Posted on: Monday, June 30, 2003

Letters to the Editor

Separate high school sports by enrollment

As a Kamehameha Schools graduate, I am extremely proud of the year the boys and girls teams had in claiming the overall title as the top high school in athletic achievement in the state.

Having said that, I think Hawai'i needs to break away from the private/public school system (ILH vs. OIA) and establish a tier or class system based on school enrollment.

If there can be large and medium divisions in cheerleading, why can't there be divisions, such as A, AA and AAA, in the other sports?

In this type of system, the Davids and Goliaths are segregated equitably, by enrollment, so all schools, public or private, play most of their games against teams from schools of comparable size. State champions are crowned in each division, in every sport, thereby opening the door for more students statewide to experience the joy of representing their respective schools at the highest level of high school athletics.

In light of all of the above, Iolani School should also be commended for its outstanding season, winning six state titles, with less than half the enrollment of Kamehameha and Punahou.

Same-sex marriages should be legalized

I have always believed that even in America, a land where non-inclusive religious beliefs have invaded and taken a stranglehold on our government, ultimately all disenfranchised minorities will gain their full rights as promised by our nation's Constitution. It is a simple, uncomplicated fact that in America all people who love each other and want a committed relationship should have legal government recognition of such a bond, including same-sex couples.

Soon the United States will become surrounded by countries and states that are enlightened. Canada to the north with marriage, California on the West Coast with civil unions, and even Mexico to the south is considering a full-rights civil unions bill. Other states are busy working on both marriage and civil unions for same-gender couples.

As I travel through life in Hawai'i, I am often asked, "Are you married?" My answer is always the same. "No, and there is not one state in America that will let me be legally married!"

I want that answer to change in my lifetime.

Glen Grant's passion was greatly admired

The passing of my friend and walking tour colleague Glen Grant is such a loss to the community and to me personally. I greatly admired his passionate and tireless efforts to bring the culture and history of Hawai'i to life through his many walking tours, lectures and books.

My association with Glen dates to the mid-'80s when he first developed the Interpret Hawai'i program at Kapi'olani Community College, which brought together a dozen or so people who had extensive knowledge about neighborhoods or historic sites around O'ahu to give community walking tours on a regular basis. This pioneer program was extremely popular among local residents, many of whom became devoted attendees.

I was fortunate to be among those people selected by Glen to be an Interpret Hawai'i guide, specializing in walking tours of graveyards. Following his lead, in the 1990s, I also developed a series of cultural and historic tours to other sites in the community.

Although my tours became quite popular, I always knew that I would forever be in the shadow of Glen. He, in my estimation, was always the best, the most creative, the most inspirational. While we others may be meticulous researchers and good storytellers, Glen was both, plus much more. His ability to become the characters in his stories was simply extraordinary, never failing to draw people into a scene and keep their interest till the very end.

Even though Glen is gone, I will continue to look to him as a source of inspiration in my own efforts and will work hard to retain the high standards that he set. I know I speak for many other storytellers in the community when I say that he will be sorely missed but always and forever remembered.

Spending on signs got out of control

As a former member of the East Honolulu vision team and neighborhood board who voted for the 'Aina Haina and Hawai'i Kai signs, I'd like to shed some light on what happened.

At an early meeting, some members of those neighborhoods proposed signs for their communities. There was positive response, and the issue was brought to a vote. No cost estimates were given at the time for any project.

So I did some computation. I had just priced out a big sign for a private business: $1,000. I figured a community sign should be a little nicer; make it $2,000. Now, the city is inefficient; double it: $4,000. Any bureaucracy is inefficient; double it again: $8,000. Round it off: $10,000. For 'aina Haina and Hawai'i Kai, that makes it $20,000. Go for it. We had $2 million to blow up.

The next thing I heard was a budgeted figure of approximately $600,000. "What happened?" I asked a high city official, and I was seriously enlightened, that the budget included some land that may have to be acquired.

That was several years ago, and the city coffers were perhaps overflowing, and such extravagant expenses might have been possible, even though not sensible. But someone in the administration or on the council should have foreseen the city's forthcoming financial quagmire and stopped those absurdities.

Someone goofed, and we are getting a tax increase.

Vision team process open from beginning

Your June 15 front-page article about the high cost of community signage was disturbing both for what was said and what was not said. There are two distinct issues and perhaps a third.

People complaining about vision team projects are typically those who chose not to be part of the process. As one who has been involved from the beginning, I can attest that our vision team has been open and inclusive, and we have consistently encouraged participation.

Initially, our group created a vision and set of values and then reviewed many possibilities within the context of the overall plan. We have consistently met the sunshine law notification rules, and projects have been approved through the process of consensus. There have been numerous public meetings where proposed projects have been displayed and discussed, and it is difficult to now give much standing to those who chose not to be involved and not to exercise their votes.

Second, the vision teams have had no ability to control costs. Once the projects were approved, they "disappeared" into a labyrinthine system that in many cases became impossible to track. Consultants were required, project managers were appointed, and designers, planners, contractors, etc., became involved. We are allowed no oversight or much information about ultimate project costs or current progress.

In a seemingly unrelated vein, we have been reading about the many fines levied against engineers, architects, planners, etc., for excess campaign contributions, and I often muse, "What do they hope to gain?" The high vision-team project costs spotlighted by your article may provide some insight and connection. Now that is a journalistic investigation that could be worth pursuing.

Royal School's reading program commendable

Regarding your June 20 article entitled "Reading scores offer hope" and a June 23 letter to the editor by Joyce Choy: The principal of Royal School, Sandy Shibata, and her staff should be acknowledged for their efforts in educating our children.

Through a grant, the school is providing a reading program that will enable our children to keep up with their reading skills this summer.

I also agree with Ms. Choy that as parents we need to do our part to encourage our children to keep up with their skills during the summer, as well as during all school breaks.

Thank you, Mrs. Shibata and staff, for your commitment to our children.

Gas-powered scooters: Education is better

It was rather disturbing to hear that the ban on gas-powered scooters was signed into law in the name of "safety."

According to the June 21 article ("It's official — those gas scooters must go"), "Those scooters go faster than the children can think ahead, and they often get into accidents because they go faster than they can anticipate in front of them." By this same reasoning, cars should also be banned in the name of safety because "adults" often drive faster than they can anticipate ahead and often get into accidents, which, in some cases, are deadly.

I hope the City Council and the mayor take the time to rethink this issue because it affects more than just the children who ride them, but also their parents, other adults who ride, and business owners and their families.

I believe the better approach to this matter is to regulate them and educate the public about safety issues rather than ban them. Enforce the use of helmets, have speed limits, require nighttime users to wear reflectors and limit the areas in which a gas-powered scooter can be used.

Education is always the best way to protect and save lives.

We must keep informed about invasive species

I want to reiterate Jan TenBruggencate's message in his June 23 article about coqui frogs — that certain species from other parts of the world find Hawai'i a suitable place to propagate and spread due to a lack of natural predators and limiting factors.

Once these invasive species are introduced into Hawai'i, "they can take off," as stated by Jan. Although environmental organizations work very hard to eradicate these invasive species, some species spread so fast and successfully that "they're so widespread, they won't be controlled with known techniques," according to Jan.

I believe that these widespread invasive species are generally introduced into Hawai'i when people think that since a plant or animal is good in one area it won't be harmful in another and bring it here without knowing its potential hazards. Thus, the best (and most common) solution is to keep the public informed about potential invasive species so that we keep these species "embraced in one place (without becoming) pests in another."

'Ice' epidemic is far worse than has been reported

Your recent reports of the increase in property crime and violent crime in Honolulu and the new "war" against "ice" are welcome news to those of us in law enforcement.

The correlation between the ice epidemic and increased crime rate is old news to those of us who deal with the victims and shattered lives that are left behind as a result of ice addicts. However, having investigated property and violent crimes for over seven years, I would like to point out two items that may be of interest to those attending the upcoming ice summit proposed by Lt. Gov. Duke Aiona.

First of all, a recent study indicated that a record 44 percent of arrested adult males had been using ice. Unfortunately these figures are extremely low. Between 75 percent and 80 percent of felony suspects interviewed as a result of their incarceration report that they are addicted to ice, are violent as a result of their ice addiction and/or are committing crimes in order to feed their "ice" addiction.

A 21-year-old suspect reported that he had been smoking ice regularly since he was 13. He said that "ice is all I think about, that's all I live for." Tragically he is becoming more typical of felony suspects.

As a matter of definition, felony ice suspects are responsible for auto thefts, burglaries, forgeries, theft from vehicles, identity fraud, assaults, property damage, fraud, kidnapping and extortion.

Second, as the powers-that-be review legislation to fight this epidemic, I would direct them to the guidelines established by the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney for charging suspects in felony cases.

In a recent case, a burglary suspect was ordered released by the prosecutor because he had only 15 prior arrests; "If he had 25 to 50, we could take it. Release him."

In another case, an auto-theft suspect was apprehended by the car owner and ordered released by the prosecutor, and thus did not meet the "guidelines" for charges. The suspect was released and now is free to steal yet another car until he meets the prosecutor's guidelines.

The examples of arbitrary release are endless. The revolving door doesn't start with prison overcrowding; it starts with the prosecutor's arbitrary guidelines for charging felony suspects.

I hope the ice summit will take these issues into consideration as it plans its attack. I don't know where you've been for the last 10 years, but "Welcome to the war."