Letters to the Editor
Capt. Soo should be reinstated to post
This is in response to media coverage of Capt. Richard Soo of the Honolulu Fire Department and the complaint against his political endorsements. I feel the government has violated his freedom of political speech.
Mr. Soo did not use government time to exercise his support, has not done any fund-raising on government property, was not in his government uniform and did not make his political support known at his work site — unlike some of the commercials I have seen where teachers, administrators, and Mazie and Matt made use of the State Capitol office as their backdrop.
The City and County of Honolulu needs to step up to the plate and reinstate Soo to his job. Soo being punished for exercising his freedom of political speech, being assigned to another post, further signals the paranoia from people who will not stop at anything to hurt our chance to see change.
I hope voters see the need to support Lingle/Aiona. We need change.
Grace Goo
Lingle, GOP confusing Mainland gifts issue
Linda Lingle and the Republicans have attempted to confuse the issue regarding her Mainland contributions by comparing her contributions to the Hawai'i Democratic Party and other non-gubernatorial candidates.
The appropriate comparison, however, is between the gubernatorial candidates who both seek to govern Hawai'i as its chief executive, and not any other individual or political party.
Linda Lingle has accepted over $1 million from Mainland contributors. This is over 10 times the amount received by Mazie Hirono from Mainland contributors.
Lingle's campaign contributors — the oil and gas companies, the pharmaceutical companies, special interests, corporate executives and extreme right-wing Republicans who oppose a woman's right to choose — have a stake in bringing change to Hawai'i. Lingle would be their vehicle for their kind of change.
Lingle has already stated that she would repeal the gas cap legislation passed earlier this year, the prescription drug discount program and the bottle bill. Lingle's Republican Party also deleted the pro-choice plank from its platform, and Duke Aiona openly opposes a woman's right to choose.
Voters should focus on the two candidates vying for the highest office in our state. It is imperative that the people have all the facts at their disposal when making this decision on Nov. 5.
Andrew S. Winer
Director, Democratic Party of Hawai'i's Coordinated Campaign
Defense of Democratic rule just doesn't cut it
Regarding A.S. Acierto's Oct. 14 letter, "There are reasons for Democratic rule": The Democratic Party has stood on the side of "blue-collar workers," and I would agree with that, but Republicans have stood on the side of all Americans regardless of being blue collar, white collar, no collar, etc.
It is disingenuous of Acierto to assume that Democrats are so honest that they would not stoop to such tactics as conducting a smear campaign against an opponent such as Linda Lingle. Perhaps that is how Democrats have retained power at any cost. Perhaps Democrats have no morals when it comes to assuming that they have a "right to rule," as the late Patsy Mink shouted at a Democratic Party function.
I would not be the one to paint all Democrats as being dishonest, but there are some Democrats in Hawai'i who used donated campaign funds to dishonestly profit themselves.
Perhaps Acierto has missed the stories in the news, but I don't see how the poor economy in Hawai'i can be blamed on the stock market and the lack of confidence in the Bush administration. He, perhaps, missed the story of the 9/11 attacks and the problems with the airline industries, the West Coast dockworker lockout (I'm sure that Acierto will blame the shipping companies for the lockout), the Saudis' pulling billions of dollars out of the stock market, the Japanese economy slump, and other world markets not doing well either.
I can only hope that Acierto and others like him will wake up and smell the coffee and vote for change. The Democrats have had their day, and now Hawai'i needs new leadership to meet the challenges of the 21st century.
Philip D. Park
Hirono wrong about curbside recycling
I just wanted to comment about Mazie Hirono's delusions about curbside recycling costing us $200 million per year. She is just passing on hearsay that she has obviously not researched herself.
O'ahu Community Recycling only charges $12 per month for its curbside recycling services. So, do some simple math and you're looking at about $12 million per year for the curbside pickup. Add another $36 million for processing, shipping and other costs incurred, and she still falls short by about $160 million. Throw in another $60 million to be extra safe, and she's still off by $100 million.
Curbside recycling is one of the best answers to our landfill problem, and Hirono is not going to be the leader who will make it happen.
Tom Jacobs
Stooping low for votes
Bill Clinton? How pitiful that the Hawai'i Democratic Party has to stoop so low for votes. But who better to carry the banner for the status quo than the "Master of Deception" himself?
We won't be fooled again.
Laura D. Boyer
Let's take our time in replacing Mink
My heartfelt thanks to Gwendolyn Mink for coming forward and speaking the truth (Island Voices, Oct. 8). I agree. The only way to uphold her mother's legacy is to take our time in choosing an appropriate representative.
Patsy and her hard-working staff served the people of Hawai'i for many years. The least we could do is take the time to carefully field a list of qualified candidates.
Let's not make any hasty decisions. We owe it to ourselves and we owe it to Patsy.
Socrates Buenger
Kihei, Maui
Anti-revenue bond logic doesn't work
I'm sorry, but the logic Karen Ginoza and Joan Husted use to sway my vote on Constitutional Amendment No. 2 does not work.
To allow a private school to use a special purpose revenue bond to repair and maintain facilities is a good and reasonable use, benefitting both the school (good learning environment) and the community at large (jobs).
Stating that allowing this use of bonds detracts from the public schools' plight is just plain wrong. The state bureaucracy's inability to get things done has nothing to do with a private school's ability to provide for its constituency.
If public schools need to be fixed, the DOE leadership and the Legislature need to be harassed, not the private schools. Saying that the "lines between public and private will be blurred" if the measure is approved needs to be stopped now. It is a non-issue being thrown up like a rallying cry. A very weak rallying cry.
You do realize numerous private organizations, including all of our hospitals, have used special purpose bonds to improve their facilities and that private investors provide the money for the loans?
HSTA, do us all a favor. Save your money by cancelling your ad campaign and, as you say the schools are cash-poor, redirect it to get something positive done.
Lei Medeiros
Mililani
People need charities, charities need people
I've lived in Hawai'i all my life and I've heard of the Great Aloha Run. But only recently did I realize what a huge charitable event this race is.
The army of volunteers giving of their time selflessly showed me a way of service that is taken for granted. I've been familiar with the thought "someone else going take care." I see now that volunteers of this event are everyday people like me.
People need charities and charities need people. The volunteers of the Great Aloha Run are the backbone of this race.
Keoni Mana
'Aiea
Boaters' opposition was nearly unanimous
Ninety-nine percent of the boaters who testified at the Oct. 5 boaters fee increase public hearings throughout the state opposed the DBOR proposal.
One major point of opposition that bothered many of those who testified was that they were being asked to start paying increased fees for completely restored boating facilities that are not yet planned, funded or constructed.
DBOR was asking for enormous fee increases, but there wasn't even a master plan that could show boaters what work was planned at their facility and when it would be done. The boaters were expected to take a giant leap of faith to trust DBOR. Unfortunately, trust is something that is severely lacking in the relationship between DBOR and its boating facility users.
The recreational boaters recognize the need to increase their seven-year-old user fees to meet today's economic standards and are willing to accept the national consumer price index (cost of living) standards prescribed by the U.S. government, which would equate to about a 20 percent fee increase. This should be sufficient to pay the expenses of operating, maintaining and managing the facilities and services at our state boating facilities.
William E. Mossman
Hawai'i Boaters Political Action Association
Chaos created when lights were turned off
Aloha Stadium can certainly find ways to foul up and exasperate sports fans.
After the UH-Nevada football game, our group gathered in the parking lot, enjoying some food and discussing the results of a great win. Nearby, other fans were doing the same.
Suddenly, at 10:45 p.m., without warning, the lights went off. Everything was chaos, confusion and disorder. Without lights, the chore of packing up became very difficult. This created an unsafe situation, with people and cars moving about. Hopefully, there were no injuries. Even worse, only one exit was open and there were no parking staff or police to direct traffic. Why?
What a mess. It took half an hour to get out.
Needless to say, we were extremely upset that public safety and care were ignored by stadium staff. Inexcusable. The whole operation needs to be scrutinized and procedural adjustment made.
Mel Rodenhurst
Kailua
Information charging works, experience shows
I am writing to counter what I believe is some misinformation provided to your readers by the American Civil Liberties Union and your local criminal defense bar relating to proposed Constitutional Amendment Question No. 3.
This proposed amendment, which will appear on the ballot on Nov. 5, provides local prosecutors a third means of bringing felony charges through a system known as information charging.
Here in Rhode Island, we have had felony information charging in place since 1974. This system has served to virtually eliminate grand jury backlogs, has saved thousands of victims from having to appear before the grand jury and countless hours of police overtime.
Before the implementation of felony information charging, every felony had to be presented to a grand jury before it could be sent to Superior Court. Today, only a small number of cases carrying potential life sentences are sent to the grand jury.
In Providence, one of our busiest calendars, over 70 percent of all cases charged by information charging are disposed of at pre-arraignment conferences. The defendant, provided with a copy of the information charging package before his arraignment, is able to read the statements of witnesses, police reports, toxicology reports, maps and diagrams. When the defendant is able to review this information, without the necessity of filing for discovery, he often avails himself of a negotiated pretrial disposition.
The adoption of felony information charging had virtually no effect on the number of cases reached for trial.
As to the reluctance to pass the amendment because there is no statutory model in place to implement the system, I would suggest that there are at least 13 states, including ours, that have comprehensive statutory schemes in place that are tried and true. The existence of these solid-working models eliminates any need to create a system from scratch.
Criminal information charging is an innovative means of streamlining the criminal justice process while providing substantive constitutional protections for the accused.
William J. Ferland
Assistant attorney general, State of Rhode Island
