Letters to the Editor
Bottle bill best bet to ease landfill crisis
While we search for high-tech solutions to our landfill crisis (Advertiser, March 25), let's not forget about time-tested solutions to reduce trash, like the bottle bill.
Operating in 10 states for decades, the bottle bill — a 5-cent returnable deposit on beverage containers — has proven to divert over 80 percent of bottles and cans from landfills. What's more, beverage container litter has virtually disappeared in states with bottle bills.
While more extensive programs would be excellent, it would take time to implement them. I have seen bottle bills at work in other states, and it's amazing what they can do. We can take some action now in Hawai'i and reduce waste through the recycling options offered by the bottle bill while further plans are hammered out in the Legislature.
The simplest and least expensive way to increase recycling and decrease litter is the bottle bill. Hopefully the Legislature won't throw it away.
Will Bick
State alcohol taxes already are too high
My understanding is that our state currently has the highest beer tax in the country and the fourth-highest liquor tax. Add that to the increased cost of shipping the goods into the state, and we are looking at severe disadvantages in providing fine wines, spirits and beers to an already challenged resort industry.
The wine and spirits industry constantly has to explain to our Mainland guests and customers based in the Mainland (major hotels, Costco, Sam's, etc.) why our prices are so much higher than on the Mainland. They are prepared to take into account the additional shipping to get the product here, but outrageous taxes only serve to suggest to them we are anti-business.
I'd like to recommend to our representatives that they please reject any tax increase on adult beverages. They are more than high enough already.
Linda Wish
Kula, Maui
We should have right to make own decisions
I had to write after reading David Matsuura's opinion of Gov. Ben Cayetano's death-with-dignity bill. Senate Health Committee Chairman Matsuura had said, "This dumb bill wasn't even on our radar screen. I haven't even looked at the measure or studied this measure yet. I can't figure out what assisted suicide is."
I don't understand how Matsuura was able to form an opinion (for or against) about the bill without first looking at and studying the bill.
As for the term "assisted suicide," it seems simple enough to me. It's like "blue sky" — the sky is blue, get it?
While Matsuura is entitled to his opinion of the concept of assisted suicide (or his interpretation of it), I resent that Matsuura does not respect the opinion of others (i.e., Hawai'i residents) as I think he should as a government official. By stating that he would not hold a hearing on the bill, Matsuura was imposing his own belief system on others.
Roland Halpern hit the nail on the head by stating, "This really is a matter of free choice." Matsuura was eliminating choice, which is a basic concept in a free society. In the U.S.A., the right to choose is something we value highly, whether it be religion or whom to vote for.
This issue, for some, involves the awful choice between living with intense pain and suffering — or being able to end that pain and suffering and conclude one's life as one chooses.
If you want others to respect your right to have an opinion and your right to choose how to live your life, you must also respect that right in others. Realize that among those unfortunate individuals who are trapped in horrifying health situations, there are those who do want the right to choose how their life will end.
Ken Wong
Excluding homosexuals would be a mistake
Jean Polly's March 25 letter stating that "Catering to homosexual tourist is a mistake" is appalling and would be a bad business decision.
It's true that gay and lesbian travelers enjoy our state. It's also true that newlyweds, senior citizens and families with children enjoy the same paradise. So why not cater to all? Hawai'i should welcome all who are interested in its beauty and culture.
As far as Polly's accusation of Queens and Diamond Head Beach being "infested" with homosexuals, obviously she hasn't spent time down there lately.
True, those beaches are populated with homosexuals, but what I find even more interesting and pleasantly surprising is that those same areas are also populated by newlyweds, senior citizens sunbathing and families with children celebrating a birthday or having a family picnic.
So, Ms. Polly, the truth of the matter is, the Hawai'i Visitors and Convention Bureau should decide on how it will increase tourism for our state. But the choice of catering to a certain sexuality is completely ridiculous and absurd. If everyone, regardless of sexual orientation, already enjoys our state, why not cater to all of them?
Brent Catekista
Hold state lawmakers accountable for funds
Patricia A. Carroll's March 24 letter would have you believe that the money OHA receives from the state is some sort of welfare money. It's rent owed to the Hawaiians for their lands.
Although OHA has done some good in the past, I believe it should be made a private trust and the salaries adjusted to below 30 percent of the operating budget, not the 60 percent it currently enjoys.
We don't need to raid funds or raise taxes; we just need to hold lawmakers accountable for the blatant spending of our tax dollar.
Ken Ka'ahanui
Ko Olina
Wilson Tunnel lighting seems to be backward
Can anyone out there please explain the logic behind the lighting pattern of the Wilson Tunnel? I just moved to Kane'ohe and I work in Honolulu, so I now travel both ways through the tunnel, and the lighting pattern seems backward to me.
During the day, when our eyes are adapted for light, the tunnel is dark, requiring headlights (no problem there, that's good any time) and optic dark-adaptation. During the dusk-to-dawn hours when our eyes are dark-adapted and headlights are already on, the first few yards of the tunnel have bright lights, simulating daylight and causing mild to major ocular discomfort as the iris constricts to limit the excessive light.
If bright lights are mandatory in the tunnel, can they be used during the day instead, when our eyes are ready for them? Does this backward approach seem like an annoying waste of electrical energy to anyone but me?
Beth King-Mock
7 p.m. is too early to close 'A'ala Park
The reopening festivities Saturday for 'A'ala Park were a sight to behold.
The park was reclaimed by the people, young and old, who used the sports fields and playground or sat and talked story. With drug dealers and users pushed out, residents escaped the confines of their high-rise apartments, children were no longer banished to playing in building hallways and a great day was had by all.
At least until 7 p.m., when the park was closed by order of the mayor.
Parks are backyards for those who live in downtown's skyscrapers. The 7 p.m. closing is too early for area residents to use the park after a day of work, school and eating dinner. Because of the mayor's fiat, police are forced to tell families with young children in the playground and teens and adults playing basketball to leave in the early evening hours. The play apparatus and basketball court must be available for use until later in the evening.
Instead of setting park hours solely based on security, Mayor Harris should ask how we can improve the space and make it safer at the same time. As a neighborhood becomes more inviting and more people come into it, it becomes more secure. He should realize that if residents using the park keep out unwanted activity before 7 p.m., they will do the same after 7 p.m. He should allow us to enjoy the park.
Lynne Matusow
Airline merger would have lured others
I was rather surprised to see three of my favorite senators (Sam Slom, Bob Hogue and Fred Hemmings) brag about their plan to stop the airline merger. It is rather shortsighted to think that if Aloha and Hawaiian had merged, no one else would step in to fill the void. I'll bet there are a number of airlines that would gladly expand to Hawai'i and compete interisland.
United, Continental, Northwest? Maybe. But how about Virgin or even a start-up? Then we would truly have two or three strong competitors.
Give competition a chance. Be creative and bold. You'll be surprised at what could happen.
Jim Quimby
Travel agents should receive their due
Beginning last Friday, Delta Airlines had the nerve to cut travel agent commissions to $0. Monday, American and Continental followed Delta. Tuesday, Northwest joined the crowd. The only big carrier left at this moment is United.
The real loser in this issue is the consumer. How much time will passengers spend trying to find the best prices and schedules when they have to go to at least 3 Web sites or spend hours on the phone with each airline?
After all the money the government has given the airlines to stay in business, this is how the airlines thank us for doing 80 percent of their work.
Previously, the airlines paid us a commission (that was included in the fare of each ticket) as a cost of doing business. They had cut it down over the last seven years basically from 10 percent to a maximum of $20 roundtrip. Now they want the consumer to pay us directly for our services while we take the liability of issuing the airline ticket for nothing.
The consumer is going to have to fight for the right to equal access to all fares. Not everyone has access to the Internet, which the airlines feel is the cheapest form of distribution. How do they really know what they are getting without an experienced agent to find the different rates and schedules? How do they know what airlines even fly to which cities? Not everyone is an experienced traveler.
Travel agents are here to protect the interests of their clients. Their knowledge and experience are well worth any fee when you travel in a world such as we have today.
Wendy Goodenow
Owner, HNL Travel Associates
Sunset on the Beach brought us together
Mahalo for bringing Sunset on the Beach out to the Wai'anae community.
I lived in Wai'anae for 10 years before moving back to Honolulu. In the time I lived there, I experienced much of nature that I miss living in town. There were humpbacks jumping in the water, showing their white bellies. Spinner dolphins made their way around Yokohama, and monk seals warmed up on the sand.
But there was an element of "town life" that was missing. Sunset on the Beach has brought a sense of love to the community — love from the Honolulu people who have forgotten that side of the island.
Wai'anae has so much to give. I'm sure the Makakilo and 'Ewa Beach communities came out to enjoy what Wai'anae had to offer.
J. Nalani Scharsch
Serve for greater good
I wish to add my voice to that of Jim Shon's ("In search of a real leader," Island Voices, March 19), adding the following to make explicit what is implicit in his article: The priority for serving his or her constituency and conscience must be higher than the need to be re-elected.
Don Tolbert
Deport Sukamto Sia when sentence is over
Regarding your March 23 front-page article on the sentencing of Sukamto Sia to three years in federal prison: My jaw dropped as I read the reaction from Vincent Rakestraw, an attorney with the Immigration and Naturalization Service. He said that Sia, who is not a U.S. citizen, could face deportation upon his release from federal prison.
His statement should be that the INS will deport Mr. Sia upon his release from federal prison. Mr. Sia is in violation of the terms of his visa and should not be granted a new visa upon his release from prison. Period.
I for one don't want him in my country. We have enough of our own home-grown scoundrels without importing more. Deporting him would be the best message to send to some future immigrants and business people who come to America.
Paul Elliott Smith
