Letters to the Editor
Ken Rosene helped make 98Rock rock
I heard that Ken Rosene passed away Tuesday morning.
I came to Honolulu in the spring of 1980 as general manager of bankrupt KDUK FM Radio. I changed the format to 98Rock in the summer of 1980, and with the help of Ken, promoted and brought mainstream rock 'n roll to Hawai'i.
The station became a huge success. 98Rock won national recognition as one of the premier rock stations in America. It was also credited with bringing FM Radio Hawai'i.
This would have been almost impossible without the help of Ken. He worked with us in bringing live rock concerts and promotions that helped 98Rock, especially in the beginning. Not many believed in what we were doing when we started the station, but Ken immediately recognized the opportunity of our station and became our biggest supporter and promoter.
We will miss his energy and enthusiasm.
Brian Bieler
Here's how to judge City Council candidates
Do voters realize that City Council candidates can be elected outright in the Sept. 21 primary election if they receive 50 percent plus one additional vote? If no candidate receives a majority of the votes, the names of the two candidates receiving the most votes will be on the ballot in November.
Do we know the candidates' views on some important issues that face Honolulu? This question prompted the League of Women Voters of Honolulu to survey all City Council candidates. Their views on development in Central O'ahu and the second city, the Bus/Rapid Transit project and other traffic-congestion problems make for interesting reading. It certainly helped me decide on a candidate to vote for in my district.
To see the complete survey, voters may check at the public libraries, look it up on the league Web site, www.dnet.org, or call the league office at 531-7448 to ask that we fax all or part of the survey to residents.
Robin Loomis
Secretary
League of Women Voters of Honolulu
Judge Duke Aiona puts families first
As a result of his many years as a Honolulu deputy prosecutor and as a Family and Circuit Court judge, Duke Aiona has seen firsthand the importance of strong families in combating the social problems that plague our community.
Families have always been the cornerstone of our island state. It is no wonder that Judge Aiona shares his strong belief that solving the problems that plague our community must start and end with the family.
As a lifelong Democrat, I have supported leaders who have served the people first and foremost. I believe that good government is one that is made by the people and for the people. Government, however, cannot be the end-all answer to all of our problems. Each of us bears a responsibility for solving our community's problems.
Like Judge Aiona, I believe we must attack the problems of drugs, crime and failing schools one person at a time, one family at a time.
Judge Aiona's message of putting families first and foremost resounds loudly with my family, and it will make him our next lieutenant governor.
Mary Garcia
Governor candidates must address unions
In the Democratic candidates' debate, none of the gubernatorial hopefuls dared mention the word "union." Ninety percent of government is the civil service, which, in Hawai'i, is a union.
How can a governor, even with the full cooperation of the 10 percent, accomplish meaningful reform without the full participation of the civil service unions? There is no way to make government more efficient unless the unions cooperate.
Those three candidates can do nothing to reform the government or the economy without union participation — a detail all three ignored.
Hawai'i needs a candidate who can arrive at a joint decision with the government unions to achieve better efficiency in the civil service. That decision cannot happen unless the unions decide to govern themselves like a profit-making corporation. If productivity increases, you get a raise; if it doesn't, you don't. That same rule holds true for the rest of government.
Now, which of our gubernatorial candidates will be the first to say that he or she has met with the union leaders and they have jointly agreed on a plan to reduce government size, increase its efficiency and contribute materially to Hawai'i's economic growth?
Keawe Vredenburg
Front page of Sept. 11 gave meaning to horror
Your front page of Sept. 11 did more to give meaning to the horror and waste of the attacks of 9/11/01 than all the political speeches and flag-waving of the past year.
That roster of the names of those whose lives were taken, and the subtle shading of the two towers of the World Trade Center etched into the roster, seemed to me to say everything that could be said.
Congratulations. Without really saying a word, you pulled it all together.
Andrew W. Scott
Front page caught importance of day
Thank you so so so much for the front page of your paper on Sept. 11. I am not going to work today. I don't want to see flags flying. I do not plan to watch TV. I plan to spend a reflective day on my kayak in the middle of Waimanalo Bay in mourning for all people everywhere who are being traumatized by violence.
I was not going to even get the paper out of my mailbox, I am so "patriotism" aversive. However, in sleepy rote behavior, I walked out, reached in and there it was.
Perfect! I'm not going beyond the front page, though. Don't want to see or hear about any of the vengeful, war-mongering idiots running this country.
And mahalo to Lee Cataluna for her Tuesday column about regeneration and hope after the trauma of 'Iniki. That was also perfect for this day of anniversary.
Barbara Mullen
Waimanalo
Kapa'a Quarry is best site for new landfill
Where to locate O'ahu's next landfill? Kailua.
Ameron's Kapa'a Quarry will close in three years. The deep excavation has a capacity for use as a landfill. The dense seabed rock is nearly impervious to liquid penetration, making it environmentally sound.
There are no homes in the vicinity, and the site is almost obscured from view by landscaping. Back-filling will restore the natural terrain.
Victor Weisberger
Kailua
Hilton's decision on furnishings wasteful
That Hilton would put 400-plus rooms of furnishings in a landfill or incinerator because of a little mold is wasteful and pollutes our environment.
Give the furnishings to the Salvation Army so they help our community. Such corporate irresponsibility makes our country look bad.
The article mentions litigation to recover their damages. However, if your car is scratched, you can't throw it away and demand a new one from your insurance company. Hilton is required by law to mitigate its financial loss.
Jeff Hossellman
Perhaps next Sept. 11, things will be easier
Somebody asked me today, Sept. 11, what I was doing a year ago today.
As did so many other people, I watched in horror and disbelief as a plane crashed into the side of the Twin Towers. I remember sitting there and thinking that this was actually some action flick or something, anything but what it appeared to be. And, then as the towers started to collapse, I prayed and prayed that everyone had made it out all right.
I remembered silence. As the day dragged by and the horror of what happened replayed constantly on the television, the normal routine you took for granted was absent. The sound of an airplane flying overhead, the senseless chatter of midmorning talk shows on the TV, even a trip to the grocery store — everything, completely changed, forever altered.
My oldest son came home from school that day and said to me, "Mommy, my teacher said that an airplane flew into the side of a building and that the building fell down. Did anyone get hurt?" My son is 7 years old. How can you explain to a child about the thousands of people who were lost, feared dead or were dead? How do you explain to a child why people do the things they do?
You can't.
Now a year has passed, and has anything changed? I have two sons now, my youngest soon to be a year old. I've been dreading this day for maybe the last week or so because reflection isn't always easy.
I knew no one who died so tragically that day, in New York, in Washington or in a field in Pennsylvania. Yet, that doesn't stop me from crying when I think of them. Or of the families left behind, especially the children.
In the last year, we as a country have been on what seems like a bad roller-coaster ride. But we've prevailed. And we will continue to.
I look at things in a different light, and I try not to take too much for granted. I appreciate my family more than ever, and never fail to tell my sons how much I love them. Maybe next year at this time, reflection will come easier.
Nancy Ho
Genetically engineered food myths
In the continuing debate over genetically engineered organisms (GMOs), and especially food, there is a need to make sure that we understand the facts and not the myths associated with them. Specifically:
• "Terminator" genes are not unique to transgenic crops and have been used in traditional breeding methods for centuries to produce hybrid seed of conventional crops (tomatoes, peppers, corn, cucumbers, melons, etc.). The "terminator" characteristic means that the seeds of the hybrid crop cannot be saved because the offspring will not be "true to type." Even those growers who save seed from their crops for future plantings understand this and so avoid hybrids.
The same situation applies to transgenic crops. The grower can save the seed of transgenic crops and can produce a crop; it just won't be "true to the type" of crop from which it was saved.
• "Roundup ready" transgenic crops have been developed so that growers can move away from the use of herbicides that do have a reputation of contaminating groundwater (e.g., atrazine). "Roundup" does not have chemical properties that pollute groundwater and thus offers a weed-control alternative that, in fact, reduces the potential for groundwater contamination.
• Pollen from transgenic crops cannot crossbreed with wild weed or unrelated plant species and result in mutant plants. The definition of a species is that the individuals in a group can produce viable offspring. To suggest that GMO crops can produce some sort of new species when pollinating outside of their own group is inaccurate.
Humans and apes are primates, but does that mean that some sort of mutant hybrid can be produced if humans and apes mate? The exact same situation applies in the plant world.
Biotechnology does pose some unique and challenging moral, ethical, sociological and practical concerns. Most of the advances in agriculture and medicine will be made with this technology, but like all other technologies, there is a potential for misuse and abuse, which is not unique to bio-engineering.
It is important, then, that we educate ourselves as to the facts of this science so that we do not succumb to fear and hysteria. The on-going discussion on this very critical issue is good, but needs to be based on knowledge.
John J. McHugh Jr., PhD.
Chairman
Environmental Stewardship Committee
Hawai'i Farm Bureau Federation
