Letters to the Editor
Energy fighting Army could be better spent
The photo in the May 20 Focus section says it all concerning Makua Valley. I don't know who these two soldiers are, but people either support them or they don't.
I realize it is difficult for many Native Hawaiian activists to accept the tide of change that has swept over their homeland. You can do your best to kick the military out of Hawai'i, but I suggest this time and effort are better spent working to build a better community for yourselves: economically, morally, socially, educationally and medically.
Of course there is mana nui in Makua, but let's not wish failure in any mission these two soldiers might embark on. On the contrary, let the mana give them victory if they are ever called upon to enter into war.
Lono, the god of peace, fertility, rain and agriculture, lives only because Ku, the god of war, protects. In actual battle involving deadly forces, nothing is sacred.
Something in my Penobscot Indian psyche is stirred to anger by visions of past U.S. Army deeds, but my heart is in the here and now, and in this highly unpredictable world, I give these two soldiers my total support.
Michael Akin
Hale'iwa
Army is now a valued conservation partner
In the May 16 story and caption on the Army's use and management of Makua Valley, my comment on the Army's "good job" of managing the valley's natural resources may have caused some confusion. Please allow me to clarify.
During the last decade, the U.S. Army has become an important and valued conservation partner in Hawai'i. The Army expends about $3 million annually toward endangered species and ecosystem management protection. Without the expertise, manpower and financial resources the Army provides, protection of the biological resources in the Wai'anae and Ko'olau Mountains would be dealt a huge setback. Overall conservation efforts in Hawai'i would suffer.
As someone who has personally worked with youth and other members of the Wai'anae community for many years, it is my hope, and that of The Nature Conservancy, that the U.S. Army and the Wai'anae community can reach a compromise on the use of Makua Valley that results in well-trained military personnel and the protection of the cultural and biological resources of Makua.
Pauline M. Sato
Director, O'ahu Program, The Nature Conservancy of Hawai'i
Botanist must be restored to park
I was at first dismayed and then angered to read of the ousting of David Orr, director of Waimea Falls Park and Botanical Garden, by park general manager Ray Greene.
And as a further humiliation, Orr was escorted from the property by two police officers? What is going on here? Orr is a fine botanist and a very good man who has devoted a great part of his life to keeping alive the rare and endangered plants (and thousands of others) at Waimea Valley.
Was John Waihe'e IV really surprised to learn that some plants have been neglected in a situation where the grounds staff has been cut from 20 to two and a scientific staff cut from seven to one? I don't think so. If Waihe'e is "really disheartened" over Orr's expulsion, as he says, he should find the maturity and common sense to find a way to do the right thing for the park and the community.
It is difficult to see through this tangled web involving park manager Greene, OHA, the Waimea Botanical Foundation, the Stewards of Waimea Valley and Orr, but there needs to be a meeting of the minds as to what is the best way to ensure the care and preservation of these botanical treasures.
I note that there were many positive comments on Orr from other members of Hawai'i's botanical community. My sister, who is a biologist and environmental scientist for New York State's Central Parks Region, has visited Waimea Park several times. She knows Orr and holds him in high regard for his botanical expertise and the work he has done in Waimea Valley.
Please, Hawai'i, let's not lose yet another good man and scientist through political bickering and maneuvering when all he wants to do is to take care of these precious botanical resources for all of us.
William J. Moore
Kailua
'Pearl Harbor' gala left many in the cold
Like Jim Grimes of Middle Loch, I felt Disney overlooked a number of people when premiering Pearl Harbor here. I was not one of them, but its technique was elitist and exclusionary. There were many people who worked on the filming who did not get invited.
If Disney had $5 million to set up the Stennis, why not throw in an extra screening for kama'aina or enlisted personnel? Okay, that's pau. How about a challenge to movie theatres to offer a special rate for kama'aina so we can afford to see the movie?
Elizabeth Walker
Pearl City
Disney's light show was spectacular
I just got in from watching the beautiful sendoff for Disney's "Pearl Harbor." Having twice gone to Disneyland and enjoying the awesome fireworks there, I made sure that I stayed up to watch the beautiful light and audio show put on by Disney.
The sounds that followed the fireworks and the feeling of the ground shaking gave me a feeling of what it was like that sad December day. The sky just lit up more than I have ever seen it before. Disney should get some kind of award for the light show itself.
Hermione Fernandez
Johnny's coming lately to the political scene
Whoa, Nellie! I can hardly believe my eyes when both daily newspapers applaud newly found virtues in candidate Linda Lingle and her "New Republicans," who have suddenly discovered the Democratic Party's venerable platform of inclusivity, compassion and accomplishment.
During the next arduous 18-month campaign, Hawai'i's long-suffering voters should insist on a few ground rules:
• Party does count, no matter what the hype says. Social and fiscal conservatives are simply not going to support a liberal agenda for Native Hawaiians, environmental security, gays or women's rights. As amply evident on the national scene, you eventually gotta dance with who brung ya.
• Political opportunism is not a philosophy or an implementation plan. As noted by a respected friend who happens to be Republican, "If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it ain't an elephant or a donkey."
• Common sense and humor will help. Hawai'i's residents will all benefit from the opportunity to get involved, informed and motivated.
Finally (and here's some more humor), if Lingle really wants to pursue a kindler, gentler agenda, she should join the "New Democratic Party" and build on Hawai'i's successes and challenges for the next 50 years. You ain't seen nothin' yet.
Paula Z. Helfrich
Hilo
Verizon made case for not using cell phones
Tony Simpson of Verizon tried in vain to justify use of cell phones in cars in his May 23 letter.
After outlining his educational campaign, his last driving tip was, "If traffic conditions warrant your undivided attention, turn your phone off and let calls go to voicemail or activate call-forwarding." This is excellent advice.
Please, Verizon, be prepared to explain in detail to government officials, your users and the public those traffic conditions you assume do not warrant a driver's undivided attention.
Unless such conditions can be defined, Simpson has built the case for eliminating use of wireless phones by vehicle drivers.
Jack Karbens
Displaying monkeys in a bar is deplorable
Our animal welfare laws need to be updated. It is disturbing that the state Department of Agriculture, the USDA and the Hawaiian Humane Society could not stop the opening of the "Monkey Bar" at the Blue Tropix Nightclub on Kapi'olani Boulevard.
The outdated laws that these agencies must follow primarily address the physical needs of the squirrel monkeys living at the bar, such as access to food, water and shelter. What needs to be addressed, and is not, is the psychological well-being of these animals.
The exhibit at the Blue Tropix does not promote natural squirrel monkey behavior. The behavior that the bar customers find so entertaining is probably the result of anxiety and boredom.
Squirrel monkeys are intelligent animals that live in large social groups high in the forest canopy. They are diurnal; rise with the sun and sleep at night. They spend less than 1 percent of their time on the ground and 90 percent of daylight hours forging for food.
Today's zoos are spending millions of dollars demolishing old-style exhibits and building modern-day enclosures that closely resemble the animal's natural habitats, thus promoting natural animal behavior.
Displaying primates in a bar for the sole purpose of amusing customers creates a lack of understanding and respect and is not something Hawai'i should be proud of.
Linda Vannatta
Zookeeper, Honolulu Zoo
Hawaiian artists were well treated
Recently, the Honolulu Academy of Arts became a restoration of human kindnesses, dignity and reaching out to community and family. It was the awakening of the arts in the very depths of my soul.
The opening was an initiative for Hawaiian artists to show at the very new and inviting Henry R. Luce Pavilion Complex.
Fifty-eight artists of Hawaiian ancestry and full of passion rose to the task and came forth with their energies, with their imagination and creativity.
The academy flung open its gates and welcomed all. Each artist was greeted singularly, Hawaiian style, with a fragrant lei. Then the na maka hou began. There was an abundance of everything: ritual, gratitude, music and dance, and the Hawaiian buffet was "ono" and beyond imagination.
This all took place in a setting of old-time graciousness and charm. That is what our Islands are all about. It was a memorable evening. Mahalo to all the staff.
Emma Aluli
Kailua
Dec. 7: It was a time of idealism, now gone
I enjoyed your May 20 column about that fateful day, Dec. 7, 1941. Your paper put it so well and so succinctly. The level of hope and idealism at that time was incredibly high, and people responded accordingly.
Many of the Democrats in power have lost that level of idealism and seek only to feather their own nests. The Grand Old Party is no longer grand. Last election I looked very hard for a reason to vote for Linda Lingle, but she didn't give me one. She never said anything beyond platitudes and vague promises. I wanted some meat, and there was none.
I now consider myself an independent Democrat because the party that Pop, John A. Burns, envisioned is buried deep in the older generation, which is slowly dying off. And many of those in power have become traitors to those ideals.
I also want to share my memories of that day with you. I was 7 years old. My brothers and I had just come home from church with Pop. We were still in our Sunday best, I in the one dress I owned that my mother had sewn, and we were outside in our yard in Kailua on Mo'okua Street, a block and a half from Kailua Beach, not too far from the Kane'ohe Marine Base.
All of a sudden we noticed small airplanes flying low above us. We thought it was quite exciting, and we found a good clear place in the yard to watch them. We also saw planes flying closer to the beach and, as we found out later, they were strafing the beach with bullets. We thought they were playing a game. We were waving and shouting at them until the gal that was caring for us came to the door and screamed at us to get in the house. We did.
Pop was gone. He had left. The lady told me he had gone to get ice cream for my birthday cake. We didn't see him until a week later. We didn't know what happened to him. I had tomato soup for my birthday dinner but no ice cream. Mom was in California receiving treatment for her polio.
To this day I can't bear to have planes flying over me. I work downtown and I hate those helicopters and small planes that fly over my office building. Another Pearl Harbor story. That's my memory.
Anyway, thanks for the article. I will use it to inform my children a little of what their Grandpa, Jack Burns, did since he died when they were very young.
Sheenagh Burns
