Letters to the Editor

Average Hawaiian is not good enough

Kamehameha Schools' decision to admit a non-Hawaiian to their new Maui campus has saddened me as well as other Hawaiians.

My youngest son participated in Kamehameha Schools' summer explorations program recently. The children participate in a ho'olaulea for their parents on their final night. It involves Hawaiian songs and use of Hawaiian implements they have made during their five-day stay.

My older sons, who also had participated in this program, were so enthralled by the campus and teachings that they applied for admission. Both were denied. I sat there watching my youngest child thinking like his brothers: This may be the only time he will experience the immense opportunities Kamehameha Schools have to offer.

It is unfortunate the average Hawaiian child is not good enough for Kamehameha Schools.

Tanya Ibrao
Mililani

Dodging one lawsuit just opens up another

I'm writing regarding the concept that Kamehameha Schools is admitting a non-Hawaiian to "get ahead" of a discrimination lawsuit. If this is the reason, then it is doomed. Why? Because the next lawsuit KS must get ahead of is the one suing for equal representation.

So, if this concept is a part of the board's reasoning, it is flawed and will lead to an abandonment of Pauahi's will. It should reject the non-Hawaiian (with apologies to the student) and return to the will.

Eric Kalei Holck
Class of 1970, Kane'ohe

Why should non-Hawaiian receive Pauahi's gift?

I'm disgusted with the decision recently made to accept a non-Hawaiian to the Maui, or any other, Kamehameha Schools campus.

I don't care how "eloquently" the new non-Hawaiian child's mother spoke at the meeting, as said by Dr. Hamilton McCubbin. I do agree with the tremendous hurt and disappointment that we as parents who have tried to get our Hawaiian and part-Hawaiian children into the best educational facility available here in the Islands.

I have tried over the last 25 years to get my natural children and stepchildren who are part-Hawaiian into the Kamehameha Schools, only to have always received "the letter" denying application, always for not scoring in the upper 10 percent. Maybe Kamehameha should consider adding vocational training to all of their schools, as that is exactly what the schools were years ago.

I applied again this year and was denied. The cost for me would have been $116 per month at Kamehameha. All of the other private schools range from $400 per month to $750 per month. I am an able disabled person. I work part-time on my family-owned flower farm business. We fall below the government poverty income level. I would have paid only $116 per month at Kamehameha because Princess Pauahi's legacy covers the rest of the cost to educate the child.

Why should a non-Hawaiian receive this gift that was bequeathed to a Hawaiian or part-Hawaiian child?

Momi Greene

Lingle, Tanonaka are the state's best hope

In this year's election, we should vote for candidates who can boost our stagnant economy. We should not vote along ethnic lines, as some have suggested, but instead select the best person for the job.

We need to elect candidates who can attract new business to Hawai'i, improve our educational system and create ways to lower our high cost of living.

We need to vote out politicians tainted by scandal and replace them with candidates known for their integrity. We do not need more leaders who run for office for personal gain.

We should vote for candidates like Linda Lingle for governor and Dalton Tanonaka for lieutenant governor. Both are committed to make sweeping improvements to our state that will benefit us all. They are our state's best choices for a more prosperous future.

Scott Shiira

ADA's costs have gotten out of control

Keisuke Yamagishi in a July 12 letter, "New sidewalk ramps aren't worth the expense," may not understand that our Hawai'i sidewalk ramps are just a tiny fraction of the tens of millions of such ramps allowed, if not mandated, by Congress in its Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

The suggestion that it would be cheaper to supply every disability-qualified person with a fancy, climb-the-wall motorized wheelchair is likely correct. I suspect even the designers of the act, considering the exploitation of its possibilities that have already gotten out of hand, might have very different thoughts about it, knowing what we know now.

With Heather Whitstone, our deaf 1995 Miss America, demanding she be supplied sign language interpreters for all her collegiate courses, as is her right under ADA, you can see where this act was headed long ago.

Does anyone know the cost of this monster? Not likely. Will anyone campaign for reasonable revisions of the act? Not likely.

Gene Leupp

Mufi represents honesty in politics

You have to hand it to Mufi Hannemann. He is the only politician I have seen in this election year who has stuck to his guns.

In a press conference, he said it straight that he would not be seeking any other office because he feels he can serve the people best as mayor. That is commitment to the public and not to himself, whereas Mazie Hirono was going to run for mayor, but when Jeremy Harris changed his mind, she changed back to her original plan of running for governor. If she thought she had a shot at the governor's office in the first place, she would have stayed with it from the beginning.

Andy Anderson switched parties in what appears to be a better chance of winning the primary race. Other politicians have moved to different districts just so they can run for office. Mufi Hannemann said he wanted to be mayor. Campaigned to be mayor, and stuck to it.

Even after Harris said he would hold on to his seat, Mufi kept his commitment. Three cheers for Mufi! Honesty in politics — now that's a novel idea.

Jeff Kino

Qualified candidates don't get equal chance

I did not say that University of Hawai'i President Evan Dobelle has bypassed local candidates for plum UH jobs.

I do say that if we need a dream team, we should take into consideration the many years of planning, research and promises made by the UH-West O'ahu campus advisory teams for over 35 years. We should build on some of those dreams and promises rather than shattering in one fell swoop all of the concepts that the community, the experts and others recommended by reducing a sole and whole campus of 900-plus acres into a tiny, two-part campus of 57 acres and 27 acres each.

Nor do I only feel that "qualified local candidates are being 'passed by.' " They are not even being offered the same opportunities.

For example, I have no problems with the individual chosen as the new athletic director; but I do have problems with the process. Was the previous athletic director, Hugh Yoshida, offered an extension with an $81,000 raise? Especially in light of Mr. Yoshida's many huge accomplishments, I believe he should have been. Some of those accomplishments were:

• A UH athletic program that ranks in the top 20 in the nation, among 300 athletic programs.
• Our football coach, who was named NCAA coach of the year.
• Our men's volleyball coach, who led the team to an NCAA national championship, the first for a UH men's sports team, and who was named coach of the year.
• Our women's volleyball coach has produced several NCAA championship teams and has consistently made our team a contender for the championship.
• Our women's basketball coach, who consistently produces a nationally ranked team.
• Our men's basketball coach, who also consistently produces a nationally ranked team.

Sen. Cal Kawamoto
19th District (Waipahu/Pearl City)

Hanauma Bay entry fee protects ecosystem

Regarding the Hanauma Bay lawsuit on entrance fees: I see no reason why one tourist cannot respect how things are done in a different state.

If that person would have done some research before wrongfully accusing the state of Hawai'i of discriminating against non-Hawai'i residents, that person would know that the purpose is to protect Hanauma Bay's very fragile ecosystem.

I don't know how many times I see tourists walking on the reefs when they are told not to. There is a reason for everything. I think this person who is trying to sue should take some lessons along with his lawyer about Hawai'i's history, plants and wildlife so they can understand that Hanauma Bay is very important to Hawai'i.

Also how can it be discrimination? There are colleges that charge less tuition to residents of the state than they do to out-of-state students. And if the military stationed you away from your home state, you don't need to pay taxes for the state you are stationed in.

I hope the state of Hawai'i wins the case because this is just too ridiculous and I think this person is just upset that he or she had to pay to go to a beach when there are many beaches throughout the United States that do the same thing.

Heidi Melia Daniels

Vision groups can be commandeered

A July 8 letter praised vision groups as "an expansion of citizen empowerment and grassroots democracy in our city." As a vision team member since the program was initiated and a three-term neighborhood board member, let me offer a differing perspective.

Vision teams are an excellent example of why we have representative democracy instead of pure democracy.

Last October when the Mililani vision team voted on projects to be funded, about 20 people — including several young children who appeared to range in age from about 5 to 10 years old who had never attended a vision team meeting since the program's inception — showed up specifically to support one particular project.

As the consideration of the potential projects for the team's approval went on, one of the newcomers asked if we could hurry up and vote, probably because she wanted to get her young children home to bed. When we voted on which projects to fund, many of the attendees who had been regular participants in the vision process voted park improvements as the top priority.

The newcomers, including the small children who accompanied them, voted en masse for the sole project they had come to support. When one of the regular attendees asked the facilitator if the children's vote would count, she was told it would.

As a result, $1.5 million of the team's $2 million total allocation was set aside for that particular project, and only two or three of the project's supporters have attended subsequent vision meetings.

A similar situation happened a few years ago when a large group of people who had never before and have never since attended a vision team meeting showed up for the funding vote and voted $200,000 for a study to construct a swimming pool at Mililani District Park. This study has been gathering dust on a shelf.

These episodes point out one weakness of the pure democracy of the vision program: Any group with an agenda can get enough people to attend a meeting, commandeer the process and approve projects that may not reflect the priorities of the community as a whole.

If a local community is to determine priorities for its area, it should be done by the community's locally elected representatives (neighborhood board) in order to avoid this type of occurrence. Unlike attendees at vision meetings, these representatives can be held accountable.

Additionally, the vision process system of funding is not logical. The best way to plan and execute projects is to determine what needs to be done, prioritize the projects and then supply the funding. Under the vision process, local groups are allocated $2 million and told to figure out what to do with it — the reverse of a logical process.

Douglas C. Thomas
Mililani