Letters to the Editor
Justice Foundation is 'insider' group
With all due respect, I nearly threw a chair when I read your Dec. 12 editorial about "a groundbreaking public opinion survey by the Hawai'i Justice Foundation" and its survey of Hawai'i residents to sort out the key "justice" issues in the Islands today." The results were "people think there is a power imbalance between ordinary citizens and insiders" and "people in Waimanalo, Wai'anae and Kalihi feel shortchanged."
Here is the ultimate insider group (although none there would consider themselves so) spending a fortune on another study — and then opining on the public's perception of "insiders"; when any fool in the street could articulate the same conclusions.
While I am certain that the Hawai'i Justice Foundation may do many noble things, it all seems to knock down ridiculously large salaries doing it, have its own revolving door of credentialed, but unaccomplished, buddies getting the side contracts, and is as often as not feeding at the trough of Hawai'i's more prosperous "insider" nonprofit organizations in the process. God help anyone who gets too near that trough in this town.
As someone who has worked very successfully for 20 years in Hawai'i with poor nonprofits, I have several times approached the Hawai'i Justice Foundation with an interest in participating as a panelist for one of its many seminars where it attempts to teach people how to do things that it has never done itself.
I have reason to believe I know something it does not as I successfully teach it every day. In any event, it ain't ever happened.
Sour grapes? Well, in some quarters I am considered an expert in several fields — certainly when compared with some of the unaccomplished, seemingly anointed participants that continually populate the de rigueur 'Olelo panel discussions so often presented by an endless combination of the same people.
While I remain secure in the portfolio of successful projects (www.scottfoster.org) I have brought in at a mere pittance when compared to the money some of these people spend on their useless seminars and brochures, it causes me to sometimes want to vomit when I think of what actual good might be accomplished in this state if some of the prized charitable foundation money were in more capable hands. There is no "justice" here.
Scott Foster
Thousands benefited from college program
In 1947, at age 17 and a junior in high school, I joined the Naval Reserve in Glenview, Ill. That same year I competed against 200,000 other students for 2,000 student openings at 52 university and college Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps units throughout the United States. I was accepted.
My family could not afford to offer me a college education. Today, there are still 34 states plus the District of Columbia that have NROTC units and affiliates in 100 colleges and universities.
Students are neither asked nor ordered to apply for the NROTC. A written test, a physical and an interview — all of which must meet recognized standards — are required for acceptance.
What part of "volunteer" is not understood by the University of Hawai'i faculty? Have they (the faculty) totally lost their moral compass?
Their arguments about scholarships, discrimination based on sexual preference, military policy and academic integrity are specious at best and an insult to all members of the Army and Air Force ROTC units already on campus. I would rather hear the "real reason" the UH faculty is opposed to the NROTC — instead of all this obfuscation. Is the faculty afraid to tell us?
Literally, more than 116,000 NROTC men and women have benefited by a solid education from some of the most prestigious facilities in the United States since the early 1940s. These people have become doctors, lawyers, scientists, business leaders and even, horror of horrors, educators throughout our country and the world.
It is not an exaggeration to say that the educators of today would not be here without the hard work, dedication and sacrifice of our military, past or present. It's time for the UH faculty to "get real" and "get a life."
Don Neill
Class of 1952, NROTC USC
Tourists are nickeled and dimed to death
During my recent stay, I noticed a couple of consistent lines of thought in your articles that do have a relationship but nobody seems to have them coupled up.
In one paragraph, article or story, there will be a long lament about the downturn in the tourism industry. In another paragraph, article or story, there will be some project that needs financing and there's always mention of increasing tourists' taxes so they will pay for it.
For example, the article on mass transportation said, "Add it to the excise tax, that way the tourists will pay for it."
Hawai'i is rapidly pricing itself out of the prime tourist destinations. The tourist is nickeled and dimed to death. There are extra taxes on rental cars and hotel rooms; it even costs us $7 to go to Hanauma Bay. I will always return, as it is my homeland, but many others don't have this connection.
Chuck Moore
Limit road access by private vehicles
Why are so many people fixated on grandiose and expensive "solutions" to traffic problems on O'ahu?
Because they know that such schemes won't be implemented any time in the foreseeable future (some of the technology doesn't even exist yet), if at all. They can then remain secure in the knowledge that they will continue to be able to clog the streets and highways of the island without regard for anyone but themselves. And any of these mass transit "alternatives" would fail simply because people wouldn't use them.
There is a simple, cost-effective way to alleviate traffic congestion in and around Honolulu.
First, expand the existing public transportation system to handle the increased volume that will result from the second part.
Second, deny access by private vehicles to most of downtown and Waikiki during certain hours of the day. Give people the options of using public transportation or any other method they care to use — except driving their own vehicle.
People will scream about their "right" to drive. Driving is not a right, it is a privilege. Privileges that are not used responsibly can, and should be, constrained.
Are the thousands of individuals in their individual vehicles that you see on the highways of this island every morning and every evening acting responsibly, or showing any consideration for the environment of our home or for others? I think not.
If people refuse to use their privileges responsibly and wisely, then those privileges can be constrained. You can't force people to act responsibly. You can, however, disallow them the means to act irresponsibly.
Matt Vose
'Aiea
Nurses believe 'patient always comes first'
As a registered nurse at The Queen's Medical Center, I was saddened, but not surprised, to read your article that cited Dr. Halford's fears that the nursing strike "could drag on." PTO (paid time off) was "too important" and they "were never going to let that go."
For as long as I can remember, I wanted to become a nurse. I enjoyed taking care of people, "the sick and whoever they may be" and have devoted more than one-third of my life to this cause. Through the years I have seen changes in the healthcare system but have remained true to my cause.
The healthcare system has become a big business with CEOs and trustees making outlandish salaries while, ironically, budget cuts are at the forefront of its concerns.
I'm not a business person but a nurse who took an oath that requires me to provide safe, prudent care to my patients.
Although management's contract offer did address a pay raise, it totally disregarded issues directly related to patient care and safety.
For a moment I was "awestruck" and tempted to accept management's final contract offer, but then I remembered my oath, "the patient always comes first."
Michele Ferguson
RN, BSN, ONC
Trust people in what reasonable doubt is
Our car was broken into in the wee hours of a November morning. Luckily, we were able to find the suspect and recover our property. He even admitted committing the offense. The police were called and the suspect was arrested.
When the detective presented the case to the prosecutor's office for prosecution, it was declined because we did not actually see the suspect in our car.
The suspect just happened to be trespassing in our private parking lot at 2 a.m. in the morning. He was seen in close proximity to our car carrying a bag in which our property was later found.
A reasonable person could conclude that this person committed this crime. Unless this person was a prosecuting attorney more interested in his or her win-loss ratio than seeing justice done.
Our criminal justice system requires a conviction based upon guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, not guilt beyond doubt.
The prosecutors should give victims their day in court and trust the people to decide what a reasonable doubt should be. Can the prosecutor really be afraid to go to court with only a 98 percent chance of winning?
Steve Perry
'Ewa Beach
State should oppose Bush's privatization plan
It's difficult to believe that as federal employees take over airport security in the wake of major failures by the "lowest bidders" that the federal government would be moving to contact out another critical air safety function.
It's even more difficult to believe that other countries have attempted to privatize this same critical group of safety employees, and the attempts have failed, costing more money and compromising public safety.
What is this function? Who are these employees? Air traffic control and the controllers who make it work everyday.
The Bush administration in recent weeks has made a series of moves intended to pave the way for the privatization of air traffic control. Everyone who flies, and that's almost everyone in our state, should oppose this plan.
Privatization advocates cite safety and efficiency gains under contracted systems in Great Britain, Canada and Australia; but the proof is not there.
In fact, Great Britain's system is responsible for close to half of Europe's flight delays and Canada's error rate far exceeds that of the United States' despite handling just 9 percent as much traffic as U.S. controllers. Australia's system is marked by a looming fiscal crisis and controller work stoppages at major airports.
Contrast that to the United States, where controller errors fell 11 percent in the last year, the first time we've seen a reduction since 1997. Runway incursions fell 12 percent from 2000 to 2001 and are down more than 30 percent this year.
Furthermore, while air traffic is down 7 percent since the Sept. 11 attacks, flight delays have fallen 36.5 percent.
The safety of the flying public is an air traffic controllers' sacred trust. We are proud to maintain the world's safest, most efficient and most sophisticated air traffic control system. The safety of the flying public should never be for sale to the lowest bidder.
Jim Bedient
National Air Traffic Controllers Association, Honolulu Control Facility
There's not much to thank party for
We, the voters of Hawai'i, are surely indebted to the Democratic Party, as Jo An Gaines stated in her Dec. 9 letter.
We thank the party for all those Democrats we elected who were later convicted of criminal wrongdoing and had to be removed or resign from office in disgrace. What a great example that sets for Hawai'i's young people.
And we would also like to thank the outgoing Democratic governor for the pardoning of Bumpy Kanahele, convicted of terroristic threatening, firearms and assault violations.
My last word to Gaines on Lingle's inauguration as the first Republican governor in 40 years ... Get over it. Most of Hawai'i voted for the change.
J.D. Nielsen
Ironic how widow can afford to buy land
Am I the only one to question how someone such as Ruth Rand, the Kahala Beach condo owner, cannot afford an increase in her lease rent but wants to be able to purchase the land outright? Won't that be a little steep for a "widow on a fixed income"?
Surely Kamehameha Schools will command a princely price for those fee transfers, won't it?
Kate McIntyre
