reasoned that religious principles and morality in public life inspire respect for law and order. Kahle and his cohorts have at least succeeded somewhat. The Bible is out of the school and guns are in. For 70 years, Russia tried this concept and failed, but you could still be happy today in North Korea, China, Somalia or Sudan.
David Souter wrote in the 1992 Wiseman decision regarding prayer that the court acknowledges that our Founding Fathers encouraged prayer and Bible reading in school, but this demonstrates that our Founding Fathers did not understand the Constitution. It is obviously very sad that these men did not have the benefit of Hawai'i Citizens for Separation of State and Church, nor were they briefed by the ACLU.
Terry Bosgra
