Letters to the Editor
Foreigner in Hawai'i? So where's my visa?
I'm embarrassed. I just discovered, thanks to Haunani-Kay Trask's biting diatribe (Island Voices, April 19), that I am not living in a U.S. state, but rather in a foreign country.
For the past 20 years that I have been living in Hawai'i, I have told my friends and family (myself included) that I so much enjoy living in the 50th state, a beautiful, thriving island home. Imagine my shock and horror when I discovered, upon reading Ms. Trask's self-aggrandizing letter to Bob Rees (yes, it's obvious she directed it personally toward Mr. Rees; I have seen the vitriolic nature of their correspondence through the years) that I am in fact a "visitor in her country."
Whose country? Not mine? Not every other U.S. citizen?
Last I checked, a visa was not a requirement for living in, let alone visiting, Hawai'i, our 50th state. Far be it from me to denigrate local and political views, but I can't help but feel that our fledgling tourist industry, and subsequent investors, would feel just the tiniest bit of apprehension from the obvious slight to those who live and work in Hawai'i and those who vacation here.
Mark Bagley
You've got it wrong on roadway speeds
I cannot believe your editorial staff could be so uninformed about roadway safety as to suggest that parts of Likelike, Kalaniana'ole and Pali highways should have their speed limits raised to 55 mph "without posing unreasonable danger."
For those not encased in 6,000-pound SUVs, it would be more dangerous indeed unless massive injections of capital are made to improve enforcement and infrastructure. Just ask anyone living along the Farrington Deathway.
Referring to these as "grade separated" ignores the fact that unlike limited-access highways, these other roads contain driveways, intersections, bike lanes and pedestrians crossing the street. None of these other uses were originally designed for a 55-mph road, and none of these other users will be safe if they have to contend with heavy, high-speed traffic.
For example, people pulling out of driveways or short merge ramps would be at higher risk of crashes. The existing shoulders and bike lanes often barely meet specifications at 35 mph, and would be utterly dangerous at 55 mph, abjectly failing American Association of State Highway Traffic Official specifications.
Don't declare war on cyclists and pedestrians to save a minute or two. That's not aloha, that's greed.
Khal Spencer
Former president ,Hawai'i Bicycling League
Advertisement was morally bankrupt
The advertisement on page B7 in the April 17 issue for your "Hawai'i's People2People" promotion was even more morally suspect than your ads in the sports section: " ... a way for singles to meet," and then it shows a couple in bed with pajama tops on and with bare legs.
You're not morally suspect, you're morally bankrupt.
Helen Eschenbacher
Ann Kobayashi didn't break lobbyist law
Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi was unfairly portrayed in the April 15 paper.
Your story implied that she broke the law by failing to register as a lobbyist when, prior to becoming a member of the council, she met with council members on behalf of a nonprofit halfway house for parolees. The man who ran the organization has been accused of improprieties and may be a bad actor — I don't know.
But it does not appear to me that Ms. Kobayashi did anything wrong. She served as a volunteer board member and seems to sincerely believe in the group's mission of rehabilitation and prison reform.
City ordinances require registration of paid lobbyists and lobbyists for organizations that accept dues or contributions specifically for the purpose of lobbying. It appears from your article that Ms. Kobayashi was in neither category. If not, she was under no obligation to register and should not be faulted.
Chris Parsons
Hearings appreciated on Neighbor Islands
The Citizens for Competitive Air Travel wishes to express its appreciation to Sens. Ron Menor and Cal Kawamoto for their efforts in holding hearings in Kona and Hilo on the Big Island, on Maui and on Kaua'i that enabled the citizens on the Neighbor Islands to express their views on the merger of Aloha and Hawaiian airlines.
We are grateful for the willingness of both to spend several days away from their families.
The hearings provided an opportunity for both those who were for and against the merger to be heard. Questions raised by these two senators and a number of their Senate colleagues of both parties regarding the merger resulted in a determination by the entire state Senate that the proposed monopoly would be harmful to Hawai'i's air transportation system.
Considerable credit must also be given to the vast majority of citizens of Hawai'i who saw very clearly that the proposed merger would be detrimental to Hawai'i. They made their voices heard through the petitions they signed, the calls they made to their elected officials and by attending and speaking out at public hearings.
Richard Port
Spokesman, Citizens for Competitive Air Travel
Baby monk seal also a part of our beach
Since the early '50s, from the age of 2, I have spent precious time in beautiful Po'ipu on Kaua'i with my grandparents. It has only been within the last 10 years that I first noticed monk seals basking in the sun along the Po'ipu coastline.
Recently, an infant monk seal nested at Po'ipu Beach. The beach was closed to people for swimming until the moment came when the baby monk seal was ready to try out life in the ocean. Just like a baby taking its first step. Though I was not able to swim, I was there to witness something extraordinary --- a creature of the sea thriving in its own element and learning about its life.
I imagined that it was enjoying the very things I love about that beach: the warm sun, fresh breezes; blue sky and clouds; soft breaking waves; and that certain restfulness of sand. A monk seal on the beach always signals to me that we are part of a greater whole and that we share this planet with other living creatures. We will never be able to claim ownership of the beaches.
Perhaps our tourism planners could see this as a plus to tourism and educate those who complain about not being able to swim at a beach because of the occasional presence of another living creature, a monk seal.
Cammie Matsumoto
Public cable access must be protected
Public, Educational and Governmental (PEG) Cable Access ('Olelo, Akaku, Hoike and Na Leo) has a great history in our state, and we are among the leaders in the nation.
Hundreds of volunteer producers create thousands of hours of programming that result in the richest and most reliable source for diverse and local programming. HB2351 SD2 would take what already is routine practice and make sure it continues.
The bill goes further to ensure that the independent status of the PEG Cable Access organizations is not compromised by political or financial conflicts of interest by removing political appointees to the board of directors and appointees by the cable companies. HB2351 would also require the PEG organizations to operate in the "sunshine" with open board meetings and make relevant documents available to the public.
As deregulation allows media ownership to narrow to being controlled by fewer corporations, such as Time Warner/AOL and Clear Channel Communications, the more we need PEG Cable Access to ensure there is local programming produced by and for Hawai'i.
Protect PEG Cable Access by perpetuating this important and vital community communications resource and urge the Legislature and Gov. Cayetano to support HB2351.
Richard D. Turner
Kane'ohe
Rose Bowl Parade a great experience
I am excited about the prospects of a Hawai'i all-state marching band going to the Pasadena Rose Bowl Parade. Michael Playton is a wonderful director who has the magical skills that directors must have to organize 100-plus students and twice that many parents.
In 1998, I had the honor of being in this parade under director Fredrick Murphy of Mililani High School. This is the parade to be in, and it is truly an honor to go.
My message to any high school marcher who would like a truly once-in-a-life-time experience: Go for it. But preparations for the parade will be tough; it is not a walk down Kalakaua Avenue for Aloha Week. Instead, it is a 5.5-mile walk with streets crowded with people.
But the whole event is euphoric, energizing, scary and worth the hours of endless practice.
Maybe I'm over-dramatizing this event, maybe I'm just a "band geek" at heart. But if you ask any marcher of the Pasadena Rose Bowl Parade, he will tell you it was positively "Da Bomb."
Ruby Marcelo
Beloit, Wis.
Show pride in school
It would be good for students in Hawai'i to wear uniforms. I know that many schools do not require a uniform and I know that every student in Hawai'i is not the same.
It would be nice if we were in uniforms to show respect for our school, country and state. It's important to show what school you come from and how you feel and care about your school.
Fumiko Kabua
Kaimuki High School student
Misconceptions mar rabies debate
I'd like to respond to the April 10 letter from David Choy about the "danger" of changing the quarantine. The gentleman is mistaken on several points:
• Hawai'i is not rabies-free because of quarantine. Quarantine doesn't prevent rabies but can only detect it after a case has developed. Responsible pet owners who take good care of their animals, never letting them be exposed to rabies and having them properly vaccinated against rabies, have enabled Hawai'i to remain rabies-free.
• Seeing an animal with "furious" rabies (the mad-and-snapping kind, portrayed in "Old Yeller" and "Cujo," vs. the "dumb" kind that most skunks and many other animals exhibit, with a general apathy, unnatural gentleness and even affection for humans and other natural enemies, a gradual inability to maintain proper orientation, in that it literally winds up going in circles, eventual paralysis, unconsciousness and death) is a frightening thing, but I'd like to know where, when and how Mr. Choy actually saw it. The pity is, he didn't learn anything about it, if he did in fact see it.
• Rabies can be eliminated with vaccines, even in wild populations. It happened on Guam in the 1970s; Switzerland, in the smack-dab middle of other countries where fox rabies is endemic, was declared rabies-free by the World Health Organization in 1999; the rest of the European Union have had no reported cases of rabies in domestic dogs and cats in years, and have all but eliminated it in their native fox populations; Puerto Rico brought an outbreak under control within months with a concerted vaccination program; there are many examples.
• The only wild vector for rabies here would be the mongoose, and it's highly unlikely our mongoose population would ever contract rabies and then develop it in their wild population; evidently rabies doesn't work that way.
• More people are injured and die each year from attacks by healthy, rabies-free dogs, here as well as on the Mainland, than ever contract rabies from domestic animals; the last case there was in 1979.
• Anyone who attempts to file a lawsuit before rabies is actually reported here will lose, guaranteed. That's a very expensive way of trying to vent one's resentment of change.
• Actually, rabies can be cured before symptoms appear. If a human being receives immediate medical care after a bite, he or she will not develop rabies.
• The cost of quarantine is only incidental to the fact that vaccines are safer, more effective and would prevent rabies from ever coming to these shores, which quarantine cannot do.
Change is always frightening, even when it's good, especially if ignorance surrounds it. But change, all change, is inevitable and the key is learning to recognize and support good change and recognize and reject or limit bad change. Going to a program of rabies vaccines, proven to be 100 percent effective at preventing rabies in the field, is a good change.
Cathy Robinson
