Letters to the Editor
State Admissions Act focuses on Hawaiians
Ken Conklin, in his Aug. 11 Focus commentary, says that in 1959, Hawai'i's voters selected statehood, and what would protect our patriotism is an elimination of Hawaiian recognition (the Akaka Bill) and entitlements (OHA).
The Hawai'i State Admissions Act contains two provisions:
• A portion of revenue from ceded lands goes to "the betterment of the conditions of the native Hawaiians."
• The state would administer the federal Hawaiian Homestead Commissions Act of 1920.
The territory of Hawai'i willingly assented to these conditions. Eliminate them and Hawai'i is no longer a state. The wise justices knew this and left both of them intact in the Rice ruling.
Comes now Ken Conklin, a retired Boston professor. When he left Massachusetts, he left the two federally recognized Indian tribes in Massachusetts unbothered.
He flew over the 450-plus Indian tribes and left them undisturbed. In Hawai'i, he selectively wreaks pilikia only upon native Hawaiians and no other native people.
The multi-ethnic people of Hawai'i were not fooled when they elected a 29-year-old bartender with a high school diploma over a renowned Boston professor with a Ph.D. as an OHA trustee.
Damon Senaha
San Diego, Calif.
Trouble in paradise? Just raise tax again
The Aug. 11 headline "Trouble in paradise" pointed out that "revenue from the transient accommodations tax, also known as the hotel room tax, is projected to fall from a record of $177 million in fiscal year 2001 to $157 million this fiscal year."
The tax, at first, beginning in 1987, was 5 percent. That was not enough, so it was raised to 6 percent in 1994. Then, in 1998, it went up to its present 7.25 percent. When the 4 percent state excise tax is added to that, the tourist sees his $200 daily hotel bill become $223. But, heck, I'm sure that doesn't bother him much, so why don't we do what we did before, raise the tax to make up the "shortfall," which is, according to the article, 22 percent?
That calculates to a raise in tax of only 1.6 percentage points, from 7.25 percent to 8.85 percent. That would change his daily bill to about $226. If the "shortfall" persists because tourists still fail to visit, increase it again — and again.
But for sure, here is what we should never, ever do: expect tourists to respond to price gouging and vote with their feet, their money and their credit cards. Tourists are different (dumb?); they don't notice. That's why our governor once observed that we "export" our taxes to our visitors.
Richard O. Rowland
President, Grassroot Institute of Hawai'i
Blame parents, not fast-food industry
Regarding your Aug. 10 editorial, "Fast-food case prompts some valid discussion": A lawsuit against fast-food restaurants pushing the responsibility for obesity upon this industry is a very sad commentary on today's value systems.
Choices. We are all given choices. Today's parents are busy. They are busy with their jobs because they want to provide "things" for themselves and their children. For The Honolulu Advertiser to even suggest "litigation may be the best course to challenge the fast-food industry" is ludicrous.
No one forces an individual to enter a restaurant. The choice of food, as your editorial stated, is a personal responsibility. The word "responsibility" is the operative word in the sentence.
Most parents today do not understand responsibility. If you have a child, you have a responsibility to keep a parent at home, not at work. You have a responsibility to set rules and enforce them. You have a responsibility to instill a value system in the home. You have a responsibility to make your child an independent person. If this were the case, the living conditions might not be quite so grand, the money in the child's pocket not so great, but the character of the child would be enhanced.
Preparing nutritional food at home is cheaper and better. And, parents and children might even interact across the table, something that has been lost over the past few decades.
If a lawsuit were to be filed regarding fast foods, it should be filed against the parents, under whose control the children fall. To take this entire ridiculous option to the extreme, let the government fine and jail all obese parents for not setting the proper example for their children.
Diane Tippett
Cut state spending to pay teacher bonuses
Teachers are the most important of the Hawai'i state employees — they educate our children. It is disturbing that the governor states there are no funds available to pay teacher bonuses.
The state of Hawai'i is not a bankrupt institution, and varieties of debt-funding are available. Furthermore, should the HSTA use the judicial system to enforce the state contract, more tax dollars will be wasted on litigation costs.
I suggest we cut state spending via increased use of home-based employee programs. Telecommuting from home is a proven, cost-effective measure throughout the private sector.
The financial and social benefits would be significant. Thousands of state workers would not have to drive to work, effectively reducing office overhead expenses, which may be used to service debt obligations. The social impact — reduced traffic.
Tom Cerizo
Wailuku, Maui
Traffic lights can go up quickly, cheaply
On Aug. 10, your staff writer, Shayna Coleon, wrote about the traffic dangers near Kapolei Elementary and High schools. On Kaua'i, in locations where it was necessary to install traffic signal controls quickly, signals have been installed on cables strung over the road between two poles — quick, easy and cheap. (My idea was incorporated in yesterday's editorial.)
And obviously not against state law, so Honolulu could probably manage to do the same thing.
One may argue that it doesn't look as good as signals on expensive steel poles, but in areas where life is at risk, why wait? One can always return later, when the budget permits, and upgrade. Meanwhile, lives are saved. This would seem to be the classic no-brainer.
My company, Traffic Innovations, recommends that this expediency be employed immediately in those areas of obvious risk: certain areas of Farrington Highway and near Kapolei Elementary and High schools, for example. Why not take action that can save children's lives now, rather than after it's too late?
Richard Stancliff
President, Traffic Innovations
Don't underestimate what Iraq can do to us
Can you imagine scrawny little Woody Allen as David taking on the Rock as Goliath? Las Vegas oddsmakers would have the Rock a 100-to-1 favorite. But Woody drops the Rock with the feeblest of weapons, the sling shot. Sort of like the British could not imagine the settlers in the 13 Colonies would defeat them, or the United States had no idea that Vietnam could be its Waterloo.
Before the most powerful nation on Earth attacks Iraq, it may be a good idea to ask ourselves, "Is this what America is about?"
Forces within our government report that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction and Iraqis have killed their own people. Is that the criteria for attacking a country, or is the reason oil?
China has weapons of mass destruction and did in its own people in Tiananmen Square, periodically threatens to invade Taiwan and helped our enemies in the Vietnam conflict. Is the U.S. going to invade China? I don't think so, or I pray not.
Our forefathers called for a military force to protect our shores, and we would do well to keep it that way, lest we end up with more Somalias and Vietnams.
Ron Rhetrik
Mililani
Shakespeare festival a smashing success
Kudos and congratulations to the "Three Gentlemen of O'ahu" — R. Kevin Doyle, Tony Pisculli and Harry Wong III — for having the vision, courage and perseverance to take on the enormous challenge of launching the first Summer Shakespeare Festival in the glorious new Windward Community College theater.
Talk about a thrilling maiden voyage for that beautiful venue. What a rich gift to the community as a whole and what a tremendous opportunity for actors and actresses here, as well as for theatergoers and fans of The Bard.
As the guest director of Kaimuki High School's big spring Shakespeare festival, where upward of 500 kids get the chance to study, rehearse and perform scenes from Shakespeare, I am thrilled that I can now point these kids to the Summer Shakespeare Festival to see not one but three complete works up and running full-tilt.
Let us hope that this festival will continue and flourish with the blessing, participation and support of the community. Bravo and thanks to all who took part in realizing this seminal artistic adventure.
Eden-Lee Murray
Recycling would help solve landfill problem
I read in your Aug. 13 issue an article regarding the continuation of dumping at the Waimanalo Gulch landfill. I'm not the smartest guy in the world and I haven't been here in Hawai'i very long, but there is a partial simple solution: recycling.
I have noticed since moving to O'ahu in March of last year that most articles that I would be able to recycle on the Mainland are not accepted here. So where do all these items go? Apparently to the Waimanalo Gulch landfill.
If the local recycling programs accepted such items as colored paper, plastics with the numbers 1, 2 or 5 in the recycling emblem, colored cardboard and magazines, the landfill would not fill up quite as quickly.
I don't have any statistics, but I can only imagine how much more could be recycled and how much more landfill space could be saved if the local plants could accept more items — items that are accepted at recycling plants all across the Mainland.
Colin R. LeBeau
Wahi'awa
U.S. Navy humbled by the mighty Mitch
Good thing Mitchell Kahle was not leading the Imperial Japanese Navy in World War II — we might have lost the war in the Pacific.
Once upon a time a long, long time ago, an audacious young officer in the Continental Navy said "Give me a fast ship for I intend to go in harm's way."
Times have changed.
Nowadays, high-ranking Pacific Fleet brass eagerly stand up on tippy toes of anxiety lest the mighty Mitch be displeased at the degree of Navy compliance with even the slightest of Kahle's whims.
"We agree with what the Navy is saying — with prejudice — meaning let's see what you are planning to put on there (the cards), and then we'll see if it's OK to put this behind us," Kahle was quoted as saying in the Aug. 13 story headlined " 'I believe in God' to be erased from Navy youth cards."
Locking the heels of Pacific Fleet admirals in a position of rigid attention must be a bracing experience for Kahle. Thus emboldened, he will no doubt continue to define and impose his terms of surrender. Perhaps he will issue his next set of demands from the very deck of the USS Missouri, where MacArthur accepted unconditional surrender of Japan in 1945 in Tokyo Bay.
Pity sailors forced to endure such anxiety-ridden officers who practice this groveling brand of "leadership." Let us pray to God — indeed, that very God Pacific Fleet admirals seem so anxious to jettison in such haste — that no one fires a shot in anger at this mealy-mouthed, peacetime, panty-waist outfit that cannot wait to strike its colors and retreat.
"This is not a drill."
Thomas E. Stuart
Lieutenant commander, USN (Ret.)
Kapa'au, Big Island
Cruise line proposal uses same old 'grease'
Got a problem, go to the Godfather.
I was fascinated by your coverage of Norwegian Cruise Lines negotiating with a U.S. senator. Not about the negotiations themselves, but how one man has so much power, and that power is never questioned.
Are we a nation (state) of laws or a nation of men? In Hawai'i, we have a system of the people, by the people, for a select few.
Garry Francell, Perry Eddy
Bombing of Baghdad might kill Christians
I was pleased to see the Aug. 8 photograph of downtown Baghdad with the statue of Saddam Hussein and the basilica with the Christian cross in the background. It speaks well of a country when it allows its people to practice the holy Catholic faith. Isn't it ironic that U.S. ally Saudi Arabia does not?
If President Bush begins air raids on the Iraqi capital on a Sunday, as he did in Afghanistan, might not the U.S. military blow up a cathedral full of worshippers?
Should one think I'm being facetious, I would ask, how many millions of civilians has America killed since Pius XII issued an encyclical against total war in 1942?
I surely hope reason and mercy prevail over madness in our Capitol.
Ted Swanson
