Posted on: Friday, February 28, 2003

Letters to the Editor

Inadequate bus service making H-1 a parking lot

One reason the traffic is so bad in Honolulu is that TheBus is only a viable means of transportation as a last resort.

Consider the B Express. It is supposed to leave from Kapi'olani Park every 15 minutes; however, buses are routinely instructed to skip their route altogether and return on the H-1, so that they can "keep on schedule." That means that passengers waiting for the B can expect delays of 30 minutes or more — without any notice. Why this isn't a scandal, I cannot imagine.

Any person with half a brain, a need to be anywhere at a reliable time and enough money to afford a car has no incentive to engage in this daily Russian roulette. Thus, they drive and turn the H-1 into a parking lot.

Congratulations, TheBus. After exposing me to one too many mornings of helpless uncertainty, you are turning another conscientious citizen into an auto commuter. Maybe I'll finally be able to catch a glimpse of the B Express — now that I'll be on the freeway, too.

Joseph L. Lemon Jr.

Magazine article meant to be humor

I recently saw a copy of Lee Cataluna's Feb. 23 column concerning a piece called "Going Postal" that appeared in our February issue of Smithsonian magazine. Ms. Cataluna criticizes the magazine and our writer for apparently denigrating the well-known Olympic swimmer and surfer Duke Kahanamoku.

I believe your readers may have been misled as to the context and content of our piece. Ms. Cataluna's column suggests that ours was a serious story that focused on maligning Mr. Kahanamoku. In fact, the article was a humor column, a light essay about the committee that decides who and what will be portrayed on a U.S. stamp.

I apologize to anyone who may have been offended. We share your admiration for Mr. Kahanamoku and had no intention of making fun of this significant cultural and historical figure.

Susan West
Executive editor
Smithsonian magazine

Escape was brilliant, but what about help?

One has to hand it to this cute, intelligent escapee. I know all of you will think I have lost my mind. What you don't understand is that he is extremely clever and, schooled correctly, could become anything.

He is a very bright young man. To have escaped from the Hawai'i Youth Correctional Facility and HPD cellblock is not only clever, but brilliant. He told a reporter that he will do it again. I have no doubt in my mind that he will.

But what are we, the community, going to do to help him on the road to a better life? Yes, it is our responsibility to see that he is not slapped down, locked up, beat up, but is given a chance to be rehabilitated.

Oh, I'm sorry — this is Hawai'i. Where we do nothing but put people in prison who do not belong there. Put kids in detention because they are different from the mainstream of boring individuals, since their parents don't have the money for private education.

Just a thought for those of you who are more broad-minded than the rest of the population. I will be watching this intelligent young man. He certainly showed the HPD that its cellblocks and officers belong to the Keystone Cops.

Susanne Dykeman
'Ewa Beach

Belief in legends should be respected

In answer to Jaymie Fuller's Feb. 18 letter about lava rocks: Whether you or I believe or don't believe in legends that "some actually believe in" is not important. What is important is that people, and their beliefs, should be treated with respect whether or not you share those beliefs.

Flaunting the black lava rocks in your yard on the Mainland and putting down the legend of "some lady that lives in a volcano" were in extremely bad taste.

Martin Kogan

Anti-war protesters give hope and pride

I guess American journalism has hit its ultimate low with the latest diatribe by Kathleen Parker ("Ignore the childish protesters," Feb. 19).

To make light of the serious questions being asked by thinking Americans in these uncertain times flies in the face of all that I believe our great nation stands for: democracy, freedom of speech and holding our elected officials responsible for their actions.

The wide range of people from all walks of life who are now questioning the reasons and results of an invasion of Iraq, though having been bombarded with pro-war rhetoric from the electronic and print media, gives me hope and pride, as an American who loves his country, that those qualities that have made us great are not in fact dead.

Many of my countrymen are scared: buying duct tape by the yard, hoarding water and food — and why? Because they heard someone on TV say they should be scared. What makes this proud American scared is that our president, who is heading a "war on terrorism," is ready to respond to one rather insignificant despot by enacting an event of terror — one that will make the world an ever more unstable place in which to live and travel.

We should instead focus on the most important issue before us as citizens of our great nation — that is, solving global problems with global solutions and using the U.N., which we helped to create, to contain the despots of the world from wreaking havoc upon the peace-loving peoples of the Earth, including those of us in the United States.

J. Scott Janusch

Long-term-care plan has many drawbacks

Michael Tanigawa has legitimate concerns regarding the proposed long-term-care plan. As I understand the plan, every eligible Hawai'i resident would be assessed a $10 monthly fee. The plan would enable the recipient to receive a $70-a-day benefit for 365 days.

Recipients would not receive these benefits until they were fully vested, which, according to the plan, is 10 years. If the resident moves out of state, he would lose the benefits.

The plan also calls for the $10 fee to increase each year by 5 percent for inflation, so the fee is not fixed.

The plan is expected to generate about $8 million per month into the general fund. Since the plan calls for a 10-year vesting period, the amount of money deposited into the general fund in 10 years would be in excess of $960 million. The plan does not include a mechanism to control the money or how the money would be distributed.

There is no best plan. The bottom line is that every resident needs to take responsibility and prepare for this possibility and not be a burden to the state or their families.

W. Chee
Kane'ohe

Cover Lake Wilson with plastic sheets

I have a suggestion for a possible way of eliminating the Salvinia molesta in Lake Wilson. How about covering the lake with black plastic sheets? The heat generated by the sun shining on the black plastic plus the blockage of sunlight should kill the weed.

This would be an environmentally friendly method — no chemicals to contaminate the lake, no noise from heavy equipment and it would be relatively inexpensive to implement.

Mark M. Nakata

Unannounced visits prevent 'dressing up'

I have really appreciated the recent articles on conditions for elderly residents. I am now 70 and thinking about this subject as it might apply to me. But I used to work for a time in California in a convalescent hospital as an activities assistant.

At the time of annual inspections there, all the nursing and convalescent hospitals knew exactly where the inspectors were and where they would be going to next. There was much "dressing up" of what went on in the facilities, late filling in and actual faking of records to be seen by the inspectors, and other last-minute actions to fulfill the requirements. The facility I worked at was a good one, although it could have been better. And at least the annual inspections did get an "upgrade" in the requirements.

I attended the recent committee meeting of the state Senate on Health and Human Services. And my conclusion after hearing all points is that unannounced visits by inspectors would be a great benefit to these places for elderly care in this state. No last-minute primping and dressing up such as I saw in California.

Frances Mariposa

If we're going to build it, let's think cosmic

The Pacific Outdoor Aquarium and the Kewalo Marine Science Center? I don't think so.

What we will end up with is two bush-league aquariums vying for the same dollars and audience. Why not combine the money and effort and build one world-class aquarium? No, make that a cosmic-class aquarium. And while we're at it, attach a premier Ocean Studies Institute that will be the place to learn and to teach.

Build it five miles off shore, underwater, so that in 10 years its structural support is encrusted with living coral. Build it so cruise liners can dock, build an underwater hotel so people can stay for a day or a year. Have boats, submarines and an underwater monorail bringing island visitors and tourists.

Need money? Name it the Microsoft Marine Center. There are lots of billionaires who realize mankind's future is the ocean. The research center would teach us how to farm, mine and use the ocean, while educating and entertaining huge numbers of visitors.

My only prayer is that in the process, we are never destructive of this magnificent miracle we call our ocean.

Jay Feldman

Off with their heads

Let's get as excited about textbooks as we did about traffic cams. I pledge to remember if the problem is not solved by the next election. Mahalo to The Advertiser for your continuing stories. Keep them up.

Daniel C. Smith

Pro-sovereignty stand misleading

James D. Kimmel (Letters, Feb. 22) misled readers about the issue of Hawaiian sovereignty. He states things as truth that are nothing more than revisionism.

U.S. Public Law 103-150 is anything but. It is a letter of apology, nothing more. It does acknowledge that American presence during the overthrow of Queen Lili'uokalani might have influenced events, but in light of the Morgan Senate report of 1894, it goes no further.

Fact: The queen was overthrown by a committee led by individuals with U.S. ties, but the majority were legal citizens of the kingdom. The queen suffered the fate of popular insurrection against her attempt to consolidate power to her court.

Fact: At the time of the overthrow, the annexation club in Honolulu had hundreds of Native Hawaiian members.

Fact: U.S. military forces played no role in the overthrow. The U.S. ambassador did not recognize the republic until all kingdom government buildings were seized. The republic was quickly recognized under international law by all major powers. The elected representatives of the republic, the majority of whom were Native Hawaiians, legally provided a mandate for the republic to seek annexation to the United States. James ignores the messy detail that all elected Hawaiians voted for annexation.

Fact: State ceded lands were defined as "crown land" by the king in 1856. Upon annexation, they were transferred intact to Washington, then returned to the state in 1959. The king's edict declared this land as a benefit for all citizens of the kingdom. The benefits flowing from ceded lands continue to serve the king's purpose to this day: It benefits all citizens of the state of Hawai'i. Individual Hawaiians never had title to this land.

The most important fact: In the annexation bill, the elected representatives unanimously voted that all Native Hawaiians become citizens of the United States. This means the Akaka bill is an offense to the U.S. Constitution. All federal and state laws that grant unique rights to Native Hawaiians are unconstitutional. To adhere to the Constitution, there cannot be a government-to-government relationship of any sort. All U.S. citizens are equal under the law.

There is a constitutionally legal method to address Native Hawaiian land grievances, which, for the large part, stem from my ancestors having little concept of fee-simple land ownership. Thousands, in ignorance, were taken undue advantage of. Ceded lands are solely in state jurisdiction, for the benefit of my citizens, as the king put it.

I believe another Great Mahele is due. Each individual Hawaiian, of 50 percent blood quantum or greater, on Jan. 17 two years from now, to give time for the state to sort out legalities, would receives three acres fee simple. On that date, all unique state and federal programs for Native Hawaiians would cease per the Constitution.

Pat Kean
Kihei, Maui