Posted on: Monday, March 3, 2003
Letters to the Editor
State should pay for ferry terminal study
When the Aloha Tower Development Corp. (ATDC) requested proposals for development of Piers 5 and 6 of the Honolulu waterfront, a ferry terminal was specified as one of the required facilities. When the attractive proposal of Kenneth Hughes' UC Urban was opened, it showed a tentative location for the ferry terminal.
UC Urban has proposed that the state undertake and pay for whatever research needs to be done to mix his proposal with ferry mass transit. This request is quite reasonable since there has clearly been no project coordination to date between ATDC and the Department of Transportation.
My experience suggests that the subject ferry terminal be sized for both interisland and intra-island ferry systems, and that the DOT promulgate soon a request for proposals, drafted in coordination with ATDC.
E. Alvey Wright
You should make your end-of-life choice clear
The Feb. 16 column about Yasmin Anwar's father not having a choice to pull the plug as he lay dying was a poignant testimony to the importance of executing an advanced healthcare directive.
A Health Care Power of Attorney (HCPOA) provides a voice of an individual's end-of-life wishes. It allows those closest to the person clear direction for making healthcare decisions on that person's behalf.
It can also provide the name of an agent to speak on behalf of the individual. It can give comfort in knowing those difficult choices are the specified wishes of the patient no longer able to speak for himself or herself.
All adults, young or old, ill or in good health, should consider executing an advanced directive. It is equally important to have an open discussion with family members and primary physicians to verbally make your wishes clearly heard.
Last, a copy of the printed document should be provided to all interested parties (your primary physician, healthcare agent and family members).
Ann Lecompte
Decentralized school system must pass
The Board of Education and the superintendent of education have opposed Gov. Lingle's proposed plan for decentralizing Hawai'i's public school system (Feb. 21 Advertiser). They even provided figures to show that the governor's plan would cost a lot of money.
Superintendent Pat Hamamoto said the creation of locally elected school boards would cost more than $6 million annually, or an average of more than $856,000 per board. However, she also said the cost of the existing administration is just $403,000.
I wonder how she figures it would cost more than double that amount to run the board of a school system that would be on average only one-seventh as large. But even at $6 million, it would be well worth the money if it improves the quality of public education. There is broad agreement among experts in the field of education that educational quality is likely to improve — or at least would have a chance to improve — if the management of Hawai'i's oversized school system is decentralized.
Currently, the BOE sets policy for all public schools without regard for regional differences. But what's good for Kahala may not be good for Kapa'a. Decentralization envisions schools that are more reflective of community values and more meaningful to students because it would enable parents, teachers, school administrators and community members to make more decisions about how their schools are run. The people of Hawai'i have been hoping for a long time for the public school system to improve, with very little in the way of measurable results. A year from now I fear we will still be hoping. John Kawamoto
Mr. Rogers brought caring to neighborhood
It's hard to say goodbye to Mr. Rogers. Thank goodness he still appears on my TV set every morning.
He's mesmerized my girls daily with puppets that discuss sharing and caring. He's taken us to factories where erasers, crayons or balloons are made.
And I'd have to say that I try to follow Mr. Rogers' example when it comes to how I treat my children.
I'm really sorry to hear Mr. Rogers is gone. What a good man he was. Truly the nicest man in the world.
Paula Gillingham Bender
Stamp subjects are often bewildering
As an often-bewildered customer of the U.S. Postal Service's stamp issues that include fauna, flora and causes/people found only in an encyclopedia, I join columnist Lee Cataluna's consternation with the Duke Kahanamoku stamp.
Yes, it probably is "tough ... to educate people about Hawai'i," but this self-appointed champion may take solace in the plight of other stamp honorees, e.g., Military Order of the Purple Heart awardees. For years, efforts to have USPS issue a MOPH stamp have been overridden.
Perhaps Cataluna's distress with "the big cheese" of the Smithsonian Institution should motivate both his and her "educating the people" on the forthcoming USPS Aug. 7 MOPH stamp issue — we 520,000 living Purple Heart recipients continue to honor the memory of our fallen comrades.
John K. Kingsley
Rep. Coble should be removed from position
I am an American of Japanese descent, and a former internee of the Minidoka, Idaho, detention camp. My family and I suffered the effects of the kind of bigoted thinking demonstrated by Rep. Howard Coble.
I am writing to protest the remarks he made as a U.S. congressman from North Carolina and as one who chairs the Judiciary subcommittee on crime, terrorism and homeland security.
I mention these credentials because I am chagrined that a person of such faulty reasoning and judgment should not only be a member of our national governing body, but that he should be in a position of leadership on the very issues that are affected by his thinly veiled bigotry (e.g., his reference to Japanese Americans as an "endangered species," a phrase reserved for animals).
Rep. Coble is clearly a man of expediency rather than principle. He would incarcerate whole populations on the risk that a few may be "intent on doing us harm" (an opinion proven to be false). Or in a facile turnabout, he would single out whole populations and incarcerate them for their "own protection" rather than employing other means to safeguard the community at large from extremists of any sort.
I call that "lowest common denominator" thinking. A person so un-nuanced and expedient in his mental process lacks the sensitivity required to balance personal freedoms against the need for national security. Such a person is a dangerous leader for the Judiciary subcommittee.
In a democratic society, such patronizing bigotry should not be tolerated in our leaders. Rep. Coble should be removed from his chairmanship — for his lack of principle and his profound ignorance (or disregard) of constitutionality, as much as for his bigotry.
Marcia Sakamoto Wong
Commentaries didn't present true pictures
I read your Feb. 23 commentaries under "More local talk on war" and want to comment on the views of a couple of those. F.P. "Gus" Gustavson said the United States needs to be a "world leader," and I completely agree. What I don't agree with is how we lead.
War is the failure of communication. Not once has our government offered a peaceful resolution to the situation in Iraq. Leading with a fist is why 9/11 happened in the first place.
This leads me to the next view. Tom Sugita said "all the lives lost in the 9/11 attacks should not live in vain." I agree with that statement; what I have a huge problem with is how he has joined Saddam Hussein with Osama bin Laden and made them from the same organization. If I missed where the two are linked, please enlighten me.
More innocent lives will die in Iraq if we go to war. Letting more innocent lives die is letting the lives of 9/11 victims die in vain. The United States is simply a bully to the rest of the world. If we want something, we move our forces in and take it.
Hawai'i is a perfect example of that which Eduardo Hernandez pointed out. I'm pretty sure if you traveled to the Southwest of the United States, you could find some Native Americans who could also relate with Native Hawaiians.
Ted Obringer
Perhaps chess boards will match surf boards
I enjoyed the Jan. 24 article "Knight to Waikiki."
Chess players here on the East Coast were very excited about the governor's creation of Robert Lau Day in recognition of this youngster's great achievement.
Chess is the second largest organized sport in the world (after soccer), but is still widely regarded as a mere "game." Yet, the grueling physical and mental challenges that are involved can take 3 to 6 pounds off a player in a single day of tournament play.
One day, perhaps, Waikiki will be host to the world championship, and chess boards, along with surf boards, will dot the beach.
Russ Mollot
The well-dressed man needs some polishing
You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.
The article on the well-dressed man ("15 things every well-dressed island man needs in his wardrobe," Island Life, Feb. 17) should have included a handkerchief. I have seen too many men sneeze into their hands, and oops; then they need to find something in their pocket.
The article should have mentioned keeping shoes shiny. Also, have the clothes cleaned and pressed once in a while. Some of the attorneys walking to court are wearing clothes that haven't been pressed since the day they passed the bar.
And last but not least, get a haircut.
Bernard Keane
A sobering message on tourism
On Feb. 13, Masatoshi Muto, consul general of Japan, shared his concerns, advice and insights into Japanese tourism with members and guests of the Pacific Asia Travel Association. Consul General Muto pulled no punches; he told us "like it is," and it was not exactly what we wanted to hear.
In a most articulate way, he stripped us of some of our current core beliefs about Japanese visitors. For instance, he told us that advertising in Japanese media may be a waste of money. Mr. Muto said we need to be in the Japanese media as often as we can with real stories about the people of Hawai'i, Hawai'i's culture and events, and, of course, the weather.
He nixed golfing and shopping as a lure when he told us that golf in Japan is now affordable on very good courses and most of the stores in Hawai'i are now available in Japan. He told us that our beautiful hotels and great resorts have "very" strong price and quality competition from new resorts in Australia and Asia (mainly China).
When he was asked about our belief "when the yen drops to 109 to the dollar, the Japanese will surely come," he dismissed this as unimportant to him, as Australia and Asia are even cheaper.
He told us the truth and he told us his concerns. He said our weather is still our major asset, and we must promote our outdoor activities, taking advantage of our weather, especially in our principal resort areas like Waikiki. We need to make Hawai'i "exciting" to Japanese travelers. Waikiki and the Neighbor Islands need to develop and promote water and sports activities because this is what the "new" Japanese traveler is looking for.
Mr. Muto said security is a major concern, and stories in Japan about pickpockets and purse-snatchers really hurt our image. Hawai'i needs to take a major bite out of crimes on tourists. Waikiki Beach Activities' beach boys often catch petty thieves on the beach and turn them over to the police.
We need to stop these thieves from returning to the beach to prey on our Japanese guests. The recent constitutional Amendment No. 3 on "information charging" is a big step in this direction.
Mr. Muto said his major concern and our biggest near-term problem is that Japanese travel agents will start packing up and leaving Hawai'i if Japanese business does not pick up soon. He said we must keep them here or risk losing our pipeline to Japanese visitors.
He said we must make our entry at the airport more user-friendly. In short, we need to show our Japanese guests more aloha when they come into our gate.
I hope that Consul General Muto's advice connects with the decision-makers in the Hawai'i Tourism Authority and the state. From our view on the beach of Waikiki, Mr. Muto is right on the kinipopo.
Bob Hampton
Kane'ohe
Wahiawa
President, Chess Express Ratings Inc.
Waikiki Beach Activities
