Posted on: Friday, August 23, 2002

Letters to the Editor

Lingle's opposition to campus alarming

I am extremely concerned about Linda Lingle's opposition to ensuring convenient access to higher education for Leeward O'ahu residents.

Now that the governor has secured $8 million to plan and design the campus, it would be a travesty if the project were derailed. Lingle's campaign literature states she would appoint to the Board of Regents people who share her vision for the university, yet notably absent is any specific mention of a UH-West O'ahu campus.

The Republican candidate's statements to students at UH-Hilo during her last campaign that the UH-West O'ahu campus is "the biggest mistake our university is about to make" are alarming.

The residents of O'ahu's Second City have waited too long for the development of the four-year campus. We now know that a UH-West O'ahu campus in not one of Lingle's many campaign promises, and her appointment of UH regents who share her vision for higher education is scary.

Charles R. "Dick" Beamer
'Ewa Beach

Teachers union should interview candidates

The past four years have been unusually difficult for Hawai'i's public school teachers. In addition to the everyday challenges that have always been a part of this honorable profession, teachers are now forced to cope with insults, broken promises and outright humiliation from the governor they worked so hard to elect.

Hopefully, we have learned something from this horrible experience.

There was a time in our history when union endorsements may have had some value. Before this age of instant and endless information, workers must have appreciated their leadership studying the candidates and choosing the ones who best represented their interests. But those days are gone. Professional and blue-collar workers alike have many months to read the newspapers, listen to debates and log on to Web sites if additional information is needed. It's no longer necessary to rely blindly on party affiliation or the size of someone's sign-waving army.

Four years ago, the Hawai'i State Teachers Association's decision to throw its strength behind Ben Cayetano over Linda Lingle caused a major rift among teachers. This time around, if my union truly wants to be of service to me, I would like for it to use my dues to interview all candidates, ask the hard questions that I cannot ask individually, share that information with me objectively, and then trust me to arrive at my own conclusions when I step into the voting booth.

Then, if I should ever help to elect another Ben Cayetano, I would have no one to blame but myself.

Dale Crabtree
Kihei, Maui

Credit Tesha Malama for solving problem

The Aug. 20 article concerning the opening of the gate between 'Ewa and Roosevelt Road shows what can be done if a community has a forward-looking leader.

A member of the 'Ewa Neighborhood Board and now a candidate for the state Senate, Tesha Malama, has been the driving force for modifications to current roads to ease traffic congestion along Fort Weaver Road.

Not only did she get this shortcut opened for 'Ewa residents, she also singlehandedly persuaded the city to finally make plans and obligate funding to improve and open up Park Row, which will allow Gentry residents to take their kids to 'Ewa schools directly instead of adding to the congestion on Fort Weaver Road. This will shorten the trip from 3 miles to less than a mile and take more than 400 cars off this busy thoroughfare.

This is the type of leadership we have needed to solve our traffic problems in this area.

Garry P. Smith
'Ewa Beach

It's time you voted to show displeasure

When our representatives speak, they speak for the people of the state. I think our representatives have forgotten this. Consider the following situations from the past year:

• The traffic camera debacle and who will pay for the cancellation of the contract to ACS.
• The raid on the interest in the Hawai'i Hurricane Relief Fund.
• The increase in the tax on tobacco (sin tax).
• The bottle tax bill.
• The long-term-care plan "Careplus."
• The library management ("Kapolei library building, no books").

These all have been very sensitive issues with public outcries.

Well, now it's showtime: Vote!ÊRegardless of your party affiliation, at least vote. Your ballot is your voice.

Gary A. Waters

'Morning-after pill' should have warning

Where is Planned Parenthood's respect for informed choice?

On Aug. 2, Planned Parenthood's CEO, Barry Raff, rakes ob-gyn physician Nathan Hoeldtke over the coals for his July 29 letter. Hoeldtke's letter simply points out that there are at least two ways of reckoning when life starts, and that according to the traditional understanding, use of the "morning-after pill" often will cause the destruction of this new life by preventing implantation of a fertilized egg in the uterus.

Hoeldtke is rightly concerned about women who unwittingly accept Planned Parenthood's "emergency contraception" services, only to find out later that, according to their personal beliefs, the procedure was an abortion, not contraception.

Of course, Raff is entitled to believe that life begins with implantation of a fertilized egg in the uterus. But shouldn't Raff, when speaking as the CEO of a provider of medical services, put his patients ahead of politics, and the risk of causing traumatic guilt to some women ahead of his personal ideology? Where is his concern for a woman who believes ordinary contraception is moral, but also that destroying a fertilized egg by preventing implantation is immoral? Isn't he doing this woman, and the millions of others like her, a disservice by trying to sugar-coat what for her is an abortion by calling it "emergency contraception"?

Susan Matoi

Parts of H-1 freeway becoming a raceway

I had hoped the traffic camera program would have ultimately shamed the Honolulu Police Department into improving its enforcement of traffic laws on our highways, but it is apparent to me every morning that this is not the case.

Every day as I depart my home in Kapolei, I feel I have to steel myself for the commute to come, as more and more I feel as if I'm a reluctant participant in a high-speed street race and my very survival is at stake.

Our new "Raceway Park" is the eastbound and westbound stretches on H-1 between the Makakilo Drive overpass and Manager's Drive. Every morning and evening, I immediately assume the maximum speed limit (60 mph), and soon discover I am the slowest-moving vehicle on the road. Cars pass on the left and right, often at speeds approximating 70 mph. Some exceed 80 mph.

Every day, I hope to see an HPD officer with a radar gun poised at the ready to act as a deterrent; or perhaps a few police cruisers pacing traffic; or better yet, a "wolfpack" pulling speeding drivers over by the dozens. But I don't think I have seen a uniformed officer along that stretch during rush hour since the traffic camera program went away.

Clearly, the area and the excess speeding problem are being ignored.

William Smith
Kapolei

'Price of Paradise' article was misleading

John Duchemin's "Price of Paradise shrinks" article is misleading. His article paints the wrong picture at a time when the economy and government spending are major issues in political campaigns.

I was shocked at the statement in the article that says, "A $100,000 income in Sacramento, for instance, will buy you about as much as a $77,400 income on O'ahu, according to bankrate.com, an online company that monitors rates, prices and costs in cities nationwide."

The bankrate.com Internet site that he referenced provides data that conflicts with his article. I went to that site and used the cost-of-living calculator to compare the cost of living between Sacramento and Honolulu. The bankrate.com calculator listed "A $100,000 income in Sacramento CA is equivalent to a $99,622 income in Honolulu HI." (http://www.bankrate.com/brm/movecalc.asp?moving&page=calc)

So those results show that we are at the same cost of living as Sacramento presently, instead of 30 percent lower as stated in the article. Since the listed reference doesn't support the numbers in his article, I went to another site. At realtor.com, I got very different results.

The salary calculator at realtor.com estimates that if you make $100,000 in Sacramento, you would need to make $154,747 in Honolulu if you are buying your home. If you are renting in Honolulu, then you only need to make $118,642 (http://www.homefair.com/homefair/calc/salcalc.html).

At the very least, Honolulu's cost of living is as much as today's large, expensive cities on the Mainland. And Honolulu's costs are very much higher than smaller cities. I cannot see what has changed. Maybe another article will explain this.

Steve Anderson

Hawai'i Babe Ruth team also worthy

Excuse me. Does the media in Hawai'i know that there was another baseball team that also vied for a World Series title? The Hawai'i Babe Ruth 13-year-olds, also known as Hawai'i Five O, may not have had television coverage, but they worked hard to get to where they were.

First they traveled to Napa, Calif., and won the Pacific Southwest Regional Tournament. Next they traveled to Abbeville, La., for the Babe Ruth World Series. They played their hearts out and won third place with a record of 4-1.

These boys showed what the true meaning of aloha means. We are so proud of them. Rick Miyamoto and Channon Coloma won All-Star Team honors and Ande Kuakini won the Outstanding Glove Award.

Congratulations on a job well done, boys.

Shireen Gaetjen
Wai'anae

Drug abusers also put family members at risk

Contrary to Robert Sharpe's assertions in his Aug. 10 letter, the drug war not only promotes but protects families and their values. Children and family members of inmates and non-incarcerated illegal drug users are put in harm's way every day by their association with drug users.

A 1997 Journal of the American Medical Association study reported that "people who do not use illegal drugs but live in households where such drugs are used are 11 times as likely to be killed as those living in drug-free homes," and "drug abuse in a home increased a woman's risk of being killed by a spouse, lover or close relative by 28 times."

The researchers concluded, "Our concept of the individual at risk for violent death should be broadened to include not only the substance abuser, but also those who may be at risk because of the presence of others within the household who are substance abusers."

Unless Mr. Sharpe excludes the safety and well-being of family members as a family value, he is dead wrong.

Jeanette McDougal
Director, National Alliance for Health and Safety
Chairwoman, Drug Watch/Hawaii

Mildred Guenther