Letters to the Editor

Vision team has done great job in 'Ewa Beach

While there have been many letters about the failings of the mayor's vision teams, some teams are doing a great job, and it's beginning to show in tremendous improvements to area parks.

The 'Ewa Beach community is finally seeing the results of the three years of work from its vision team. Everyone in 'Ewa Beach should go down to One'ula Beach Park (Hau Bush) and see the new paving, parking area and coconut tree planting. It's just the beginning of what should soon become the best family beach park on O'ahu, thanks to our vision team.

Much mahalo to vision team members Tesha Malama and Pam Lee Smith, who are also on the 'Ewa Neighborhood Board, for their dedication to securing our portion of the vision team funds to make much-needed improvements to our community beach park. We don't need more trash piles in 'Ewa Beach. We need more people like them to help clean up and improve our town.

Earl Arakaki
'Ewa Beach

Hawaiians, Asians are not the same

Michael Tsai's June 20 story reports that Lilo is a Hawaiian keiki. I look forward to taking my children to see the movie.

However, there is a misconception on the Mainland, and apparently with some folks in the Islands, that Hawaiians or any other Polynesians are the same as Asians. In no way do I mean disrespect to Asians, but Hawaiians and Asians do not appear the same.

As cute as Lilo is, she looks Chinese, but the impression that is reflected is that she is Hawaiian. Still think they got the details right?

Aaron Ho'opi'i Jr.
Victoria, Texas

Proposal would do away with checks and balances

I read with interest Bob Hampton's June 21 letter endorsing the proposed constitutional amendment sponsored by Honolulu Prosecutor Peter Carlisle to do away with the right of defendants in criminal cases to have police officers testify in person at probable-cause determinations.

Hampton claims that the present system is "a huge waste of police officers' time and our tax dollars, and it provides the bad guys with one more loophole to slither through." The Hamptons and Carlisles of this world believe that we can only be safe if we live in a police state, but do the people of Hawai'i really want to live in such a state?

Hampton asserts that this proposed amendment will do away with police officers having to cool their heels in the hallways of our courts. In fact, this proposed amendment will have no effect on well over 90 percent of the uniformed police officers one sees in the hallways of our courts.

What this proposed amendment will do is give the police a carte blanche to have people locked up for months awaiting trial without there being a neutral and detached magistrate to prevent abuses by the police. The police are not always right, and a few police officers are even quite prepared to perjure themselves. Our entire system of government is built upon a system of checks and balances in order to prevent abuses by those, including the police, who hold governmental authority.

Upsetting that balance and giving the police this power is extraordinarily dangerous to the liberties we Americans have fought so hard to obtain and preserve.

I freely admit that I am a criminal defense and civil rights attorney who has spent more than 30 years defending the rights of the downtrodden from the likes of the Carlisles and the Hamptons. Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. To preserve that liberty, we must defeat this proposed amendment.

Earle A. Partington

Las Vegas the 'ninth' Hawaiian island? Nah!

I recently saw an article about how Las Vegas is the ninth (Hawaiian) island. I have to disagree profusely.

I've been a resident of Las Vegas for 13 years now and still refer to Hawai'i as my home. They say that home is where the heart is — well, my heart will always be in Hawai'i.

While Las Vegas may have many residents of the Islands, it does not have the Hawaiian mentality or our way of life. They do not teach our children about our culture and how proud we are to come from Hawai'i.

Even though I may reside in Las Vegas, "There's no place like home."

Sundae L.K. Yomes
Las Vegas

Legislators: Send your kids to public schools

Some of Hawai'i's private schools are genuinely superior institutions. Many are well-endowed with generous support from business people and other people of influence and power who choose to send their children to these schools. And therein lies a problem.

Among our most influential citizens are those who represent us in our government. How many of our state legislators send their children to our public schools?

When the state of Hawai'i goes through its regular financial crisis every year and finds that, alas, we don't have as much money as we thought we did, what do our lawmakers do to save money? They cut the public school education budget or the University of Hawai'i budget. I wonder if they would act the same if their own children were attending public schools or the University of Hawai'i?

Perhaps we should ask our candidates for state government this simple question: Where do your children go to school?

Before you vote, ask yourself this: Can someone truly represent our interests in public education if they themselves do not participate in our public school system?

Richard McSheehy
Kalaheo

Diatribe against Democrats misplaced

I want to respond to the June 14 letter by Sen. Fred Hemmings that accused Democrats of fixing consumer prices. Is he referring to gasoline prices? George Bush and his former oil company ripoff are an international disgrace.

After voting in favor of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, Sen. Dan Inouye said: "Until the present circumstances change, we are being held hostage to oil." Are unelected oil companies putting pressure on our elected representatives?

Hemmings blames the Bush economy on Democrats. G.W. Bush tried to buy our right to vote with a "tax refund." What he did was give us a $600 check. That money was consumed by artificially high gasoline prices.

Then, in the cherry on top of his divide-and-conquer Republican fear strategy, Hemmings wrote: "To quote a great American, 'Let's roll.' " We have all watched as G.W. Bush and the Republicans bathe in the blood of Sept. 11 victims. Does Hemmings somehow share in the bravery of those Americans who gave their lives on Flight 93? What was the name of that great American? His name was Todd Beamer. Was he a Republican? Are all the victims of Sept. 11 now Republicans?

A. Clifton

Abandon your vehicle and face $1,000 fine

I was happy to see Will Hoover's June 23 article concerning abandoned vehicles on O'ahu, particularly on the North Shore. However, he fails to answer my central question in my recent letter to the editor: Why isn't someone attempting to locate the owners of these vehicles and fining them as provided in the Hawai'i Revised Statues?

Chapter 290, Section 12, clearly states that it is against the law to abandon a vehicle on a public street, and anyone who does so is subject to a fine of up to $1,000.

I'm afraid the article may give some the impression that it is OK to leave your junk heap alongside the road and let the taxpayers pay the tow charge to haul it away. Looking at it as only a problem of getting the right towing contract in place ignores the fact that this is an illegal act, and until the word gets around that you might be given a hefty fine, we can only expect more piles of rusted metal along our roads.

I am always happy when I see these eyesores hauled away. I would be even happier if I knew that someone was trying to prevent them from being left there in the first place.

Zane Clark
Kahuku

Gift books are not the issue at Kapolei

Regarding Charles Morel's accusation that our state librarian is wrong on her firm stand not to open Kapolei Library without enough staff or books (Letters, June 17): A good leader has got to do what a good leader has got to do, even though some will talk stink.

Gift books are not the issue. When the library is up and running, books in good condition already in the statewide library database will be added to the collection. If not needed at Kapolei, they will end up somewhere in the system as a replacement for lost or worn-out copies.

We librarians do this all the time, but I doubt if the gifts ever amount to more than 3 percent of copies added in any one year. A drop in the bucket for an opening-day collection.

Truth is, to cave in and settle for second best usually means second best forever. Ages ago, a political dispute prompted then-mayor Frank Fasi to take Makiki Library under City & County jurisdiction rather than have no library in that location. While the decision was probably made with honorable intentions, Makiki Library, in the center of the densest population in Honolulu, remains outside of the statewide service network of 50 libraries.

Public libraries are too important to the recreational, informational, cultural and educational needs of the community to be dismissed as a nonessential service, unworthy of adequate support.

Sylvia C. Mitchell
Librarians Association of Hawai'i

Alternative to H-Power exciting

I would like to clarify and correct some of the assertions contained in your June 19 editorial relating to H-Power.

As one of the council members who has questioned the expansion of the H-Power facility, I believe that before we commit to expansion, it would be prudent to first evaluate the feasibility of the "plasma gasification vitrification" or PGV process. This cutting-edge technology has the potential to resolve all our concerns about solid-waste disposal. If PGV proves feasible, expanding H-Power would be a waste of $70 million.

H-Power is an antiquated and inefficient technology. No matter how much you expand it, one-third of what you put in still goes to the landfill. In other words, of the expected 3,000 tons of refuse processed each day, 1,000 tons of ash, residue and unburnables will still be directed to the landfill. With H-Power, you still need landfills.

On the other hand, if 3,000 tons per day is put into a PGV facility, nothing goes into the landfill. Everything is converted to energy and a little bit of a glass-like slag.

PGV can operate at a lower cost than H-Power, yet can generate three times the electricity. And it will do this with no emissions into the environment. Because of this, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is moving away from incineration technology such as H-Power and has endorsed the PGV technology as the preferred waste-disposal method.

An added benefit for the city is that a PGV facility can be built quickly, at no cost to the taxpayer, and its manufacturer guarantees its performance. As evidenced by the many PGV plants operating successfully around the world, this technology can handle large volumes of waste and has a proven track record.

I agree that we should not limit ourselves to a single disposal technology or process. The existing H-Power facility, which underwent refurbishment just last year, will continue to be an integral part of our solid-waste solution for the next decade. In addition, other alternative technologies also have their place, regardless of whether we proceed with PGV or expand H-Power. They all have potential for enhancing basic refuse disposal.

A study to determine PGV's feasibility in Honolulu will only take a few months to complete, and H-Power will continue to operate during this time. However, if PGV offers a superior technology and long-term benefits, why spend $70 million of taxpayer money on expanding outdated technology that still requires additional landfills?

Gary H. Okino
Councilman, District VIII