Letters to the Editor
Kahealani latest victim of 'ice' plague
We have all been witness to the destruction of thousands of Hawai'i families and the deterioration of our social fabric because of the disease called "ice" (crystal methamphetamine) that is rampaging through our Islands. As U.S. Attorney Ed Kubo has pointed out:
- Hawai'i has the worst crystal methamphetamine problem in the country with approximately 30,000 Hawai'i residents who are hard-core users and as many as 90,000 who are "recreational" users. (That's one in every 10 of us.)
- Substance abuse, with crystal meth as the No. 1 drug of choice, is associated with 90 percent of the 2,300 confirmed child-abuse cases in the state each year.
- Forty percent of people arrested in Honolulu test positive for methamphetamine use. No other city comes close.
- "Ice" users support their insatiable habit through burglaries, robberies, purse snatchings and car break-ins and thefts (7,500 auto thefts this year on O'ahu alone) bringing Hawai'i's theft rate to the highest in the nation.
- Hawai'i's most high-profile violence has been linked to crystal meth; this includes the lovely little angel, Kahealani Indreginal, who was taken from us.
When is enough enough? When will we all begin to take responsibility for what is happening to our children and our community?
As Kubo, our drug treatment professionals and our law enforcement providers all agree: We must provide more educational programs for our youth and extensive treatment programs for inmates and those on parole or probation. There are now hundreds in line for treatment each day who are unable to receive it.
But we must do much more. Relying on our "professionals" alone will not work.
Each of us has to take responsibility for our children and our community and do something. Everyone must get involved together: businesses, our elected officials, churches, Rotary and other civic-minded clubs, schools and, most important, our family, friends and neighbors.
If we don't take action to eliminate this plague from our Islands, we will continue to be guilty of allowing it to destroy our community and our children. Let none of us ever forget cousin Kahealani.
Rob Hail
Fixing problems at housing agency critical
I am encouraged to read that Gov. Linda Lingle has made "straightening out the problems at the housing agency, HCDCH, a priority."
The community of public and private agencies that serve the homeless have a plan that will reduce the numbers of homeless and it cannot be accomplished without housing.
Let's create a housing agency that will consider privatizing the public housing units that have been allowed to fall into such extreme disrepair they are uninhabitable. Let's create and implement a plan to provide special-needs housing. Let's put an end to warehousing people in shelters and get homeless people off of the streets.
Housing is a core function of government. Let's get it done.
Lynn C.Z. Maunakea
Executive Director, Institute for Human Services
War plan must not ignore combat experience
Your Dec. 18 story, "Army, Marine chiefs question U.S. war plan," boggles the mind when a college professor who never served in the Armed Forces, but now is the Deputy Defense Secretary, disregards the combat experiences of our Army chief of staff and Marine Corps commandant.
Had the Department of Defense's Paul Wolfowitz been witness to the limitations of unsupported tanks in city-street fighting (as I have as a tank officer in World War II), his contention of immediate Iraq collapse joins with that of his fellow academic "armchair" generals.
The Bush administration's unfounded assumption of initial Iraqi population support by a coup against Saddam Hussein belies all reports of Iraqi hatred and distrust of U.S. intentions.
John K. Kingsley
Wahiawa
Better pay can keep officers from leaving
I am a former Honolulu Police Department officer who moved to the Mainland for a better paying police job, as many other officers have done.
I recently read a national police publication entitled, "Policing troubles in paradise." It was about HPD's inability to retain veteran officers who are leaving for better paying jobs on the Mainland, as well as their inability to recruit qualified people to fill vacancies within the police force.
I recently learned that two of my former co-workers are leaving HPD for Washington State. These are not "rookie" officers, they are "seasoned" veterans who HPD cannot afford to lose.
My question is, "What is it going to take for the city to stop this exodus?"
Doesn't it understand that it is spending much more money searching for and training new officers than to would to give its current officers a decent salary? Chief Lee Donohue seems to be doing all he can to get his officers a pay raise ... but his pleas for help seem to be falling on deaf ears.
If things do not change, look for more officers to be forced to make the move, as I and many others have done.
Jim Grindey
Deputy Sheriff, Palm Beach County, Fla.
Disclose location of genetically altered crops
Thank you for your recent article and editorial about the safety threats of genetic engineering here in Hawai'i. I was very upset to learn that Pioneer Hi-Bred and Dow Agrosciences have been growing genetically engineered crops in a way that would allow them to cross-pollinate with other crops.
These mistakes make it clear that it is necessary for the public to have a right to know where genetically altered crops are being grown in our islands, and exactly what genetic experiments are being done here.
All farmers, gardeners and growers should know if there are fields of genetically altered crops nearby that could contaminate the food they grow. These biotech companies are doing experiments in which human genes, pharmaceutical proteins and animal genes are inserted into crops. I sure don't want these things in my garden.
Now that we know mistakes have been made in how genetic engineering is done in Hawai'i, it is imperative that our local and state politicians move these companies to publicly disclose where they are growing their genetically engineered crops, and what genetic experiments they are doing here. We just deserve to know.
Eleanore Olsen
Hanalei, Kaua'i
12 Days of Christmas really begin on Dec. 26
I've never sent a letter to the editor, but I wanted to set something straight. The other day someone mentioned that the "Twelve Days of Christmas" begin on Dec. 13. In actuality, they begin on Dec. 26 — also known as Boxing Day in England — and end on Jan. 6, which is known as Epiphany, the day the Wise Men arrived at the manger.
The "gifts" are actually code names for various things to do with the story of Christ; this was a way to tell that story during the time when Christians were persecuted.
Dolores D. Oakes
Waipahu
Editorial conflicts with previous news story
Your editorial "Bush missile defense deployment ill-advised" is based on an untruth. The statement, "It doesn't work. Why not deploy a system after (if) it's shown to work?" is untrue in view of the news your paper published about the success of the last anti-missile test that included a decoy.
Although the Bush administration admits that the national missile defense system currently isn't perfect, your statement is still untrue.
Then there's your story about Japan building its own nuclear weapons. But doesn't Japan have a constitution that limits itself to defensive weapons and forbids offensive weaponry?
Ruben R. Reyes
Our existence is more than just random chance
Will we be able to create life from scratch? Genius columnist Marilyn vos Savant conjectures that it won't be for ages. For even the simplest life form " ... we are nowhere near being able to synthesize the necessary ingredients along with its comparatively simple DNA."
Science and technology have given us the ability to clone a sheep and split the atom. Yet with all of our knowledge and high-tech laboratories, we are apparently a long way off from being able to create life. The idea that life began long ago when lightning struck a mud puddle rich in amino acids and minerals apparently just isn't true.
When it comes to complex design, we know that one day of purposeful work is more effective than billions of years of chance and randomness.
Even if by some "miracle" a simple form of life spontaneously generated, how would it survive in an unfriendly environment? Life as we know it is interdependent, involving food chains and delicate ecosystems. For that life form to survive, we need multiple simultaneous miracles that are complementary to each other.
Let's get real. It is a trillion times more credible to believe that we were created by a super intelligence than for life to be an accident of random chance even over billions of millenniums.
Life may have meaning after all. Why not read the Christmas story? It's the account of an all-knowing God, creator of all things, who sends His Son to die for His creation. "Incredible," you say. Yes, and also the most credible explanation of our existence.
Tom Tanimura
Replacement nurses work hard at Kuakini
I am employed at Kuakini Medical Center in an allied health position. Ever since the nurses' strike began, it seems that everyone around the hospital is happier. We all work together as a team and the replacement nurses work very hard and are kind to everyone.
That's why I do not understand the striking nurses saying such cruel things and rude comments to them as they come to and go from work.
The replacement nurses are actually helping them do their job.
Instead of insulting the replacement nurses, I think the striking nurses should hold signs thanking them for caring about Kuakini patients. After all, without those nurses, striking nurses would be jobless.
Terence Stevenson
Parents give you 'right' to drive
This is in response to Tracy H. Okubo's Dec. 17 letter. While state law does provide the right to obtain and use a license to drive, you left out one important element — the parental factor. While I empathize with John L. Shupe's plight concerning the traffic situation, I believe that his letter comes as a signal of frustration rather than as a wholehearted attempt to find the solution to a problem.
Most drivers on the road during "peak time," statistically, aren't students. College students make up 4 percent of the island population, and most high schoolers attend schools within their districts. I am hard-pressed to believe they are significantly contributing to the traffic problem.
So while I disagree with Shupe's rationale, I am also tepid toward Okubo's loose definition of driving as a "right." Technically, yes, it is a right. One in which, until you are at least 18, this "right" is given to you via your parents. This, in turn, really does make it a privilege.
It'd be interesting to see how many 16-year-olds wouldn't get grounded by making the argument, "I want my license. It's my right!"
Randall Y. Kamisato
Wahiawa
O'ahu needs more roads and needs it now
If you build it, they will come ... and go, and be able to get from here to there. I welcome Gov. Linda Lingle's call for more roads and will gladly fork over the money if it means that I can spend less time in the car and more time with my family.
To all those who say it will be an eyesore, I ask you to take a look around O'ahu and wake up. It's already a chaotic concrete mess.
Do you honestly think tourists come to Hawai'i for the beauty of O'ahu? That's what the Neighbor Islands are for. Stop whining and let's build it!
George Kauka
