Letters to the Editor

Portable classrooms aren't good anywhere

I just read the Feb. 6 article that Mililani residents want the state to get rid of the portable classrooms and build regular classrooms for their kids. The residents say their kids should not be learning in portable classrooms.

Well, hey, if it is good enough for the kids on the Wai'anae Coast, then why is it not good enough for kids elsewhere on the island? At least the kids in Mililani don't have to put up with the flies and the smell from the pig farms as the Ma'ili kids have to.

Malia Pickering

Other schools on O'ahu had their problems, too

I wish the communities of the North Shore, West Side, etc., had the pull with your paper to get a story written about the state of their school campuses.

Kahuku was in no fair shape while I attended, and the only time the media covered its condition was when it was flooded — only to be quickly forgotten when the rainwater disappeared.

But when these people in their planned community raise a stink about brand-new, portable classrooms, you send your reporter scrambling to cover it, simply because these people can't stand the shame of their entitled children going to class in a trailer.

And the punchline is, you actually empathize with them. I can't wait for next week's story: "Punahou parents disappointed with size of Steve Case endowment."

Kristian House
Venice, Calif.

Powell wan't making case for war to U.N.

I wonder if The Advertiser didn't make two rather serious misinterpretations in Thursday's front-page headlines. To me:

1. Secretary Powell's speech was not the "U.S. case for war." But as I listened, he carefully stopped short of that. Wasn't his purpose to make an overwhelming case of Iraq's "material breach" of U.N. Resolution 1441, and that to maintain any credibility and authority among nations, the U.N. must decisively do whatever it might take to eliminate Iraqi "weapons of mass destruction"? (Not even anything about "regime change.") The matter of means remains open.
2. "Veto powers unswayed," said the headline beneath the photo. But responses at the U.N. were in fact prepared before the speech was made. Certainly, the "veto powers" still hope for a solution short of warfare, but our president says he does, too.

The legitimate U.S. aim now is to persuade the U.N. to pronounce Saddam's claim of compliance with 1441 untenable. Other nations hope we can decide together what the United Nations needs to do about it. As long as the U.N. does not dally, everyone gains by supporting this process.

Gaius Thede

Critics of government need attitude adjustment

So I open the paper and read yet another vitriolic letter or editorial accusing the U.S. government of, among other things, deceit, mal-intent and belligerence with respect to the rest of the world.

Am I in Pyongyang? Baghdad?

No. I'm about five miles from Pearl Harbor, 1.4 years from Sept. 11, 2001, and 40 minutes by ballistic missile from North Korea, given its current technology.

From here, the diplomatic and strategic positions espoused by these writers appear as inverted with respect to reality as is their assessment of their own government.

T. Mark McCamley
Kalihi

Gas market assessment ignored crucial data

Stillwater Associates gave a somewhat fair assessment of the Hawai'i gasoline market but left many pieces of key information out of the Hawai'i equation.

It was Chevron management in 1989 who organized the dealers against BHP (Gas Express) to pass the first dealer legislation that put restraints on the Hawai'i market. This stopped competitors from entering the Hawai'i market.

Stillwater is using skewed data by using gasoline price comparisons during a period when the state had filed an antitrust lawsuit against the oil companies, and the Legislature was already discussing price controls. Data from five years prior to the lawsuit would have shown huge savings to Hawai'i consumers, as much as 60 cents per gallon.

Many of Stillwater's proposals would require passing some very complex legislation that may require years of discussion, leaving the Hawai'i consumers at the mercy of the oil companies. Stillwater claims that the Hawai'i refiners "lose money" on other products such as fuel oil and other byproducts of crude oil are irresponsible. Show the consumers these numbers to justify such bold statements.

Frank Young
Former Chevron dealer

'Pele's curse' is nothing but a false modern myth

It is time to put to rest the myth of "Pele's curse" that brings bad luck to those who remove rocks from Hawai'i.

Many years ago, The Honolulu Advertiser printed an article, with pictures, that told of the origins of the story. It would seem to be time to print another well-researched article on the subject.

Until his death a few years ago, Russ Apple, retired from the National Park Service at Volcano National Park, wrote weekly articles of Big Island interest in the Hawai'i Tribune-Herald newspaper of Hilo. When I contacted him by phone shortly before his death to see if he knew about the "curse" and how it got started, he began to laugh. It seems he was one of those responsible for the creation of this modern legend.

In the late '40s or early '50s, Mr. Apple began telling the story to volcano visitors. His purpose was to try to protect the park's environment by stopping the taking of rocks as souvenirs. And, of course, it gave the tour drivers something interesting to tell the visitors on their trip around the Big Island.

"Powerstones," a book by Linda Ching and Robin Stephens (1994), details the origins of the myth, and includes a quote from the then-assistant secretary for fish and wildlife and parks (U.S. Department of the Interior): " 'Pele's curse' is a modern myth that largely diminishes the cultural significance of Pele and the associated mana that native Hawaiian tradition ascribes to the volcanic area. When the simplistic myth of a 'Pele's curse' is perpetuated through publications and publicity that sensationalize the reported bad luck of park visitors, the efforts of the National Park Service and others to accurately portray the Hawaiian culture are hindered."

And Richard Rasp, then chief park interpreter, said, "Taking rocks from the park is a violation of a privilege and is as disrespectful as visiting a church and leaving with a piece of the wall. Attaching an evil connotation to taking the rocks seems to me irreverent to the Hawaiian culture."

So please, let's respect the richness of the Hawaiian culture and stop perpetuating a false modern myth.

Stewart Dawson
Ocean View, Hawai'i