Letters to the Editor
UH students greatly helped nonprofit agency
Child and Family Service is grateful to Dr. Joseph Leon and the students of Sociology 475, Analysis in Survey Research, UH-Manoa.
As a private, nonprofit agency that serves 28,000 Hawai'i families across the state each month, we rarely have the money or other resources to conduct in-depth research. This semester, Child and Family Service participated in a special partnership with Dr. Leon and his students. They provided us with expertise and time to develop an excellent survey instrument, compile the data and provide us with statistically significant findings. The results of the survey will assist us in optimizing our ability to serve additional Hawai'i families in need.
This partnership between the university and this nonprofit human service organization exemplifies the potential for partnerships between higher education and human services that would benefit the entire community.
Thank you again to Dr. Leon and the 21 students who worked all semester to assist us.
Stephen MacMillan
Board of directors chairman, Child and Family Service
Hawai'i gasoline prices don't seem out of line
I recently returned home from Chicago, where I noted that the cost of regular gasoline was $1.799 and premium was priced at $1.999 per gallon.
Now, I know that gas dealers there must sell a more-expensive-to-formulate "summer" gasoline this time of year, but Chicago prices certainly don't make Hawai'i's gas prices seem out of line. My fear is that now that the "People's Republic of Hawai'i" has decided to regulate gasoline prices — ostensibly on our behalf — we won't have enough gasoline sometime in the future.
Since this new price-control law doesn't go into effect for a while, was it no more than election-year pandering to the half-bright among us? Better the state should spend more resources to identify and cite the many scofflaws who operate uninsured vehicles here.
Mike Rethman
Kane'ohe
Here's why I'm bolting the Democratic Party
I am requesting equal time in The Advertiser to refute the governor's accusations that "I knew and I felt since 1998, when during the elections of 1998, she went to Washington, D.C., and met with Republicans there, came back and predicted that the Democrats would lose the gubernatorial election ... "
I am thrilled that the governor, in that May 3 article, finally came out with that false statement because it explains why he has been so paranoid about supporting me as a Democrat and as chairwoman of the Economic Development Committee.
Let me set the record straight: Nothing could be further from the truth. I was in Washington that year attending a National Women's Organization Conference, and Paul Begala, the pointman for the Democratic National Committee, asked to speak with me regarding their concern about the Democrats losing the governor's race. He asked that I convey his thoughts to the local Democrats and offered any help, if needed.
I did not go to Washington to meet with Republicans. My loyalty to the party and my constituents of the 27th District has never been questioned. If the governor and the Democratic Party felt that way about me for the past four years, it is no wonder I have been treated like an outcast.
My values regarding social justice for our people and building a strong economy as well as providing for our children through a better educational system were simply ignored as our Democratic governor continued to criticize instead of support our Democratic elected officials. Because I have switched parties, I will also give my 27th District constituents the opportunity to elect their own and I will run for the Senate seat in the newly created Senate District 12.
Rep. Lei Ahu Isa
27th District (Pu'unui, 'Alewa, Nu'uanu)
Legalize marijuana, and problems abate
It seems to me that Prosecutor Peter Carlisle should be embracing SB 1188, which mandates sending nonviolent people addicted to drugs into treatment programs instead of prison.
Addiction is a sickness that causes crime. The humane thing to do is to help these people rehabilitate. A prison is not a place of healing. In fact, American prisons have become big business.
There are more Americans in prison now than ever before in America's history. There should be a distinction between addictive drugs and marijuana.
The prohibition of marijuana in 1937 can be credited to the emerging plastic and chemical corporations not wanting competition. Hemp was known for its value in rope, clothing, paper, plyboard and other products. Ten thousand acres of hemp generate enough paper and pulp to save 41,000 acres of forests.
No evidence exists that anyone has ever died of a marijuana overdose. Marijuana use has not been found to act as a gateway drug to the use of harder drugs. Studies show that when the Dutch legalized marijuana in the 1970s, heroin and cocaine use substantially declined.
It seems the $19 billion anti-drug budget could be put to better use than locking everyone up and trying to throw away the key.
Dan Borman
Pahoa
GOP has no complaint about Sept. 11 charges
They say what goes around, comes around. For the past six decades, the GOP has fulminated about FDR's knowing of the Pearl Harbor attack, but saying nothing about it to the Hawai'i commanders. Their reasoning was that he wanted to get us into World War II.
Now they find their own president fending off the same charges regarding Sept. 11 and are crying "Foul!"
Sorry. You can't have it both ways.
It's still true that no president can be privy to such sensitive information without dozens of staff members knowing it, too. Neither president could predict the actual event based on the generalized knowledge they were given.
Still, you can't blame the Democratic leadership for wanting some "payback" after 60 years of the tiresome charges of FDR's conspiracy to sink our Pacific Fleet.
Richard Simons
Koa Ridge project is bad all around
Castle & Cooke President Harry Saunders' claim, in the May 19 issue, that 7,500 new houses at Koa Ridge would lessen "the amount of drivers commuting into town" belies credibility.
In fact, Saunders testified at the November 2001 Land Use Commission hearing that new development in Central O'ahu would add eight minutes to the peak travel times to and from Honolulu for Mililani commuters — and that's only if all the planned transportation improvements are completed.
What's eight minutes extra twice a day? It's 80 minutes per week or 70 hours per year for the average Mililani or North Shore commuter. Two weeks of work time (or family time) is a lot to lose.
More gridlock isn't the only concern. Experts have testified to the Land Use Commission that the Koa Ridge project would push O'ahu's water supply even closer to the sustainable yield. What's more, development in that area would reduce the amount of rainfall that recharges the aquifer, and Castle & Cooke's wells might actually intercept water that would otherwise flow to Honolulu's wells downslope, causing the city's wells to produce saltier water.
Why burden Central O'ahu residents, pave open space and prime agricultural land, and risk the city's water supply for a project that isn't needed? As your article mentioned, there are over 13,000 houses that have already been approved but not yet built in Central O'ahu.
The Land Use Commission is not obligated to accommodate every developer who shows up with big bucks and blueprints — especially those who expect us to believe that 7,500 houses would somehow reduce traffic.
Jeff Mikulina
Director, Sierra Club, Hawai'i Chapter
Hawai'i needs to rely less on tourist trade
Having just returned from Singapore, I heartily commend John Webster's balanced commentary, "Doing business in Paradise" (Island Voices, May 21). Hawai'i desperately needs a second outlet from its dependence on the tourist business.
I feel all legislators need to read Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew's "From Third World to First: The Singapore Story: 1965-2000."
Paul Balmforth
Public TV leads way in descriptive video
On April 28, The Advertiser published an article headlined "Pictures for the blind," about the descriptive television narration for the visually impaired.
The article failed to mention that, since late last year, Hawai'i Public Television has been broadcasting descriptive video on such programs as "American Experience," "Masterpiece Theatre," "Nature," "Nova," "Scientific American Frontiers," "Arthur," "Between the Lions," "Zoboomafoo" and "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood."
For years, public television has been the leader in close captioning for the hearing-impaired — most of the programs airing on Hawai'i Public Television provide this service — and public television has led the way in descriptive video as well.
Anyone with questions on how to access described video on public television can contact HPT's vice president of technical services, Stephen Komori, at 973-1175.
Kay Kasamoto
What's real reason for smoking's decline?
I read with great interest Curtis Lum's May 17 article concerning the reduction in teen smoking, credited to Hawai'i's high cigarette tax rate and "to the state's anti-smoking programs in schools and in the media."
How can we be sure which is responsible, or is it both?
Has a study been made of the reduction in teen smoking in the states with low cigarette taxes and with an effective education program?
The following is a quote from the Cato Institute: "First, the unavoidable consequence of inflated retail prices will be a flourishing and pervasive black market. No doubt we'll embark on another war like our endless and fruitless war on drugs."
We have already seen a pervasive black market in Hawai'i due to high cigarette taxes. Note that the tax on alcohol was voted down.
We can only speculate as to the reasons, since alcohol causes more misery for more people than any other substance legal or illegal.
Bill Russell
Kane'ohe
Raising cigarette tax won't help students
According to a May 17 article, "Hawai'i youths in line with national trend," the rate of smoking students in Hawai'i is declining. That sounds fantastic.
However, Hawai'i still has a high rate of smoking students (29.2 percent, compared with a national rate of 24 percent) despite imposing a high tax on cigarettes. In addition, the government has decided to raise the tax 10 cents more. I don't think raising the tax is a very effective way to prevent students from smoking more, nor is it good for society.
Tobacco is very addictive. Even when the tax is raised, students will still try to buy it. It is not easy to quit. I think, as a result of raising the tax, we would be faced with more youth problems, such as stealing, threatening friends to get money to buy tobacco or using drugs as an alternative.
Tetsuya Ozawa
Some students view plagiarism differently
Mary Kaye Ritz's May 3 article on plagiarism makes me, a Japanese student in Hawai'i, think about Japanese culture and American culture.
The article says that plagiarism or cheating is increasing because of laziness, immorality or lack of confidence. These reasons are accurate because American students are supposed to understand about plagiarism and its seriousness.
How about some Asian students who are never taught to give credit in borrowing ideas? Japanese culture doesn't consider taking other people's ideas without credit as stealing. They are likely to struggle with the difficulty of avoiding plagiarism, and think, "Why do I have to do that?"
Now I understand the seriousness of plagiarism. I learned that American culture really respects individuals and their ideas. That's really great.
However, plagiarism seems to be just a rule that American culture created. I may not feel guilty by plagiarizing. But I will not plagiarize because it is the rule of the American culture.
Toshiaki Kawa
Honor 'The General'
The intersection of Kapi'olani and Kalakaua, where "The General," with his Stars and Stripes, waved at and saluted passersby, has now become an unofficial Patriot Square. Would it not be a good idea to make it official?
Giv Cornfield
Hawai'i Kai
