Letters to the Editor
Hirono represents women's rights better
The profiles of gubernatorial candidates in the Oct. 27 Advertiser didn't mention their positions on a woman's right to choose abortion if she considers it necessary.
On the TV debate Friday, Linda Lingle said — with emotion and emphasis — that she supports every woman's right to choose. But she immediately added that parents should be notified if their daughter seeks an abortion.
Parental notification is used by anti-choice groups as a sneak attack, not to enhance parental consent but to unconstitutionally restrict a woman's choice. Ideally, pregnant girls will consult their parents, but often they may be subject to abuse, violence or eviction from their parents' home. These are the girls who frequently suffered from dangerous illegal abortions and attempted self-abortions in the days before Roe vs. Wade.
Linda Lingle also said, in the Aug. 21 Advertiser, that she would sign a bill banning late-term abortions. Late-term abortions are hardly ever performed, but banning them would remove a procedure that may be necessary in extreme situations. This issue is also a sneak attack on any woman's right to choose.
Mazie Hirono supports a woman's right to choose. This indicates her respect for a woman's rights and for human rights in general.
David Mielke
Time for regime change
Consider the following:
The van cams.
Lousy schools.
The "education governor."
Cronyism in awarding of contracts.
Lousy business environment.
Reputation as "People's Republic of Hawai'i."
Ouster of Margery Bronster.
Excise tax on food and prescription medications.
Andy Mirikitani.
Rene Mansho.
Marshall Ige.
Milton Holt.
Nathan Suzuki.
Henry Peters.
Dickie Wong.
The list goes on and on. Had enough? Vote Republican.
Greg Shepherd
Hirono's meeting with 'experts' elitist
After thinking about Friday's televised debate between the two candidates for governor, one major difference stands out.
Many times Mazie Hirono spoke enthusiastically about planning to have government-sponsored meetings with smart or leading experts. On the other hand, Linda Lingle spoke enthusiastically about the ideas of many citizens, gained during her numerous public meetings.
In this state with 1.2 million people, there must be at least a thousand brilliant minds, from all neighborhoods, islands and industries. Having a meeting with only a limited number of "experts" is not enough and seems elitist.
So for this election, I'm voting for Lingle because she believes in democracy more than the Democratic candidate does.
Patrick Grandelli
Kailua
Candidates should quit attacking schools
Please add another contribution to the crescendo of voices objecting to recent political ads by candidates vowing to reform our "woeful" public schools.
Because I think highly of both the Republican and Democratic candidates for governor and lieutenant governor, I have been watching their ads carefully. I was taken by surprise by the Republican TV ad that matter-of-factly implied that our public schools were among "the worst in the nation." I was so angered by the ad that I found myself vehemently objecting to the TV screen.
As an educator, and a product of Hawai'i public schools, I felt insulted and victimized by publicists who selectively manipulate education data to influence public opinion.
Having been a student, a teacher, an administrator and a complex educational officer in the DOE, I have seen myself surrounded by dedicated and hard-working people who have great aloha for all of the children in our schools. Especially in the past several years, extraordinary efforts have been exerted by those of us who work for the children to provide the best possible education for them in the face of growing challenges.
In areas such as helping all children to strive for high academic standards, caring for our children with special needs, providing extra assistance to the growing numbers of families from non-English-speaking countries, and trying to keep our kids safe from drugs and violence, we will continue to use all of our strength and resources.
All through the system, from each tutor and educational assistant to Superintendent Patricia Hamamoto, I see the same commitment: to do what's best for our kids. We need our political leaders to support rather than to demoralize us.
Glen Miyasat
Case best candidate in special elections
As an independent voter fiercely in favor of preservation and improvement of our governmental system, I will be voting for Ed Case because:
- He appreciates the fact that Patsy Mink represented all her constituents, but especially those disenfranchised for whom she was the only voice. Patsy was truly a liberal in the finest sense of the word. Case has promised to retain her present staff through the remainder of the present term.
- He refuses to be controlled by the "good-old-boy" network, whose corruption threatens the imminent downfall of his party.
- He does not belong to the party that fronts for the rich and rapacious and whose refusal to control their greed forced Theodore Roosevelt to leave this party. This party has steadily chipped away at the reforms instituted by FDR and, with a modern-day Harding in the White House, threatens a repeat of their Great Depression, which stole the childhood of most of my generation.
- As much as I respect Mr. Mink, if Ed Case wins both special elections, he will have extra seniority, extremely important to the strength of Hawai'i's representation in Congress.
John H. Cort
Pahoa, Big Island
Constitutional rights would be in jeopardy
From what I read in the newspaper, and even in the voter guide, I am worried that voters don't have the true picture on Constitutional Amendment Question No. 3 and the rights we would all lose if it passes.
A "yes" vote to Question No. 3 would result in the changing of the Hawai'i Constitution and the eroding of constitutional rights.
Voting "yes" to Question No. 3 would give unrestrained power to the prosecutor to charge serious crimes against our fellow citizens without the protections of a grand jury or a preliminary hearing.
The grand jury and preliminary hearing require the prosecutor to present live witness testimony before serious crimes can be charged. Voting "yes" to Constitutional Amendment Question No. 3 would allow the prosecutor to file criminal charges against a fellow citizen on second- or third-hand information without first providing live testimony in court. The danger of charging a fellow citizen with a crime based on speculation or fabrication would be great. Likewise, the potential for the abuse of such immense power also would be great.
A "yes" vote to Question No. 3 would put more power in the hands of the government lawyers.
A "no" vote would keep the power with the people.
Michelle L. Drewyer
Wailuku, Maui
Why should state count blank ballots?
I agree with the Oct. 24 letter by Edward K. Conklin. He correctly points out that the majority of yes votes should win out over the no vote count. Plain and simple.
Why should a blank (abstain) ballot be counted as a no vote? State officials seem to have it rigged. They assume the blank ballot to be a no vote. Another "the fix-is-in" situation in the state of Hawai'i (read Mississippi in the 1940s.) We are supposed to be government of the people, by the people and for the people.
What is wrong with an abstain (blank) vote? Maybe the state officials think it would be threatening to "their" view of the future instead of the majority yes voters. I would be interested to see what the percentages are for yes, no and blank ballots after the final count is in.
Dan Judson
Olinda, Maui
Let's have answers on Question No. 2
Just to make sure we're all clear on Constitutional Amendment Question No. 2:
Scenario 1: What happens if a group whose affiliations you don't care for applies for bonds? There seems to be an assumption that it will only be those we all like that will apply.
Case in point: the Unification Church's plans to build a school on the Big Island. The residents oppose the plans. The church could apply for bonds and use the funds to build, despite taxpayers' protests. Turn them down? They sue for religious discrimination and the state ends up giving them the money.
Scenario 2: A church school decides it needs a new parking garage. After its completion, the school folds and it sells for a handsome profit. Thanks, state taxpayers. Private profit at public expense.
Scenario 3: You live in a historic district. The private church school gets bond funding to put up a huge monstrosity next door. Your property values just sank.
These scenarios may already be addressed, but I'd like to hear them discussed before deciding.
Robyn Blanpied
'Aiea
Teacher institute day created traffic mess
I guess it should come as no surprise that our public schools are struggling if they are run by the same people who planned a teacher institute day to begin during rush hour in the midst of a major traffic corridor.
Rather than hold the big teacher meeting in Kapolei, Mililani or Kailua, where the teachers could have avoided the traffic and not contributed to the morning rush, they instead chose to hold the event at Dole Cannery, directly in the path of thousands of West O'ahu commuters.
Rather than start the meeting at 10 a.m., after the morning rush hour had ended, they chose to start first thing in the morning — thus adding hundreds of cars to the traffic crawl.
Thanks to the planning of the DOE, a lot of people had as long as an extra hour to sit in their cars on the way to work and ponder the state of public education.
Ben M. Schorr
'Ewa Beach
Is small-airport plan linked to pet smuggling?
The state's wish to close small airstrips around the Islands has nothing to do with whether these airports are important for aviation, the safety of small-aircraft pilots, their crews or passengers, and the strategic safety of the Islands during emergencies.
It has everything to do with the state's failure to fulfill its responsibility to inspect all incoming aircraft for contraband and other smuggling, like dogs and cats.
In several Board of Agriculture meetings over the last few months, it has been disclosed and admitted in discussions of animal quarantine that the only airport consistently inspected for smuggling is Honolulu International. The Hawai'i Department of Agriculture is supposed to inspect all incoming aircraft for smuggled goods, including dogs and cats. The Board of Agriculture has admitted it has no figures on the incidence of smuggled dogs and cats, nor does it have a means of acquiring such figures, as it does not regularly inspect aircraft except at HNL.
Perhaps before the Board of Agriculture can bring its new 120-day Mainland observation period and five-day quarantine proposal before the public in hearings — where it will have to admit in a more open forum it does not inspect any incoming aircraft except at HNL — it is surreptitiously attempting to get all the peripheral airports closed down or privatized so the Department of Agriculture does not have to worry about its mandated responsibilities — and leave us still vulnerable to rabies.
Thanks, Democrats, for once again putting the people of Hawai'i first.
Catherine A. Robinson
Waipahu
Dining Out mistake explanation was weak
Executive Editor Jim Kelly's Oct. 27 column explaining that featuring Mazie Hirono and Matt Matsunaga on the front of the Dining Out section was inadvertent and not politically motivated was weak.
If the marketing people in charge of the Dining Out section aren't sensitive to the politically charged period we are in, their marketing abilities are questionable. Avoiding the appearance of bias should be of more importance to The Honolulu Advertiser than "trying to accommodate an advertiser."
P.M. Webb
Rubbish building up on Lake Wilson
For over six months, debris and rubbish has been building up on Lake Wilson in Wahiawa. Dead fish are floating on top of the water, and the view of this once-attractive lake is now an eyesore.
Who is responsible and what action is being taken to bring the lake back to where the fishermen and residents can enjoy the water again?
Kemoo Farm-area businesses surely are disappointed in the state for the lack of cleanup efforts.
Auwe! Whoever is responsible, get on the ball and clean up this mess.
Bob Barefoot
Wahiawa
