Letters to the Editor

If HGEA wants stability, seek honest contract

The HGEA is too powerful. After the override of the veto of a binding arbitration bill, HGEA Executive Director Russell Okata said, "I'm personally relieved because the reinstatement of arbitration will provide stability to our members and uninterrupted service to the public."

If he wants to provide stability to the members, the union should make an honest attempt to settle differences with the state and the counties before threatening a strike or "interrupted" services to the community.

The community should be in an uproar because it will have to pay the salary increase for the largest employee union in the state represented in all forms of local government. These are our tax dollars the union is spending.

The Democratic Party fell victim to the power of the HGEA and overrode the veto; now let's wait and see what it says when the union asks for a large increase and it doesn't have the money to pay for it.

Grammatical error isn't necessarily bad

I find Anne Harpham's After Deadline columns generally interesting and entertaining. And quite informative with regard to the operations, trials, tribulations, etc. of putting out a daily newspaper. They should serve as a deterrent to anyone from the folly of entering the field. The adverse comments and criticism are reason enough.

Her column of June 29 included gripes from purists who objected to an Advertiser article describing a gas station "across the YMCA." A reader felt that journalistic rules and good grammar were violated, that the correct phrase should have read "across from the YMCA." I ask, was anything lost in the first phrasing? Did the word "from" add anything to the facts? Make it more clear?

We readers, the Great Unwashed, should recognize that the king's English is not necessarily the most understandable. If journalism's use of words serves to make a point clearer, and with brevity, then let it happen. Critics of word change should know that the English language (the most complicated on the face of the Earth) is changing and changing daily. We now are used to words that were unheard of, or little used, just a decade ago. New words have been created, others discarded, often on a daily, if subtle, basis.

In Shakespeare's day, who would have thought his fine use of words would in time take on different meanings, or even be discarded? An earlier example is Chaucer, whose superb use of the English of his day is now almost unreadable. Aside from the stories they told, Chaucer is a struggle.

A hundred years hence, the language of this land will be a mumbo jumbo brought about by new technologies, signs of the times and especially the influence of immigration of ethnic groups, whose influence has already found its way into the language of this land.

Public trust has been betrayed over parade

Shame on Jeremy Harris and Judge Helen Gillmor!

Faced with over 50 physical examples of how the city supported, promoted and used taxpayer money to help pay for the Christian Coalition's hateful "Family Day" parade and religious event, Judge Gillmor hands down a decision that the city is not a sponsor. Why? Because they said so. Never mind the facts, never mind the evidence, nor the exclusion of many groups based on creed and sexual preference. The public trust has been betrayed.

How stupid do the mayor and Judge Gillmor think the people of Hawai'i are? Church and state are separate. It is the job of our courts to keep it that way. There is the appearance of collusion to cover up and diminish the role of the city in this fiasco of intolerance.

This was a blatant hijacking of our courts by a religious group with the assistance of a religiously biased city administration and an unjust judge. It must never be allowed to happen again. We aren't as dumb or blind as these cronies seem to think. People are watching.

Detrimental effects of hereditary wealth proven

Despite his objections, Rep. Neil Abercrombie is indeed forsaking workers and normal citizens to court American plutocrats.

The reason for the inheritance tax is that generations of hereditary fortunes pass into the hands of those who did nothing to build them. The detrimental effects of hereditary wealth have been shown in other countries. They are becoming evident in our own country as workers, soldiers and even professionals are exploited to increase the fortunes of plutocrats. The disparity in wealth in the United States is already greater than it has been and greater than it is in other industrial nations.

Investment profits — stocks, real estate, businesses — are taxed only when appreciation is cashed out. All the profit a person hasn't cashed out when he dies will never be subjected to income tax. If the estate tax is removed, the hereditary capitalist need never pay tax on this increasing wealth. This is not only unfair, but it is dangerous to democracy.

Wealthy Americans have received many benefits in recent years. We no longer have a progressive income tax, capital gains tax has been lowered disproportionately, some dividends are exempt from income tax and some legislators plan to exempt all dividends.

Perhaps liberalism is dead, but in the interests of compassion and fairness, Rep. Abercrombie and his colleagues should work to increase the estate tax and apply it to all hereditary fortunes, including those currently escaping it.

Councilman Garcia was two-faced on closing

Councilman Nestor Garcia definitely should look into enrolling in acting school. I saw him on 'Olelo during the City Council budget hearings when he voted against a budget amendment that would have kept the Waipahu satellite city hall open.

Garcia saw fit to let his district's satellite city hall get cut and then made a big fuss about it right before it closed. What was the point of him doing a big petition to keep the satellite city hall open when he didn't even support keeping it open in the first place?

I think it is important to point out to the people of Waipahu, and possibly Kailua and Hawai'i Kai, that it was Garcia's fault for the closings and not Mayor Harris'. And I want to thank my council member, Barbara Marshall, and Councilman Mike Gabbard for voting to keep the satellite city halls open.

Salvation Army should have tax-exempt status

At a time when the city and state are looking for solutions to a growing ice problem, I find it sickening that the city has to even think twice about giving the Salvation Army tax-exempt status. Even though I sit in prison writing this letter because of my actions while caught up on ice, I sit here with faith in Jesus, and hope for a future and the regained support of my family.

I am 21 years old, and because of my four months out on supervised release to the Salvation Army before I got sentenced in June, I have a passion and desire to use my problems of the past to be a solution in the future.

The Salvation Army uses its profits to support the rehab center. It helps men like me gain the spiritual healing and recovery tools to be productive members of society.

It costs the state no money. Open your eyes and give one of the state's best solutions a break.

TV coverage blame rests with Gov. Lingle

When a sitting governor, the CEO of our state, picks up the telephone and makes a request, it's difficult for a person to reject it — especially if the governor is publicly berating that person for how he operates an agency.

As HVCB chief Tony Vericella states, when Gov. Lingle's office asked HVCB to pay for a television station to beam positive images of the governor back home to Hawai'i, he did "not feel he could say no to the governor."

Clearly, the responsibility for the abuse of taxpayer money in paying for a news crew to go to Japan rests solely with the governor. With re-election the prime objective, the administration has added thousands of dollars to public relations while slashing programs for education and the impoverished. This is just one more example.

Dobelle contingent doing very well indeed

Many years ago, a small group of people came to Hawai'i from New England to do good. It was said they did well. They were called missionaries.

Recently a small group of people led by Evan Dobelle came from New England to do good at the University of Hawai'i. According to the article in Sunday's Advertiser entitled "Is Dobelle failing to deliver?," they also did well, very well. Since they were not men of the cloth, they could not be called missionaries.

Based on their financial success, possibly they could be called mercenaries.

Don't subsidize golfers

It is absurd for the City Council to support a bill that would have all property owners subsidize golfers. If golfers want to golf, let them pay for it through user fees. If a business cannot make a go of it, shut it down. We cannot subsidize all businesses in the state of Hawai'i. It is not right to make all property owners pay for their recreation. Where does this stop?

Gas price cap essential to Hawai'i

Your June 9 article on gasoline prices ("Gas price cap fuels debate") and numerous letters to the editor from concerned individuals indicate that Hawai'i's consumers continue to be hit much harder by gasoline prices than their Mainland counterparts.

Many Hawai'i residents and businesses are outraged by our state's fuel situation, and with good reason. They continue to pay the highest prices in the country, without being given any acceptable justification.

The fact that Hawai'i's gas prices exceed the Mainland national average supports two conclusions reached by industry experts and the attorney general's office during the state's antitrust lawsuit against the oil companies. First, Hawai'i's gasoline market is profoundly uncompetitive at the wholesale level. Second, the high price we pay for gasoline is primarily driven by the windfall profits oil companies are able to extract thanks to this lack of competition.

Given Hawai'i's uncompetitive market, Act 77, the gas price cap statute, was passed during the 2002 session to establish price caps on the sales of regular self-serve gasoline. Under this law, scheduled to take effect in July 2004, Hawai'i's gas price caps would be indexed to gas prices in more competitive West Coast markets.

If the law were in place today, consumers on O'ahu would save approximately 20 cents per gallon, while those on the Neighbor Islands would save about 40 cents per gallon.

Frequently repeated objections to the gas price cap law put forth by critics fail to stand up under scrutiny, including the letter in the June 16 Advertiser by Jim Henshaw. Mr. Henshaw claims that when gas prices are below the cap, the law would force gas stations to raise prices up to the ceiling established by the price cap formula. Not true. The cap does not mandate pricing. It only sets a ceiling above which the price cannot rise.

Critics also fail to mention that during those times when prices actually fell, the primary beneficiary was O'ahu and not the Neighbor Islands, where prices have been consistently high. If the price-cap law had been in effect earlier, Neighbor Island residents would have realized substantial savings.

Given Hawai'i's dysfunctional gasoline market, I believe that Act 77 should be given a chance to work. However, I am also mindful of the fact that the law faces significant political obstacles. The governor has already given strong indication that she plans to suspend the gas price cap law even before it is allowed to take effect. Should she make good on this threat and uphold the status quo, it would be a major setback to consumers.