Posted on: Thursday, August 21, 2003

Letters to the Editor

Everyone is to blame for looming bus strike

TheBus strike looms, yet as I observe the finger pointing, I see no proposals for real solutions. As a bus rider and voter, I do see an abundance of blame to go around:

• The mayor: Why did you let funding for TheBus decline? TheBus is an essential public service, not a convenience. You managed to fund numerous feel-good projects — beach movies, outrageous signs, etc. — yet where was your "vision" about the importance of TheBus to our economy?

• The City Council: You are supposed to represent constituents in your districts. Aren't bus riders your constituents? Why didn't you scrutinize the budget to make certain that adequate funding for TheBus was a priority?

• TheBus management: Do you ride the bus regularly and listen to riders? As a rider, the complaint I hear most often about TheBus is inconvenience, with bad drivers being complaint No. 2. Do you care that ridership declines because of dissatisfied riders? If you want more riders, thus more income, it's really quite simple — make TheBus convenient.

• The Teamsters: Mel Kahele's intent seems to be to strike to disrupt the economy, not working to improve conditions for drivers. He plans to prey on the most vulnerable in our society — young, old, handicapped — by depriving them of mobility. However, during a strike, riders will go back to driving, perhaps carpooling. If, after a strike, they "opt" not to ride TheBus again, the need for buses and drivers declines, ridership declines, income declines, and drivers will be laid off regardless of what Mr. Kahele says.

It's too bad that common sense can't prevail for all parties concerned.

Replacement drivers could be permanent

Bus drivers better think again about going on strike; they are among the top-10 best-paid bus drivers in the nation, making over $21 per hour after five years of service. They are making more than the firefighters, police officers and teachers, and a lot more than the local tour-bus drivers, who are making under $12 per hour.

Replacement drivers are always an option when it comes to a strike; remember a few years back when the air traffic controller strikers got replaced permanently? If the bus drivers are not satisfied with that kind of pay and benefits they are getting, I am sure a lot of people will be glad to take their seats.

Security measures should be re-evaluated

Your article on items seized by airport security workers raises a serious issue, but it isn't the "scofflaws" who go through security with scissors, potato peelers or "plumeria-topped cocktail forks." This story exposes a real need to re-examine the knee-jerk security measures enacted post-9-11.

These measures, adopted to prevent hijackings, are a classic case of locking the barn door after the horse is gone. The measures in place on Sept. 11, 2001, were adequate for our understanding of hijacking at the time. Prior to 9-11, hijackers typically seized planes to reach certain locations (like Cuba) or to satisfy political goals by holding hostages. Cooperating with hijackers usually meant nobody got hurt.

Since 9-11, we now understand hijackers could be on a suicide mission, and we can no longer simply sit still and let things happen. This new mindset reduces the success of future hijacking attempts.

In the turbulent days after 9-11, the government took drastic measures to make our country safer. As panic subsides, several cities, states and even members of Congress are beginning to rethink some of these, notably the Patriot Act.

Now is the time to re-evaluate airport security measures passed during the same period. A ballpoint pen or a rolled-up magazine can be a weapon in the wrong hands, but the overwhelming majority of travelers are law-abiding people who do not deserve to be treated like criminals for having a corkscrew or nail clippers in their carry-ons.

U.S. laws don't apply to Kamehameha lawsuit

Kamehameha Schools was founded in 1887, not under the Constitution of the United States or the state of Hawai'i, but under the Constitution of the Hawaiian Kingdom.

The current lawsuit by John Goemans and Eric Grant highlights that the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, the illusion of annexation, and the current occupation of Hawai'i by the United States need to be redressed.

Yes, Goemans, Freddy Rice, Ken Conklin and William H. Burgess are all right. U.S. laws don't belong or work in Hawai'i.

Long live the Hawaiian Kingdom!

Once again, Hawaiian resources attacked

This is another attempt to take away what little the Hawaiians have now. Are they not satisfied until all Hawaiians are granted no voice or decisions in their rightful pursuit to live a fruitful and meaningful life among the laws of the Westerners?

This school, in all its righteousness, is the only thing we Hawaiians have to hold on to, and as the application says, you have to declare that all the facts stated herein are true and to the best of your knowledge, otherwise you will be disqualified.

The law is the law, and a kid missing three weeks of school can surely make it up with homework and extra credit work. After all, it was his mother who cheated him in the first place, not Kamehameha Schools.

U.S. admitted stealing from the Hawaiians

Regarding T. Twigg-Smith's Aug. 20 letter "Hawai'i citizens overthrew queen": If what Twigg-Smith says is historically correct, why did the Congress of the United States confess, in the 1993 Hawaiian Apology Law 103-150, to stealing from the Hawaiians?

It's very interesting also to see the network media ask the question "Why don't people like Americans in the Middle East?" If one would study the historical facts about how the United States government treated the Hawaiian people, the answer to the Middle East question would be very clear.

The United States stole from the Hawaiian people, and it is still stealing today.

Stop the stealing, brandish the banner of Hawaiian independence.

Any of us would jump at getting Jones' salary

June Jones should be eternally grateful and gracious for his contract, which makes him our (the taxpayers') highest-paid employee. Instead, he continues to come across on TV as a whiner.

Jones managed to gain a wonderful new contract with whining about leaving and how he could earn so much more in the NFL and at Mainland colleges.

I, for one, as a UH supporter, am not lockstep in praise and admiration for either his on-field or off-field performance. Any of us would jump for joy to have his "perks," let alone his most generous salary.

Public employee pay should be known

Wow, did June Jones really say, "They always seem to know — legislators — what's best for everybody else, and obviously they've proven that by the conditions of our schools and the condition of our university right now"? I thought that's what we elected legislators to do — to pass laws in the best interest of the community.

It sounds like a good idea to me to disclose under what conditions our public employees are being paid. Hey, the UH football team looks good, and perhaps Jones is worth every bit of what the state is paying him to coach the team. Let's wait and see.

But if he doesn't like the state laws, he has the same recourse as everyone else — it's called an airplane ticket. (And personally, I don't think the schools and university are doing too badly.)

Plains Indian 'folktale' culturally insensitive

I was surprised to read such a culturally offensive "folktale" in the Aug. 8 Island Life section. The Plains Indian story was "adapted by Amy Friedman." After a cursory search on the Internet, I am unable to determine Ms. Friedman's background or qualification for adapting Native American stories. If Ms. Friedman is Native American, she is not familiar with Northern Plains culture. Among other things, this story is offensive because:

• Northern Plains leaders are the guardians of the people in the truest sense. They are not egocentric royals demanding to be served by the people. A leader might appear to be the poorest member of the community because it is his duty to provide for the people first, before himself.

The idea that a chief would demand a mat be rolled before him so he could walk in comfort is absurd. This reflects a distinctly European idea of leadership, like a king who demands the unfurling of a red carpet.

• To dub the main character in the story "Chief Tenderfeet" reduces him to a ridiculous caricature. In fact, the entire story seems to be an insulting caricature of Native American culture that fails to illuminate the true values of the Northern Plains.

For example, to suggest that Native American people would take the lives of hundreds of buffalo for the creature comforts of one man is not consistent with the spiritual relationship the people have always had with the buffalo.

• Most traditional Native Americans do not use the term "shaman." Healers, who might be referred to as "medicine men" or "medicine women," are held in the highest regard. They are not magicians. They are the keepers of sacred songs, ceremonies and traditional knowledge. They play a vital role in the community and do not serve just one person.

A leader cannot unilaterally demand that a medicine person be punished or banished. Again, this element of the story reflects a European hierarchy that never existed in Northern Plains culture.

English standard school in no way was segregated

In the Aug. 17 Sunday Focus section, your main story on the elections chief contains a very large error by writer Robert M. Rees.

In his article, he refers to the "English standard school" as being a "euphemism for segregated." I attended one, and nothing could be further from the truth. The schools were open to any student who could qualify with the English speaking and reading standards that had been set and who wished to attend that school.

In those days, some children felt, like their mostly uneducated parents did, that if you spoke good English, you were stuck-up or thought you were better than the pidgin speakers were. This feeling still may be in effect today.

Having graduated from Roosevelt High School, an English standard school, I can assure you that you would have found that because of the requirement of a certain standard of reading and speaking English in order to attend an English standard school, the majority attending were indeed Caucasians, but one basic reason for that was also partly that there were a large number of military children who spoke only English and who were sent to those schools by the U.S. government. Taking the military children out of the count (they were bused from every military installation on the island), you would find that the school was very balanced, indeed, reflecting the population at that time.

The Japanese were not highly represented, for some reason that I never did understand, and they seemed to prefer to segregate themselves and attend McKinley High School. The ones who were in Roosevelt were very good students and spoke and read English very well.

In my graduating class, there were 141 Caucasians, including Scots, Irish, English, Germans, Latins, Scandinavians, Slavs and Portuguese, and 95 students of color — Chinese, Hawaiians, Japanese, Latinos and blacks.

The children who chose to attend Roosevelt High School came from all over the island, and they were there because they were smart enough to know that speaking and reading English was a must if they were to succeed anywhere in the world.

It was interesting to me to know that second in number to Caucasians attending the English standard school were the Chinese, followed by Hawaiians.