By Anne Harpham

Hawai'i's pet quarantine law has been a hot-button issue for years and the focus of hundreds of stories, editorials and columns. The amount of reaction we received about a story published last Sunday shows just how important the issue is for many people.

The story quoted people on both sides of a proposal by the state Board of Agriculture to relax Hawai'i's quarantine regulations. The board will make its recommendation to the Department of Agriculture later this month.

Maui bureau reporter Timothy Hurley covered a hearing on the proposal in Kahului on March 24. Everyone he quoted opposed the quarantine law. He later heard from a few readers who shared their views on whether or not there should be quarantine.

Last Sunday, science reporter Jan TenBruggencate followed up with an overview story that sought to lay out the history and intent of the quarantine law and to describe the passionate feelings on both sides of the issue.

TenBruggencate and I heard from a number of readers about the story. Several readers who oppose the quarantine requirement told TenBruggencate the story was not balanced because, they said, the view of those opposing quarantine was not stated clearly. A couple who oppose quarantine said The Advertiser has a history of not being fair-minded on the issue because we print only the pro-quarantine point of view and do not correct what those opposed to quarantine characterize as misrepresentations by supporters.

Our editorial position on this new proposal is that we should be wary of changing the law until we are sure the new rules will work. Our policy on letters is that we should be balanced in which letters we print. We get more anti-quarantine letters than pro-quarantine. As Editorial Page Editor Jerry Burris notes, that is because people who have had to put their pets through quarantine are far more likely to write and most of those people — understandably — dislike the requirement. Over time, Burris says, we have run more anti-quarantine letters than pro-quarantine.

TenBruggencate's story quoted people on both sides of the issue and the lead paragraph summarized one of the reasons quarantine is so despised.

Both sides of the issue have very strong feelings and in a news story it is the newspaper's responsibility to present their positions without favor to either side.

TenBruggencate's story did that. He has a long history at The Advertiser for his balanced, thoughtful and fair reporting. He has responded to those who wrote to him, encouraging open communication.

We also heard from readers about our coverage of March 29 rallies supporting U.S. troops in Iraq and a clash at one of those rallies with a couple of dozen anti-war protesters.

The readers who called believed we put too much emphasis on the anti-war protesters. However, it would have been irresponsible for us to have ignored what happened or the interaction between the two groups.

In a 26-paragraph story, 19 focused on those who gathered to support the troops. And reporter Will Hoover noted high in the story that of the people who gathered, about 800 were supporting the troops and a couple of dozen opposed the war.

In this case, the larger turnout got the preponderance of coverage in the story.

Senior editor Anne Harpham is The Advertiser's reader representative. Reach her at aharpham@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8033.