Posted on: Tuesday, December 9, 2003

Letters to the Editor

Football photo captures players' sportsmanship

Can I modify the saying "A picture is worth a thousand words" to read "... a million words" instead? That is exactly what I felt when I read the recap of the Kahuku-St. Louis matchup and saw the picture of Kahuku players consoling St. Louis kicker C.J. Santiago.

After a hard-fought battle, for players to walk up to an opponent and console them in defeat shows real aloha and class. Whenever I need to teach my own kids about honor, sportsmanship and pride, all I would ever need to do is show them this picture.

Photograph captures essence of football game

I want to commend the Advertiser, your sports section editor, Curtis Murayama and photographer, Eugene Tanner for selecting the large color photo that ran on page D1 on Saturday, December 6th, following the Div. 1 State Football Championship.

I'm sure there where many other photos that could have been selected to capture the essence of the game. Your decision to feature an act of true sportsmanship was uplifting and spoke volumes about the class and dignity of the young men from Kahuku. Thank you so much for this effort to focus the public's attention the highest purpose of high school sports — character building.

The state Medicaid program takes care of the health needs of some of the neediest and vulnerable members of our society. It is widely accepted that prophylactic influenza vaccinations are a cost-effective means of avoiding excessive morbidity and hospitalizations, especially in those patients with associated debilitating diseases such as bronchial asthma, emphysema, diabetes mellitus and congestive heart failure.

Prevention of influenza indirectly saves hundreds of thousands of healthcare dollars. The influenza vaccine costs $7 or $8 per dose.

Yet Hawai'i's Medicaid program will not pay physicians the cost of the vaccine if we were to administer it to our patients in the office. They pay a $2 "administration" fee. We are forced to instruct our patients to go to the Health Department to get the annual influenza vaccination. Of course, most patients simply do not make the effort.

Is there anyone with some common sense running the state's Medicaid program?

Local school boards not a financial remedy

Thank you for your Nov. 28 editorial questioning the helpfulness of Gov. Linda Lingle's study on education finance. As someone who worked and studied school finance on the Mainland for years, I would like to point out that local school boards are a huge problem — not a remedy — for school finance. Our statewide school district is looked at by Mainland states as a model for reform.

Here's the problem with local districts: school funding becomes grossly unequal among districts — middle- to upper-income neighborhoods are able to spend many more dollars per pupil than poor neighborhoods, which usually have vastly greater needs for better facilities, higher teacher pay, remedial education, etc.

Many states are experiencing a huge crisis as these local financing systems have been ruled unconstitutional. Local school money is maintained as an outright ploy to keep a two-tiered level of public education on the Mainland, under the guise of "local control."

Other states are grappling with the enormous problems created by such a grossly unfair system. Let's not go there.

State shouldn't settle; judge erred in decision

The state attorney general has made a bad call on agreeing to settle the Sacred Falls case. It is a terrible precedent. One Circuit Court judge decided that there were insufficient signs and the wording was wrong. As a retired state park manager I can testify that all the signs in the world written by a judge will never stop some people from doing what they want to do.

Look at what is happening at the Stairway to Heaven in Ha'iku. Signs, fences and guards have not deterred determined folks from climbing. Signs in the wilderness detract from nature's natural beauty. It would be better to let locals and visitors know in no uncertain terms that they cannot sue the state and collect for acts of God and Mother Nature.

The state should not be encouraging attorneys such as Arthur Park and Laurent Remillard. They are going to be the big winners if the state settles, not those injured and the heirs of those who lost their lives.

The Legislature should refuse to pay a cent. The insurance company, who is the big loser ($6.56 million), should hire the best lawyers to appeal. Hawai'i should not be stuck with a $2 million bill and probably higher insurance rates because one judge erred in his thinking.

Let's reopen at least some of this beautiful park. About 165,000 people have been deprived from its use in the past three years.

Dissension created among Hawaiians

In their decision to allow Brayden Mohica-Cummings, a non-Hawaiian, to remain at Kamehameha School, the trustees have caused the disintegration of the bonding elements that kept the Hawaiian people totally unified in their quest to keep Kamehameha for Hawaiians only.

Whatever the reasons, the trustees' action was an unpopular one and undoubtedly created undeserved dissension among Hawaiians and possible future problems for the school.

All of this is truly sad when one considers that the school has never been closer and the people more united in seeking that long-sought goal of getting the courts to rule in their favor.

The trustees will have to think long and hard whether they were serving the best interests of the Hawaiian people with their decision and they will also need to prepare themselves with the unpleasant task of providing some very convincing answers to some very angry people.

Only time will tell whether their decision was an act of courage or a terrible blunder.

Police in Kailua serving as 'private security'

Crime in Hawai'i and the "reported" poor performance of our police department hasn't deterred the police from acting as "private security" for some residents of Kailua.

The residents of Diamond Head and Kahala and other prestigious areas use private security but apparently Kailua, with its low crime, no drugs or burglaries, can afford to provide private "on"-duty police with blue lights and all as their "private guards" while construction on Kalaheo Avenue continues.

Cell phones don't belong on public transportation

I would like to add more to this "new" enigma that seems to create problems in the classrooms.

In addition to cell phones not belonging in classrooms, I also would like to add that they do not belong on public transportation. The rules of not disturbing your fellow bus riders with noise such as radio or music should extend to noise caused by people yapping about their personal lives on cell phones on the bus.

The worst kind are riders with two-way communications (walkie talkie) or those who do not immediately respond to the constant loud ringing of their phones.

Some of us do want to have a little rest during our looooong journey on the bus. So, please kokua.

Accuracy is hard to get right these days

I did not know how much of former Gov. Ben Cayetano's Nov. 30 article on the oil oligopoly is based on hard fact and how much is conjecture, but I do agree with one comment. In referring to the July 20 final report, he stated, "The quality and accuracy of the report is disappointing."

Earlier in his article, he says, "Oil company executives don't meet like the mob did in Appalachia." Appalachia is the area comprising the Appalachian Mountains from Canada south to Alabama.

The famous mob meeting was in a small upstate community in northern New York called Apalachin, not in Appalachia.

Ben is half right, it is hard to get accuracy these days. Maybe he should not be so critical of other peoples' perceived accuracy.

Let's show society what true marriage can offer

Regarding Richard Bodkin's Dec. 5 letter — He's right: With so many marriages and families breaking up, who cares who gets married to whom? That's the problem: We should care.

Those who believe in traditional marriage should do all they can to show that it is the best way to raise children and have stability in our society.

We should be advocating abstinence before marriage. How much heartbreak, poverty and abuse could be avoided if our children thought well enough of themselves to be chaste.

We should try to avoid divorce, especially when children are involved. Court-mandated, pre-divorce counseling is a good step. Unselfishness, humility, respect and courtesy are necessary in a marriage.

We need to instill an aversion for adultery. We see adultery in movies and TV as the "exciting" life. No one needs that much excitement. Adultery brings dishonesty, loss of trust, hatred, heartbreak, abandonment ... the list continues and nothing on that list is good.

We need to live total sexual purity before marriage and total fidelity after so we can show the difference in what a true marriage can offer our society, and that anything else sows trouble.

Development takes away beauty of North Shore

I am happy to see the Sierra Club go after developer D.G. "Andy" Anderson for water runoff at Velzyland. It is an awful-looking development that has an eight-foot rock wall that takes the ocean view completely away.

That land was slated for a much-needed beach park and suddenly it is a prison camp subdivision.

The developers are ruining the whole feeling we all love about the North Shore.

Infectious diseases research only helps public

In his Dec. 3 letter railing against medical research in infectious disease, Wilbert W.W. Wong has good intentions, but is slightly misguided. To those who are excited over his conjuring up images of clandestine research involving biological weapons such as anthrax and smallpox, I'm sorry. Wong is wrong.

Infectious disease research involves gaining information in the lab or clinical setting that can help local and worldwide physicians diagnose and treat diseases ranging from the everyday pneumonia to the potentially epidemic SARS.

The public has only to gain and nothing to fear from any research associated with the University of Hawai'i's John A. Burns School of Medicine. There is more harm to the environment coming from the exhaust pipes on H-1 every morning than from any medical research.

Oh, and Mr. Wong, if a tidal wave hits Hawai'i, we'd have much more to worry about than some bacteria or viruses that would die if left out in the open.

UH must be more aware of TV image it portrays

The University of Hawai'i needs to be careful how Hawai'i is portrayed. I am a Hawai'i resident attending college in Boston and I happened to watch the Boise State game on Saturday.

What I found most disturbing during the telecast was the way Hawaiian stereotypes were portrayed. After UH scored touchdowns, Fili, the UH mascot, proceeded to shred a coconut with his teeth while husky shirtless teens played the drums. Also, local fans in wigs, reminiscent of Bu La'ia's famous afro, were shown throughout the game.

These images provided the commentators with a chuckle and gave the rest of America a false image of what our state really represents. I realize that Fili and his entourage are favorites at UH games and that Warrior fans are some of the most enthusiastic in the nation.

However, these images only served to solidify the stereotype that Hawai'i's residents are less cultured and less healthy than the rest of America. Anyone in Hawai'i knows that our culture is unique; however, many outside of Hawai'i see our state as undeveloped and uncultured.

Maybe the ESPN telecast will bring some much-needed visitors, but they surely will not garner Hawai'i the respect that it deserves. I believe one of the aims of UH President Evan Dobelle and Athletic Director Herman Frazier is to generate positive attention for UH and our state.

Unless Hawai'i wants to be portrayed solely as a vacation destination, then I suggest that UH officials be more sensitive to how our state is portrayed on national television.