Letters to the Editor

Tax director comments on Act 221 inappropriate

Your story regarding the abuse of tax credits allowed by Act 221 ("Act 221 credit claims probed," May 30) deserves comment. In the story, the tax director is quoted as saying, "If I could tell you the names of those claiming it (tax credits) and how much, you'd be shocked."

The statement impugns and maligns the honesty, integrity and sincerity of taxpayers who have claimed the credit and shows the lack of sensitivity, irresponsibility and disrespect of the director. The remark is unprofessional. The governor should ask for his resignation.

Taxpayers are hard-working people. They are honest and sincere and make every effort to comply with the law.

Confidentiality of tax information is the essence of an efficient tax administration and an encouragement for taxpayers to file their returns. The director has brought himself to the threshold of breaching this duty.

Why is the director titillating the media with such a disclosure? Doesn't he realize all taxpayers who have claimed the credit have been placed under a cloud of suspicion and burdened with a sense of humiliation? Tax avoidance is recognized by the courts as a legitimate means of reducing tax liability. Is the director implying these taxpayers have engaged in an illegal practice? Why would it be shocking to claim legally enacted tax credits?

Rejection of Jim On politically motivated

Please permit me to respond to Sen. Norman Sakamoto's May 25 letter about why Shelton G.W. Jim On was rejected to the Board of Regents. I believe the rejection was politically motivated.

• Because of his training and background in law and financial accounting, Mr. Jim On's goal was to assure financial integrity and account for "every single penny" in UH's budget and expenditures. As Mr. Jim On had the background that Calvin Say said every regent needed and was the most highly qualified of all the nominees, rejecting him on the pretense that he lacked necessary qualifications was baseless.
• Mr. Jim On testified at the Senate committee that the UH administration needed to fully address every question raised in the state auditor's report. He believed that more research and development was important to secure federal and private grants and would encourage growth in these areas. He felt that there should be a specialized program to encourage UH students to further their education through graduate studies and other post-graduate programs. Why did Sen. Sakamoto believe that these goals were deficient?
• I learned that the e-mail that was widely circulated in the Senate by Sen. Kim was not given to Mr. Jim On until just before the Senate voted. The e-mail contained inaccurate information. Mr. Jim On was entitled to get copies of anything that was said about him as part of due process and fairness.

In comparison to other regents previously confirmed by the very senators who claimed that he lacked undisclosed qualifications, he was over-qualified. He did, however, possess skills that some senators found undesirable — expertise in financial accounting, tenacity and a stated goal of accounting for millions of dollars of UH funds.

Djou's military duty shows his commitment

I found the June 4 letter from Keola Kamaunu, discussing Councilman Djou's military reserves commitment, confusing.

While commending Mr. Djou's military reserves involvement, Kamaunu also condemns him for being "absent without leave" from council duties during active-duty training periods. Kamaunu suggests that those who voted for Charles Djou should feel cheated and ask for his resignation.

As a candidate, Mr. Djou always included his membership in the reserves when discussing his own background. On at least one occasion, his wife represented him at a weekend campaign appearance because it was a reserves weekend.

As one who voted for Mr. Djou, I feel his membership in the military reserves demonstrates exactly the community commitment that I like to see in elected officials. Ask for his resignation!? Definitely not. Why would I ask someone of his intellect and character to stop representing me? We might end up with something like the last council.

As for the near miss on the budget deadlock, there is one thing I would ask of Mr. Djou: recruit for the reserves the other members of the council and the mayor. Then, when Mr. Djou leaves town on military duty, he should take all of the rest with him.

Crosswalk provides a false sense of security

One of the reasons why we have such a high rate of pedestrian accidents here is the lack of education on the part of pedestrians.

Just as drivers have rules of the road to follow, so do pedestrians. We teach our children to look both ways before crossing a street and not to cross against the red light or "don't walk" signal. But every day you will see pedestrians step out into traffic without so much as a glance to check for oncoming vehicles.

The crosswalk provides a false sense of security that has proven fatal to too many people, especially the elderly. The simple act of looking both ways before crossing could have saved, and will save, lives.

Campbell graduation source of Saber pride

On Friday, May 30, Campbell High School Sabers pride gleamed at Aloha Stadium. Over 500 students graduated as Principal Gail Awakuni presented her seniors to Superintendent Pat Hamamoto.

The Class of 2003 took pride in boasting about winning the state Math Bowl, excellence in ROTC, football and over $2 million in scholarships.

I was blessed when I was invited to participate in the graduation ceremony. As I sat on the stadium floor, I thought back exactly 20 years ago to 1983 when I graduated from Campbell, and such a powerful sense of Saber pride came over me.

Congratulations to everyone in the trenches. Our community is so proud of you and our grads.

Ease rush-hour traffic by using school buses

Steve Hadley wrote May 27 to complain about school students taking all the seats on TheBus and yet fares being raised for adult passengers.

The point is very well taken, yet Hadley and readers may miss a crucial issue the letter doesn't bring up: More students are taking public transportation — and more of them are chauffeured to class by their parents on O'ahu than probably anywhere else in America. Why? Because the state DOE fails to provide free or affordable transportation, what in most states is an accepted ingredient in the formula of free universal public education.

But, let's look beyond the DOE, and see the effect of this policy on another area of our lives, namely transportation. Placing thousands more cars on the roads to shuttle school students is a significant additional factor in clogging our freeways and arterial roads with unnecessary cars and buses. Perhaps TheBus could save money if there were fewer student riders.

Now, looking at the problem from a fuller perspective, we can find the sustainability solution. I urge our state Department of Transportation to study the problem of student transportation and its impact on overall auto trips during the rush hours. If reducing those trips could have a significant impact on roadway congestion, then the DOT — and the Legislature — should explore transferring funds to the Department of Education to allow reduction or elimination of school transportation charges.

This could have a domino effect, beginning with reducing traffic while lowering the cost of living for families, a net gain in our livability quotient.

Army is committed to protecting our resources

In response to Naomi Arcand's May 28 letter, "Military endangering endangered species," I would like to correct the record concerning the Army's environmental efforts in Hawai'i, particularly in the Makua Military Reservation. Contrary to Ms. Arcand's assertions, the Army in Hawai'i has an extremely proactive program to protect and preserve endangered plants and species.

At the Makua Military Reservation alone, the Army in Hawai'i has spent more that $4.5 million in the past three years on protection of endangered species. Furthermore, we have taken significant measures to control fires at Makua by implementing a comprehensive Wildland Fire Management Plan.

This plan controls when live-fire exercises are conducted based on weather conditions, thereby minimizing potential for starting a fire. This plan also provides response teams and helicopters that are poised to react should a fire occur. We also work closely with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to coordinate our actions to ensure compliance with the Endangered Species Act.

Beyond the measures to reduce the threat of fire at Makua, we have fenced the boundaries of the reservation to protect endangered plants from feral pigs and goats and implemented measures to remove these threats from the valley. We also have a proactive program to reduce alien species that threaten to choke out endangered plants. We collect seeds and propagate them for reintroduction of endangered plants into suitable habitat.

Our state flower, Hibiscus brackenridgei ssp. mokuleianus, was discovered at Makua Valley during survey efforts undertaken by the Army in the past three years. Before this discovery, it was not documented as being present at Makua. It is also present in several other locations on O'ahu. Makua is not the only location where the state flower currently exists. The Army has taken the aforementioned measures to protect and propagate this plant to enhance its chances for continued existence.

We take our responsibilities as stewards of the land as seriously as we take our responsibilities to provide our nation's soldiers tough, realistic training opportunities they require and deserve. Clearly, the Army in Hawai'i is committed to the protection of our most precious resource of all — the 'aina.

New UH medical school has big problems to solve

Too many folks here in Hawai'i don't understand that building a top-notch medical research institution is much more complicated and expensive than simply building buildings. Other obstacles must be overcome:

• Hawai'i is remote, and living here is expensive. Higher-than-typical salaries can help overcome this, but is the state prepared to spend this money?
• There is little biomedical "scientific critical mass" here. Only 25 percent of scored research proposals are funded by the National Institutes of Health. Since the NIH funds most of the university-based biomedical research in this country — just having a bunch of Ph.D.s around is not going to bring grants. This obstacle can be overcome, but it requires a multi-year financial commitment that will seem excessive to many — if for no other reason than short-term results are hard to measure.
• Hawai'i's K-12 public education system is crummy — by any standard. UH faculty recruiters will need to address this problem by finding a way (and the resources) for the children of new faculty to seamlessly transition into the better private schools on O'ahu. Like it or not, highly educated scientists will simply not permit their kids to languish in Hawai'i's public schools.
• Local seed money and non-federal collaborative research opportunities are limited. This problem can be at least partly mitigated by Sen. Inouye's abilities to obtain targeted federal funding. But how much longer will he be in office? (His replacement will have no seniority.) And there are powerful forces in Washington who fight for the budget pork, which "targeted federal funding" so often is.

None of the problems I've outlined is too big to be overcome. Indeed, I applaud the willingness of my new home state to make the attempt. However, I'm far from convinced that the willingness exists here to set aside the money and time necessary to make the dream happen.

Kevin Costner's character in the popular film "Field of Dreams" was haunted by a spirit who whispered to him: "If you build it, they will come." While that may be true for long-dead Chicago White Sox players, attracting world-class scientists requires much more than that.