Letters to the Editor
Medical marijuana does indeed save lives
I'd like make a correction to J.R. Labbe's generally excellent commentary, "Let's have rational discussion," regarding marijuana policy.
Labbe is mistaken when she states that "Medical marijuana isn't going to save anyone's life." Marijuana-like drugs eradicated some brain cancers in rats and helped other animals live longer, according to a study published in the March issue of the journal Nature Medicine.
Consider the case of adrenal cancer survivor Steve Kubby. According to Dr. Vincent DeQuattro, a University of Southern California professor and world authority on adrenal cancer, Kubby's blood shows lethal levels of adrenaline. Everyone who has ever had Kubby's disease has died within a few years. Thanks to medical marijuana, he is now entering his 23rd year of survival, something DeQuattro considers a "medical miracle." DeQuattro has written that the patient could suffer a heart attack or stroke if deprived of marijuana and that no other form of therapy is available.
Best-selling author and cancer and AIDS survivor Peter McWilliams kept his viral levels and severe nausea in check by using medical marijuana. A federal judge ordered him to stop using it. He complied and was found two weeks later dead in his bathroom. He had choked to death on his own vomit.
Marijuana eases suffering and extends lives. Marijuana prohibition kills.
Lee Eisenstein
Watsonville, Calif.
Bike paths must be dedicated to bicyclists
Where are the dedicated bike paths away from the roads we keep hearing about but never see?
I commute daily from Kapolei to the Iroquois Point Navy ferry by bicycle, with favorable year-round weather. The advantages are clear: increasing health status, decreasing healthcare costs, plus taking autos off the road. There is no more efficient engine than a bicycle powered by a human.
It is obvious to me why more people do not ride bikes in Hawai'i: It is unsettling to have a large vehicle roar by you with no room to spare on the likes of Geiger Road in 'Ewa or the now incredibly busy road through Barbers Point.
The bike paths that should be built must be just that: bike paths dedicated to bicyclists away from the traffic, or bicycling will never be a viable alternative means of transportation.
S.K. Parker
Senate switch could put us in pork heaven
Think of the possibilities. Dan (Akaka) & Dan (Inouye) switch to the Republican Party. The balance of power is reversed again. President Bush will be forever in their debt. Anything they want will be granted, and the pork will roll in at a gallop. Then when Linda Lingle takes over, they will be on the winning side again. Whatta country!
Bud Ebel
Makaha
Hirono saw importance of being prepared
I join members of the Hawai'i Statewide Hazard Mitigation Forum in thanking Lee Cataluna for giving the MotherNature-Hawaii.com campaign an added venue for publicity. However, readers should note that Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono was approached several years ago to participate in this program.
She saw the importance of reaching out to people with the critical message of disaster preparedness when the forum asked her to lend her credibility and visibility to this educational campaign. Together, they have made great progress in partnering with local businesses to help us all "Prepare against the Forces of Mother Nature," as the public service announcements, print materials and Web site suggest.
Wendy Coen
Office of the Lieutenant Governor
Overpopulation is key threat to environment
All this talk about conservation of the environment. How can we "protect" the very things we talk about when the world is overproducing itself out of the very resources you want to protect?
Look around you. When you have too many people competing for too little space in too little time, you have an overpopulation problem, but 99 percent of you can't see it.
Take traffic: Did we have the gridlock 30 years ago we have today? Well, I can tell you: No. We had fewer people, fewer cars, less pollution. This is not rocket science, people.
If you have kids, you have added to the problem.
Deane Gonzalez
Numbers don't justify longline fishing ban
When Judge David Ezra banned longline fishing for swordfish by American boats (he has no jurisdiction over foreign boats) because of the 50 to 60 turtles per year that they catch, I wondered how significant this was. I remembered stories about what happened to these turtles on the beaches of Central America and other places.
Now we have some numbers for comparison. In a recent Advertiser story, it was stated that fishermen from Bali take about 20,000 green sea turtles per year. That's Bali alone. Add in the rest of the East Indies, Philippines, Pacific Islands and Central America, and the American catch of 50 to 60 is pretty insignificant.
Harold G. Loomis
Center's flaw should have been caught sooner
Does the city do anything right?
As if the 'Ewa Villages fiasco wasn't enough, now we have the Hanauma Bay Education Center project snafu.
Amazingly, city officials say they need to lower the new building height at least 5 feet to make it less visible from the beach below. Give me a break.
Why wasn't this flaw detected earlier? Even worse, City Managing Director Ben Lee said the changes would be at "little additional cost." No way.
Hey, Ben, the bad news is the revision will cost up to $80,000 of taxpayer money. Nothing is free.
Boy, these clowns sure couldn't care less how they spend our money. That is arrogance at its best.
Mel Rodenhurst
Kailua
Another year, another stupid special session
I find it interesting that each year it's some excuse or other that the Legislature has to call another special session — at the expense of the taxpayers.
Obviously the legislators are still not doing their job. This $15,000 is supposed to be for the travel and lodging of the outer island members of the Legislature. If we are in such a computer and technical age, why aren't the Neighbor Island legislators doing all their voting on the Internet for this special session or paying for their own travel, food and lodging since their job was not done the first time around (during the regular session)?
Who do they think they are kidding? This is an every-year occurrence. This government thinks the people are stupid. And who knows, the way we let them do this to us, maybe we are.
Adrienne L. Wilson-Yamasaki
Wahiawa
Frustration is what leads to road rage
Thank you, Mike Griffin, in your May 29 letter, for finally saying it out loud: The traffic lights in Honolulu are diabolically mis-timed.
Instead of rewarding drivers for obeying the speed limit by giving them green lights, our city traffic engineers make us stop at every red light. That is why drivers are frustrated and why they speed. Add to this all the slow-moving vehicles clogging up the left "passing" lane, and all the roadhogs driving side by side allowing no one to pass, and you have the recipe for road rage.
So what do our elected officials do? Why, they talk about "traffic calming." I guess if no one is moving (they figure), no accidents will happen. Actually, by frustrating drivers, they make us all less safe.
April Weiss
More light pollution fixtures scheduled
The state Department of Transportation intends to light up the remainder of the H2 with the usual light pollution fixtures, wiping out more of the night sky. Full-cutoff fixtures will not be used because the DOT says (wrongly) that it doesn't reduce light pollution.
If the idea of your telescope becoming a little more useless bothers you, e-mail or call Marilyn Kali's office at the DOT, expressing support for the use of cut-off fixtures.
Gilbert Mills
Here's Pauahi's will; you judge her wish
Where in Bernice Pauahi Bishop's will is it stated that the school is only for those with Hawaiian blood, as reported? Here are its key provisions relating to the establishment of Kamehameha Schools:
"I give, devise and bequeath all of the rest, residue and remainder of my estate real and personal, wherever situated, unto the trustees below named, their heirs and assigns forever, to hold upon the following trusts, namely: to erect and maintain in the Hawaiian Islands two schools, each for boarding and day scholars, one for boys and one for girls, to be known as and called the Kamehameha Schools.
"I direct my trustees to devote a portion of each year's income to the support and education of orphans, and others in indigent circumstances, giving the preference to Hawaiians of pure or part aboriginal blood."
You be the judge. Does this mean something other than what is plainly stated, i.e., that some of the estate's income be used with preference to orphans and indigents who are ethnic Hawaiians?
Bernice Pauahi Bishop said nothing about race for school admission for others who are not orphans or indigents. If she said nothing, isn't it clear that she did not impose any race restrictions? If this is true, what is the liability of those who imposed and continued this policy?
Paul de Silva
Hilo
Band members' trip to California terrific
Our middle school band trip to California was momentous and very exciting. We enjoyed Disneyland, Knotts Berry Farm, Universal Studios and performing at two junior high schools. Everyone had a fabulous time.
It was my first time going to the Mainland and it was just as I hoped. I wouldn't change anything because it was a near-perfect experience. For many of the band students, it was probably a once-in-a-lifetime trip. We are especially glad we had this opportunity to go to the new theme park called "California Adventure."
We all want to thank Mr. Miura for giving us this privilege. You have been a great and delightful band director. Thank you so much. We also want to thank the chaperones for doing a great job watching over us.
Fredelie Rosales
Dole Middle School band member
Zoos are critical to saving animals
In his May 30 letter, Jim Brown expounded on why the Honolulu Zoo should be shut down, not expanded. He stated that the Zoo was a holdover from the Victorian Era in which people exhibited and displayed animals. He said this was cruel and inhumane.
I disagree. Granted, zoos in the past were generally just huge areas in which animals where caged and eventually died. But that was then. Now zoos are an integral part of saving animal species, both rare and not so rare.
All zoos today have helped to catalogue and save many animals that would now be extinct if not for their efforts to understand behavior and preserve their genetics. Breeding programs between zoos worldwide have helped to save animals. The animals are genetically tested and their DNA catalogued, thereby providing a worldwide bank of genes. Examples:
• Through the work and study of the California condor, the San Diego Zoo pioneered and developed a breeding program that, after decades of breeding, has allowed condors to be reintroduced into the wild. Because of that, my grandchildren may one day have the opportunity to see the condor soaring free, and not just at the zoo.
• The National Zoo in Washington, D.C., has worked for many years in conjunction with the Chinese government to help breed and save the giant panda.
• Over a decade ago, the wild lions in Ngoro Crater in Kenya were dying out because of hundreds of years of inbreeding within the prides. The combined effort from zoos all over the world have helped to infuse a batch of new genes into the isolated crater, thereby saving the lions of Ngoro.
Not only would the move and expansion of the Honolulu Zoo to Barbers Point be a good idea, but the expansion would be healthier for the animals.
The climate and environment here in Hawai'i are not unlike those of many rare and soon-to-be-extinct animals in Asia. Just think what we could do if the Zoo were to become a home and breeding facility to help reintroduce those endangered species.
The life expectancy of an animal in a zoo is about 10 times greater than those of their wild counterparts. I think our lives and those of children around the world are richer for the work of zoos.
Lynn Briggs
