Letters to the Editor
Prisoners should be used to fight weed
The Advertiser's Feb. 5 editorial entitled "The time to fight weed at Kawainui is now" is spot on. The second-to-last paragraph calls on the state, city and interested citizens to address the problem. It occurred to me a large population of able-bodied men and women is available in our prisons to get the job done.
May I suggest the following scenario. First, knowledgeable people speak to the prisoners on why the eradication of this plant pest is so important. Second, background information on other plant and animal invaders and something about their history and impact on the environment would be discussed.
Are there problems attendant with taking large numbers of prisoners out to work on such a project? Of course, but I doubt if they are insurmountable, especially given the seriousness of the problem.
Finally, the prisoners should be compensated for their labor, and presumably a mechanism for this currently exists in the prison system.
Ted Plaister
Hawai'i Kai
Recycling company makes it all convenient
Your Feb. 10 article on the state of recycling on O'ahu was very thorough and comprehensive with one exception.
For a mere $12 a month, O'ahu Community Recycling comes by my house and picks up cans, glass, bottles, plastics, newspaper, white paper and cardboard twice a week. In addition to this service, 100 percent of the recylables are donated directly to schools in your neighborhood. What better way to serve your children, community and planet?
For more information, check out www.ocr2000.com or call 262-2724.
Patrick Kelly
Kaimuki
Performance tests aren't accurate
Hawai'i's students are facing much criticism for their showing in the recent test of performance standards. I claim to be no expert on the matter; I've no idea what's too low, but there's more to it.
Many students, in my opinion, don't take it seriously. Why should they? It doesn't count. High school students have other tests to worry about; how could anyone expect them to care?
Last year, many I know said they weren't going to try. Many others, because they know it doesn't affect grades, subconsciously don't put true effort into it.
I tried to use it as practice for the SATs, but even I, after a while, couldn't care less.
Some lower-grade students have the same problem. Besides, elementary and intermediate schools don't teach test-taking skills. All those students know about testing is to drink a glass of orange juice and get a good night's rest; that's what my teacher said to me.
It's noble; I understand the intent. But the students live in a test-happy world, and I for one do not feel quite so confident in what these tests reveal or project to the public.
If you are truly curious as to whether or not a child is meeting standards, it takes longer than three hours to find out.
Sonoe Nakasone
Let's lower taxes to help business
How does raising taxes improve Hawai'i's business environment?
During the recent gubernatorial campaign, The Advertiser came out for "change." Now it conducts a public opinion poll (Feb. 9) suggesting that by raising taxes, we can help business.
The solution to our state's poor business climate and related business closings is to encourage economic growth. We do that by lowering taxes, not raising them; by leaving more money with Hawai'i's people to spend as they see fit.
Consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of economic growth. Let's help Hawai'i's consumers by doing the opposite of what The Advertiser poll calls for. Let's lower taxes to help business.
Hawai'i already has the fourth-highest state and local taxes in the country. And while our cost of living is 20 percent above the national average, we earn just average wages here. One can see that raising taxes, even to help business, only makes our situation worse.
It's a pity that the old "tax and spend" philosophy crept into what should have been a straightforward poll on what the public thinks are the key issues facing the governor and the Legislature. The people want job growth, not growth-busting tax increases.
Rep. Colleen Meyer
R-47th Dist. (Ha'iku, Kahalu'u, La'ie)
Children's access to Kaho'olawe important
Access to Kaho'olawe by the Protect Kaho'olawe 'Ohana is a cultural experience of aloha 'aina that is precious and unique. It's an experience shared with keiki and kupuna that goes to the core of our spirituality. The Hawaiian culture lives on and will continue through the efforts of the PKO.
As with anything precious and unique, the PKO takes great strides in organizing access in a manner that is mindful and focused. This focus includes safety. When experiencing nature in its raw element, safety contributes directly to experience. We become mindful of the ocean, the waves, rugged terrain, scorching sun and gusty winds.
The PKO, over its 23 years of going to Kaho'olawe, has a proven track record of safe access. For the U.S. Navy to question this record by denying access and preventing keiki from experiencing Kaho'olawe is reproachful.
Almost two years ago, on Feb. 8, 2001, during a scheduled and approved access by the PKO, the Navy decided to question the participation of several minors on access. Although previously cleared, the Navy, through great effort, landed a helicopter in Hakioawa, deployed personnel and proceeded to videotape the access group. The extent by which attention and planning went into the capturing on tape safety violations by the PKO on Kaho'olawe could have been better spent. No one was cited.
The very next day, Feb. 9, 2001, the USS Greeneville collided with the Ehime Maru, nine people died and a boat was destroyed.
Burt Lum
We cannot risk landfill being built over aquifer
I agree with your assessment, "O'ahu landfill options present hard choices" (Jan. 31), that the city must be both prudent and realistic in addressing our landfill needs.
The prudent course is obviously to not allow landfills to be built over aquifers unless it can be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that there would be no adverse side effects associated with it. We do not know the long-term impact that a landfill placed directly over a water resource might have on our water supply. We cannot risk the future of Honolulu's water supply without first knowing all of the facts.
That's why, as a City Council member, I authored a resolution requesting the Department of Environmental Services to investigate what impact a landfill built over a water source would have on the city's drinking water.
Second, the city must be realistic in its search to find a suitable landfill site. The Kapa'a Quarry in Kailua is not a suitable site for a landfill. I sponsored a resolution, which passed the council, opposing the Kapa'a Quarry site for, among other reasons, its location on the relatively wet Windward side of the island, the cost and impracticality of transporting waste from its generation point across the island to the Windward side, and the proximity of Kapa'a Quarry to precious and sensitive environmental resources.
Add to that the fact that the site will not even be available for another seven years, and one can clearly see that this is not the best site. The city must do more to pursue burgeoning technologies that may hold the key in disposing of our waste.
Clearly, however, the residents of the Leeward side have shouldered more than their fair share, and it is time for the city to address this issue once and for all.
Duke Bainum
Legislature must pass cruise ship regulations
I don't understand why cruise ship regulations are so controversial among politicians. We have regulations about our food, cars, roads, houses, etc.
The ocean is a resource and a major factor why visitors from around the world come to Hawai'i. I would think Hawai'i's politicians would want to protect it. The citizens do.
With the negligent track record of cruise ships, the cruise-ship owners must think they have pulled a fast one on the naive politicians of Hawai'i.
I encourage Hawai'i politicians to support the bills on regulating cruise ships, which would regulate pollution discharges from cruise ships, set limits of what and where discharges can occur, create an inspection program to verify compliance, and set penalties for violations.
Cheryl Corbiell
Lack of land results in school portables
Contrary to The Advertiser's Feb. 9 editorial stating that portables are merely a fact of public school life due to budget constraints, the reality is that portables continue to be built in new subdivisions because:
- Adequate land defined under DOE specifications is not provided by developers.
- School land set aside in master-planned communities under land-use requirements has routinely been "returned" to developers by the DOE and City Council even though the cost of that land is paid for by new buyers.
Mililani got exactly half of the schools required in the master plan.
Mililani was forced to resort to portables 30 years ago when land was not provided for a planned elementary school. Those portables — scheduled for demolition in 1976 — are still rotting on the Mililani High School campus, with peeling lead paint, sinking floor boards, boarded-up windows, asbestos tiles and peeling chalkboards. Special-education, high school and Head Start preschool students are housed in these hazardous units.
The Advertiser spouts DOE rhetoric when it claims that as a community matures, enrollment drops. That is not the case with Mililani, which already has over 2,000 students in both the middle school and high school, with only two-thirds of the middle school students able to attend school each day on a multitrack schedule, while 700 students roam the streets daily. Thousands of homes are yet to be built and, unbelievably, the previous City Council released the only school land in Mauka to build an additional 800 homes.
The Advertiser might consider scratching a little below the surface to expose to the public the systemic problems that create byproducts like portables.
Laura Brown
Mililani
Pre-emptive military strike would be wrong
We are writing to express opposition to a pre-emptive military strike against Iraq, especially in the absence of U.N. support.
Such a strike would forever change and damage the standing of the United States among the nations of the world.
Iraq is well contained and has not attacked the United States in any significant way. For the U.S. to attack Iraq can only be seen as aggression, serving either a personal vendetta or oil-hungry imperialism.
No matter what the U.S. says, attacking Iraq will be seen as an attack against an Islamic nation. The U.S. is likely to be drawn into the same kind of endless, deadlocked cycle of violence and retaliation seen between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
Because of tensions in the Middle East, India, Korea, Columbia and elsewhere, there is a real potential for this conflict to trigger terrorism and warfare in multiple sites around the globe. We have avoided World War III for almost 60 years, but for how much longer?
David H. Friar
Pamela S. Matsuda
Kane'ohe
Gulf of Tonkin attack did indeed occur in '64
I must respond to a portion of the Feb. 6 letter by Will Butler. The last paragraph with regard to August 1964, when President Johnson "lied to the American people, and staged a completely fake attack by North Vietnam on a U.S. destroyer." While it is true that President Johnson was one of the worst presidents to ever come along, and would lie whenever the need would arise, the Gulf of Tonkin attack on the USS Maddox was no lie.
Just under 6,000 sailors can vouch that the USS Maddox was attacked by gunboats from North Vietnam. The USS Maddox was operating with the USS Turner Joy at the time. Other ships close by included the USS Shelton DD 790, USS Frank Knox DDR 742, USS Blue DD 740, USS Bon Homme Richard CVA 31 and the USS Hassayampa AO 145.
Upon arrival at Subic Bay, Philippines, most of us visited the USS Maddox and witnessed the aftermath of the damage caused by the strafing from the North Vietnam gunboats. The attack on a U.S. warship did happen, Mr. Butler; you see, I was one of the 6,000.
Barry Birdsall Sr.
Kailua
Roads are accident waiting to happen
Unbelievable but true: Hawai'i's roads are said to be the worst in the nation. It is no surprise to Lana'i residents that the streets on Lana'i are the worst in the state.
Prior to the recent election, Onehee Street in Kahului was the worst in all of Maui. Maui's worst, however, was better than those on Lana'i.
We have had three different members on the County Council, but it appears that none was successful in having our streets resurfaced since the central disposal system was completed in the mid-'80s.
Now word is out that the drainage problems must first be resolved before resurfacing will be considered.
Meanwhile, after each rainstorm, the potholes will continue to be patched so as to endure until another downpour. We are not only adept at dodging potholes, but also vehicles approaching from the opposite direction. An accident is yet to occur, but when it does, it will not only cause problems to those responsible but be long remembered by the taxpayers of Maui County.
Heaven forbid if the victim happens to be a visiting tourist.
Patrick Esclito
Lana'i
