Letters to the Editor
'Rotten people' remark wasn't meant in truth
Because I worked for more than 12 years as a news cameraman and TV reporter before being elected to the City Council, I tend to speak to local journalists as if they were co-workers, which, in the past, many were. I suffered from this lapse in thinking recently when talking with The Advertiser's Robbie Dingeman, whom I used to work with at KHON-TV.
Obviously, I don't think my colleagues on the City Council are "rotten people." However, some might, given the constant diet of Council "scandal" provided in the press.
Unfortunately, my remark may also suggest that I believe our personal and professional errors are trivial issues. I do not.
Council members are human, and some of us have made very human mistakes of varying degree. I believe things happen for a reason.
In my own case, I was given a timely wake-up call that I used as a learning experience. I re-evaluated my professional and personal lives and realized that the balance we all strive to accomplish did not exist. I worked hard to address this issue, and I believe the experience made me a stronger, but more importantly a better, person.
Whoever we are and whatever we do, we should never be satisfied with the way things are and should always be looking for ways to do things better. That applies to elected officials and to their personal lives and professional careers.
Jon C. Yoshimura
Chairman, Honolulu City Council
Capital Loan Program is inherently risky
Regarding your June 10 article "Delinquent loans plague state": The inherent high-risk nature of ventures such as the Hawai'i Capital Loan Program is a foregone conclusion. Usually, these funds are lent to start-up companies that are unable to obtain loans from traditional sources.
I don't fault the concept because everyone deserves a chance to try to improve themselves and the community.
The unseen downside of these loans and other failed businesses funded by private investments are the unpaid Hawai'i general excise and payroll taxes. The burden of these uncollected payments are placed squarely on the successful companies and the consumer.
The state, in an effort to avoid the onus of "putting a company out of business" by failing to pursue long-overdue taxes, simply postpones the inevitable. It has chosen to look the other way until the business goes broke. Unfortunately, it ends up collecting nothing and looks to others to pay the bills.
A sound economy is dictated by sound economic policy. A less intrusive bureaucratic business environment, reasonable tax rates and risk incentives, to name a few, will go a long way down the road of economic recovery for Hawai'i.
Simply put, let the successful succeed, and attrition take the rest.
Howard Chong Jr.
President, Healani Land Co.
Ka Iwi land purchase reflects compromise
Former state senator Mike Crozier's July 10 letter confuses both facts and history.
The Ka Iwi land acquisition is important to thousands of residents who will be able to enjoy the Ka Iwi coast each year.
Purchase of the 305-acre stretch between Makapu'u and Sandy Beach results from a good-faith agreement based on a recent survey and independent appraisals of fair-market value by both Kamehameha Schools and the state. The final price reflects a compromise of the fair-market value appraisals obtained by Kamehameha Schools ($13.5 million) and the state ($10.9 million).
This settlement allows Kamehameha Schools the first right to purchase the property at fair-market value if the state ever decides to put the property up for sale.
The state has been committed to preserving the area since 1996 and developed a master plan for the area with input from individual citizens, community groups, agencies and lawmakers. The purchase preserves the Ka Iwi shoreline, O'ahu's last undeveloped, easily accessible coastal open space, from proposed upzoning for golf course, hotel and housing developments.
Gilbert Coloma-Agaran
Chairman, Board of Land and Natural Resources
Skateboarders are unduly picked on
Many young people who skate feel that skateboarding has become outlawed and a crime. Some skateboarders have been arrested.
But for many, skateboarding has become a way out from drugs and violence. It is also our way of staying healthy and in shape. What do the police and anybody who kicks us out expect us to do then? Maybe we should go drop some acid, or rob a liquor store. That might give us a rush.
So many young people skate, but there aren't enough skate parks for all of us. Many of us have to travel a journey just to get to one.
Stop stereotyping us. When we are kicked out, it just makes us more angry with society than we already are. I thought we were the future.
Robby White
Kane'ohe
Don Carroll kept his word to North Shore
Your July 2 article on retiring Oceanic Cablevision Chairman Don Carroll's commitment to the welfare of the citizens of Hawai'i over the past 35 years and his concerns on whether growing corporate acquisitions will provide crucial support to the community prompts me to add: Amen!
Carroll probably doesn't remember me or the role that the Waialua Community Association played in Oceanic Cablevision obtaining the television franchise over some 35 years ago over intense competition from other bidders. We supported Oceanic Cablevision during hearings. It was a local company, and Carroll made a commitment to provide cable television service to our area on a priority basis because Waialua and other North Shore communities were unable to receive quality, if any, television reception.
True to his word, our small, remote and isolated communities of the North Shore became one of the first to receive cable television reception on the island.
Jake Ng
Hale'iwa
'Army brats' headline was inappropriate
I was appalled upon seeing your July 7 headline, " 'Army brats' to get boost." It was a total insult to the many U.S. Army families here in Hawai'i and their children.
To be singled out over all the other armed services in relating this story was an injustice and cruel and deserved a more appropriate headline than was used. I'm sure you would not have used the phrase "Hawaiian brats" or "haole brats" in a similar story.
Army families deserve a much better characterization than what was selected by your editors.
Jim Santos
U.S. Army (retired)
Crowded Makiki must not be further burdened
Think Makiki is crowded now? Chances are you ain't seen nothing yet.
The Makiki-Tantalus Neighborhood Board seems poised to approve a 54-unit, eight-story high-rise on the corner of one of the busiest and most dangerous intersections in the state: Punahou Street and Wilder Avenue. If the board gives its approval, this will become the site of the proposed Punahou Vista, a project that will add to the already oppressive density of this area, as well as endanger trees that have a protected status conferred by The Outdoor Circle.
Parking in this area is already an absolute nightmare and will become far worse if this high-rise is approved.
The Makiki-Tantalus Neighborhood Board will meet on Thursday, July 19, at 7:15 p.m. at the Makiki Park Recreation Center. Come let your voice be heard loud and clear: Punahou Vista must be stopped.
Greg Shepherd
Kaiser Permanente not part of land deal
This is to correct a reference to Kaiser Permanente in a July 10 letter, "Full accounting needed on Ka Iwi transaction."
Kaiser Permanente should not be confused with the old Kaiser development company. While we have the same founder, Henry J. Kaiser, the two companies were always separate entities. Our medical care program was never involved in land development and will not receive any money from this sale.
We are a nonprofit organization and have been providing quality medical care in Hawai'i since 1958. We are committed to our mission of "Caring for Hawai'i's People Like Family."
Jan Kagehiro
Media Relations Director, Kaiser Permanente
Proposal to privatize the State Hospital wrong
I am appalled that the proposal to privatize the State Hospital could mean that a corporation, no matter how efficient and competent in hospital management, would make a profit from the misfortune of our mentally ill citizens.
Surely a nonprofit organization could be formed or found to do the job, as is the case with most of the general hospitals throughout the state.
Thomas A. Huff
'Gay-bashers' must refer to vast majority
In your July 9 article on Carolyn Golujuch, you said in the headline that she's fighting against "gay-bashing." What you failed to inform your readers, however, was that Carolyn Golujuch (and evidently The Honolulu Advertiser) uses the term "gay-bashing" to refer to anyone who makes a statement expressing a different viewpoint on the morality of homosexual behavior that differs from her own.
Golujuch considers anyone who doesn't accept homosexual behavior as something normal, natural and healthy a bigoted, hateful "gay-basher." In other words, Golujuch believes that the vast majority of people in Hawai'i are "gay-bashers."
Mike Hinchey
Clifton's nomination should not be held up
Regarding Richard S. Miller's June 29 letter concerning Jim Duffy: I strongly disagree with his suggestion that Sens. Inouye and Akaka should withhold their approval of Rick Clifton to try to force President Bush to appoint Jim Duffy to the Ninth Circuit.
Duffy's nomination has already been withdrawn, and in his place, President Bush has nominated Clifton. Inouye and Akaka would be doing Hawai'i a great disservice by trying to force Bush into doing something he's obviously not going to do and create a "political stalemate."
This tactic would only serve to further delay the opportunity of getting a highly qualified Hawai'i attorney onto the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
I have no doubt that Duffy is a highly qualified attorney who would serve Hawai'i well on the judiciary. But I'm equally certain that Clifton is just as qualified and will do an outstanding job representing Hawai'i.
Hawai'i will not stand to gain anything by waiting several more years with hope that another appointment will make it after that. All that would be accomplished would be the keeping of yet another well-qualified attorney from holding this position of high honor.
I hope that Inouye and Akaka will put political partisanship aside. If they truly analyze Rick Clifton's credentials, they would likewise concur that he is a skilled lawyer with the highest integrity and that everyone in Hawai'i, both Democrats and Republicans alike, would be proud of his appointment to the Ninth Circuit.
Shelton G.W. Jim On
State History Day did Hawai'i proud
"Hawai'i students do well at History Day." That June 28 headline required thousands of students to work countless hours, along with teachers, parents, quite a few neighbors and friends, librarians and archivists — public and private.
My congratulations to the winners. Their research beat out projects from 49 other states in cities a whole lot bigger than Wai'anae and Kahuku.
I have been privileged to act as a Hawai'i History Day judge for many years, judging at the regional and state level. The work done by some of the students is top quality.
Never a year passes that I don't learn from the students I am supposed to judge. Each year I see parents, brothers and sisters picture-taking-proud before a project, or in assembly halls edge-of-seat tense waiting to hear the outcome of judging.
My resolve to come back next year is redoubled on seeing a winning student shoot up out of the seat in excitement on hearing the project's title read. My admiration of Hawai'i students is enhanced as I hear whole blocs of the audience cheering a fellow student.
All this for doing schoolwork.
We always see publicity about failures in school. If you want to see success, hard work and excitement for learning, watch next year for State History Day. (Science Fair is a pretty good rush, too.)
Anita Manning
