Letters to the Editor
Lessees getting 'free ride' from city
Real estate and lessee activists are desperately seeking to grab our lands to line their own pockets. They are doing this at our expense as taxpayers of the City and County of Honolulu.
The lessees who want to take our land are getting a free ride from the city to defend them and to see that they get the land they do not own and certainly do not deserve from landowners.
The city's law, Chapter 38, is not only outdated but antiquated. There is no public purpose — only greed to take. There is no oligopoly.
There's no doubt there will be many lawsuits against the city, and again we taxpayers will foot the bill. It is no wonder that our city taxes are being increased.
We are not going to stop fighting this evil issue. We are disappointed in the five City Council members who do not have any backbone to stop this condemnation.
It is a no brainer for them to know that it is a bad act that goes against all the principles of our nation: the right to land ownership.
Out of the thousands and thousands of the citizens of our city, only FIVE MEN in our city are abusing their power to destroy us.
Only five out of thousands of citizens, and only fewer than 90 lessees who want our land are involved — lessees who are made up of a special interest group who the city is protecting and who will benefit greatly from this condemnation. Our city officials continue to be one-sided on the issue.
We are asking our mayor to please see why this condemnation is wrongful and immoral.
We are asking our mayor to please veto these resolutions. Chapter 38 is outdated and must be repealed.
When the new City Council is in session, we can discuss the problems of this legislation. Therefore it is prudent and right to not allow these resolutions to pass.
The taking of private land for the personal benefit of others is an irresponsible and evil act and must be stopped.
It is a deplorable act of abuse. It is using the power of eminent domain to force landowners to give up their lands against their wishes.
We are voices calling out to our government — to the mayor and to the governor — to make straight the way to justice and righteousness.
T. Phyllis Zerbe
May God's love pull you through this hardship
This letter is directed to the Indreginal family in Halawa.
My family and I live on Kalaloa Street and my children went to the same school as Kahealani. We would like to extend our deepest sympathy to the family. It's so close to home and we can't even imagine what they are going through.
All we can do now is send our prayers and love to the family. So to them, we say, "May God guide and protect you all right now and may his love pull you through this time of hardship. We ask that God will bring you peace and may justice be served with his help. Aloha from your neighbors."
The Grife family
Be careful in choosing clothes, jewelry for kids
My deepest condolences to the family of Kahealani Indreginal. I am writing to advise parents in Hawai'i about the lesson learned from this tragic event, so that it is not repeated again.
I believe that parents should be careful about the type of clothing and jewelry their children wear to school or in public.
They are only drawing unnecessary attention to their child. This could bring harmful and deadly consequences in some cases. We have heard stories on the Mainland about children dying because of their expensive clothes or name-brand shoes that they wear. I know that parents just want the best for their children, but they also need to use judgment when it comes to their safety. I never knew Kahealani but I hear that she was beautiful and smart.
I know that she wouldn't want to leave without teaching one final lesson: to please watch over our children. Mahalo.
Dominic Naki
Evan Dobelle reopens endorsement dispute
It seems that Evan Dobelle cannot let it alone, according to his Focus commentary (Dec. 15).
He feels it necessary to reopen the issue of his unfortunate announcement of his support of one gubernatorial candidate over another and doing it from the office of the presidency of the University of Hawai'i.
The article itself is disturbing. He has chosen to justify his actions by wrapping the mantle about his own shoulders of Jimmy Carter's integrity and Harry Truman's leadership. His clear inference is that these are the qualities that Dobelle himself displayed in the 2002 Hawai'i elections.
In his words, his actions were "not one of political calculation but straight from the heart." I find it difficult to conclude that Dobelle, acting entirely on his own, thought it would be a good idea if he personally prepared a TV commercial extolling the virtues of one candidate over another.
Certainly, as Dobelle noted, he was not "coerced" to do so. But is it too hard to believe that powerful friends "suggested" it would be nice if he did so?
Dobelle would have been well advised to drop the entire matter rather than reopening the wound with this self-serving article.
Peter F.C. Armstrong
Industry definitely revitalizes economy
Rich Zubaty, in his Dec. 13 letter, is misinformed about the effects of the cruise ship industry on the local economy.
I have personally witnessed a small revitalization of the Hilo economy with the regular arrival of cruise ships here. Cab drivers are no longer sitting idle. They are so busy transporting passengers to local sights that they have had to increase their fleet. Local produce wholesalers are doing business on a mammoth scale feeding large numbers of passengers. Some visitors are so enchanted by the island that they buy land and settle here. Real estate brokers are busy.
As for "crowded docks," it is Zubaty who has the illusion. The Hilo Port is normally empty. It comes alive only when the Matson container ship or the cruise liner comes to port. I should know. I live across the bay!
Pradeepta Chowdhury
Hilo
Stand Up for America display is a must-see
I took my family to Honolulu Hale to check out City Lights. This is a great program and it keeps improving each year. I also like how the city gives different religious groups the opportunity to have a display, where they can express what the holidays mean to them.
The display that impressed me the most was from Stand Up for America, an organization founded by Mike Gabbard. Its display has a very powerful message about patriotism and Christmas.
For anybody who has not seen City Lights and the Stand Up for America display, I would definitely recommend going to check it out.
Kathy Martin
Leashing your dog can save another's life
On Dec. 13, my family was walking on Anuanu Street in Mililani Mauka when a dog attacked us.
Fortunately, my husband was able to position himself between the dog and our toddler, who was strapped in her stroller, and fended off the dog's bites until the owner pulled him away.
I realize that most pet owners cannot believe that their beloved dogs would attack people unprovoked. But they can and do.
I shudder to think what might have happened had my husband not acted so quickly. Pet owners, please be sure that your gates are locked and your dogs are chained or leashed. You could be saving a life.
Michelle Igarashi
Mililani
'Bonus nurses' only prolonging strike
Before anyone comes down too hard on Irene Holland for her Dec. 13 letter praising scab nurses, let me submit that based on the local news media's coverage of the nurses' strike, it's fair to forgive Holland for not knowing any better.
Aside from generalizations about "talks" and a few life-on-the-picket-line kinds of stories, little has been said or written about what is actually at stake, and what is being done about it.
The Advertiser usually fails to go beyond the occasional 10-line blurb, often burying even that brief mention deep in its B section and relying on the daily disgruntled striking nurse to justify his or her actions in a letter to the editor (as if opposition to a mandatory 16-hour day needed any justification in 2002).
If anything, the "replacement nurses" have come off as heroes who've come in to care for our sick while our nurses "negotiate," as Holland puts it.
How about some specifics? What exactly are the striking nurses demanding?
From what I can piece together from the coverage so far, it has far less to do with pay raises than with eliminating mandatory overtime through an increase in staffing. What are the hospitals doing, other than taking punitive measures like filing lawsuits to force striking nurses to return and perform work their nonunion nurse managers are fully capable of doing, and other than sucking up hundreds of dollars in losses a day to shut down the cash registers in their employee cafeterias and provide yet another perk for the imported scabs?
And above all, how much are the hospitals paying in this all-out effort to win rather than compromise?
In its minute of strike coverage on Dec. 13, Channel Two News did give a striker 16 seconds to plead that the replacements were making "two to three times" the current nurse salary.
If this is true, that's 264 replacements at some $60 an hour each. Times 12 hours, times 14 days (so far), plus 264 hotel rooms times 14 days (so far) times whatever the rooms cost, plus meals and more, all courtesy of The Queen's Medical Center, Kuakini Medical Center and St. Francis Medical Center.
All 264 of them needed plane tickets. And who knows? Maybe the hospitals threw in duffel bags for them to carry home the dough.
I do the math — because the local news media haven't — and, including expenses, it comes to more than a million dollars already — money that could have been better used in a compromise with our nurses who would have spent it here.
"Bonus nurses"? They're scabs. And they're prolonging the strike.
Mark Panek
Use cruise terminal building for parking
Is it only obvious to me or shouldn't the Aloha Tower Marketplace consider building a structure within the cruise terminal building? I do not know how that entire building is being used but it seems to be under-utilized.
The ground floor could remain a cruise terminal and at least two stories of parking could be built above it. They could also install a roof garden, or even plan for a restaurant for the top level. Maybe it has been considered already? Maybe it was found to be unsuitable? Who knows?
But if the parking problems are not fixed soon, any chance of the Aloha Tower Marketplace becoming financially viable is going to be ruined. Kaka'ako is being redeveloped and if Aloha Tower can't get it together, it's going to be the losers down the road.
Dominic Aina
Chocolate poses no risk to community
The Dec. 6 article in The Advertiser left us deeply distressed. The article told of Retired Navy Cmdr. Bill Schnurr, who had to resort to a hunger strike to try to get his dog, Chocolate, just diagnosed with cancer, from being forced to stay an additional 90 days in quarantine.
We're living with quarantine rules that have been researched by state veterinarians and shown to be unnecessary. Based on the state veterinarian's latest risk analysis, the Department of Agriculture's board of directors voted in support of new rules that would eliminate a second blood test for cats and dogs. Chocolate failed her second blood test, a test that would likely be affected by her cancer, yet no one would be requiring her to spend additional time in quarantine if the new rules were already in effect.
Chocolate passed her first blood test and she clearly poses no threat to our community. Hawai'i can fulfill the intent of the quarantine rules, protect our state from rabies and show aloha to the Schnurrs and their gravely ill dog.
Pamela Burns
President/CEO, Hawaiian Humane Society
Wahine volleyball team played with courage
I have been an avid University of Hawai'i sports fan for more than 40 years and have enjoyed the really outstanding victories of all the teams, including the Warriors football and basketball teams, and the great Rainbow baseball teams.
But I have to rate the victory of the Rainbow Wahine volleyball team over Nebraska as one of the greatest games of all time for Hawai'i. To play in that kind of environment so far from home and to play with such courage and intensity makes me very proud of the girls and the coaching staff.
I just wish you all the very best in your quest for the championship.
Dennis Lynch
Pearl City
