Letters to the Editor
No 'Dirty Laundry' behind Moore play
Your April 30 story about my play "Dirty Laundry" correctly pointed out that a story idea in the play, a child claiming abuse by an adult that triggers a newsroom to spring into action, echoed a story line from the 1980s TV movie "News at Eleven" with Martin Sheen.
My play has a priest accused of molesting a boy. The film had a female student accusing her schoolteacher.
As I told members of our cast and crew at an early table reading of the play, my memories of seeing the Sheen film on TV 15 to 20 years ago (I have not seen it since) provided one of the primary inspirations for a basic structure of my play.
In writing the two-hour play, in addition to venting my personal frustrations with the general state of TV news today, I used ideas and situations from several dozen sources, mainly real life, but also movies, books, TV shows and magazine articles. The anchorman in my play is clearly based on me and my opinions.
The news director and female co-anchor are modeled after people in the local news business, either currently or in the past.
Your article quoted the writer of the Sheen film as saying, "The themes used in his work and mine and dozens of other films, plays and shows about TV news are hardly original." The several similar lines you featured from my play and the film are but a few of several thousand lines that made up my play.
I regret that someone felt they needed to try to make a case that I intentionally plagiarized someone else's work. That did not happen. Any similarity or duplication of lines was due to the parallel nature of the subject matter in each work.
Joe Moore
If you can't afford it, don't attend the event
I'm crushed that Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi cannot attend "toast of society" events.
According to state law, officials are forbidden to use their positions to give themselves any unwarranted benefit. The very acceptance of a high-priced invitation or gift would fall under this prohibition because they would not have received such an offer had they not been a member of the council.
If the councilwoman can't afford to attend black-tie affairs, she should do as the rest of us and not attend. Somehow the budget chairwoman wants to eliminate Sunset on the Beach, an event enjoyed by the "little people," but wants free gifts and invitations to events many of us will never be able to attend. Nothing has changed at City Hall.
One final question one may ask Ms. Kobayashi: How will you claim the value of an expensive gift under your proposal if you don't inquire about the value?
Dave Beatty
Kailua
Charlie Wedemeyer epitomizes courage
Courage, inspiration, love: These are just words that are tossed around daily, but to see and hear this in person from Charlie and Lucy Wedemeyer is very special and makes us wonder about our complaints on trivial things in life.
With the everyday complaints about how bad traffic is, how the food is too salty, "I'm not paid enough," "What a lousy round of golf," etc., one should get the opportunity to speak to Charlie Wedemeyer and see how to make the most of life and think less of complaining.
For those who missed the TV special that aired on Easter Sunday, or those who missed visiting and talking to Charlie and Lucy on their many trips back to Hawai'i, the next time this opportunity arises, please make the effort to drop everything and see what they have to offer.
As a gifted athlete, he made us all proud — both as a player and coach. A native son who excelled in school and sports at Michigan State but, most importantly, at being a great human being.
We all at times face difficulty, but Charlie turned disadvantages into advantages and a disability into an ability to inspire others. His smile is contagious and sincere, and his eyes talk to you in a very personal way.
Charlie's passion for life after some 27-plus years with Lou Gehrig's disease has not slowed him a bit. The love of Charlie and Lucy is what movies are made of. No amount of money can buy what Charlie and Lucy have.
It's all about attitude and lots of humor and laughter no matter what hardships or handicaps one is faced with. In life, it is not how long you live but how well you live. Too many people have material things but are not happy.
Tom Sugita
Pearl City
'Captive audience' isn't the same as harassment
With respect to The Advertiser's April 28 lead editorial, I question the use of the phrase "captive audience" and your definition of the word "harassment."
To a certain extent, we're all a captive audience sometime or somewhere. Try as we might, most of us just can't get off this planet. To me, I'm really a captive audience when I can't walk away or shut the door.
As far as harassment is concerned, is being offered something at no cost, that one is free to accept or decline as one chooses, harassment? For some reason, I've got a picture of a homeless person at the airport bugging me repeatedly for a cigarette or relentlessly panhandling for spare change.
If someone were truly the victim of harassment during the Jesus Hawai'i Project, I hope it was an isolated event because I know that type of behavior was not intended, since harassment would always have the opposite impact of what we are seeking.
Steven A. White
Kailua
Student survival kits should be encouraged
I think the recent distribution of student survival kits should be continued, if not encouraged, since they promote a positive message regardless of religious orientation.
Goodness knows teenagers (as well as the rest of us) need all of the positive influence they can get.
It seems like restricting students from passing these items between themselves would violate the freedom-of-speech amendment of the Constitution as well.
Andrew Zimmerman
Jared Jossem's word was as good as gold
The late Jared Jossem and I were light years apart philosophically. He was Mr. Big Business and Mr. Republican.
But I knew him as a good, reliable news source when I did nonpartisan reporting for The Advertiser and KGMB.
His reasoning and his integrity were impeccable during our many years of professional association. Trusting. His word was good as gold.
Only a handful of community leaders measured up to his level.
Bob Jones
Young Street bikeway will be safe, pleasant
As our city faces difficult budget decisions, we must decide which elements of city spending are top priority.
In my mind, few things are as vital as a humane and community-oriented transportation system that accommodates bicyclists and pedestrians.
After three years of work, designers have come up with a plan to make Young Street into a bikeway by switching to a center lane of parking and painting in curbside bike lanes. This cross-town corridor will be safe and pleasant, and may encourage many to leave their cars at home for local trips.
The Makiki and McCully neighborhood boards and the mayor support it, as do the overwhelming majority of Young Street residents and businesses. Will the City Council support it?
The first phase (Thomas Square to Ke'eaumoku) is scheduled for construction this year, if the council allots the requested funds. I think this project and others of this type are so vital to our community that I would tolerate a mild increase in taxes to fund them.
Aaron Hebshi
Crosswalk safety must be given priority
I read with interest your April 23 front-page article "Pedestrian safety poor in state." I was surprised to note there was not one mention of the crosswalk situation in Hawai'i in the article. This is a huge part of the problem.
It is standard procedure to see pedestrians waiting patiently at crosswalks, as traffic continues to buzz past them, seemingly oblivious to their existence. I am speaking mainly of crosswalks other than those with traffic lights. Most drivers in Hawai'i do not stop for pedestrians waiting at crosswalks, and that includes our own police. More than once I have stood at the side of a road, waiting to cross and have seen police cars pass with the nonchalance of every other driver. How can the general public be expected to stop for pedestrians when the police don't think it's necessary?
There are those kind citizens out there who do stop, but they are the exception rather than the rule, when the opposite should be the case.
A campaign to educate the public regarding crosswalk rules needs to include educating drivers as much as, or more than, pedestrians. Enforcement would also help deter the problem.
Penny King
Hale'iwa
Heavy metals in fish can be dangerous
Like Calvin and Hobbes, I love a tuna sandwich, and I had one for lunch almost every day. Recently I was tested for heavy metals. Mercury? Thirteen parts per million (ppm).
The FDA, EPA and National Academy of Sciences have set an accepted safe level of 1 ppm of methylmercury for seafood. FDA regulations prohibit the sale of commercial fish that are found to have higher concentrations of methyl-mercury. But there is no testing.
I can't find much information about the health implications of elevated mercury. Like lead, mercury is a reproductive and neurological toxin. A new study from the Philippines suggests that elevated mercury levels in mothers cause learning disabilities in babies. A Finnish study relates levels of 7 ppm to a doubling of one's risk of heart attack. So much for the healthy heart. The Hawai'i Department of Health has not issued any guidelines, nor is there testing of mercury levels in fish sold here.
Apparently the primary source of mercury is from offshore oil rigs and coal-burning factories, which put methylmercury into the water and food chain, delivered up to us with the ono. Yet another reason to get off fossil fuel, I say. So, I have given up fish, and my next car is going to be a hybrid.
You might want to get your mercury level checked.
Carol Wilcox
Honolulu and Hanalei, Kaua'i
Diaries of 'Bachelor' entrant are enjoyable
Regarding Hawai'i's Bachelor: Silly game but enjoyed the online diaries — my dose of reality Web.
Please find a way to keep Jennifer Hee's writing online; her writing is so sharp. I have a daughter a few years younger who is away and reads Jenn's diaries. A treat to read from a different point of view.
C. Nishimura
Tourism summit ignored Hawai'i's hotel workers
Rep. David Pendleton's confused defense of the governor's "closed-door" tourism summit (Letters, April 25) attempts to justify the development of public policy without public input or participation. While this line of thinking is inherently flawed and contradictory, it is not the most dangerous aspect of the administration's current practice in the development of Hawai'i's tourism policy.
On April 22, after a number of telephone calls and personal appeals to administration representatives went unanswered, our union sent a letter to the governor. In that letter, we protested that:
"The unions representing the many thousands of Hawai'i residents working in the industry are not invited. It is disturbing, to say the least, that 'tourism industry representatives' from global corporations headquartered outside of Hawai'i will be participating in developing the state's tourism strategy, while the representatives of Hawai'i's own residents and taxpayers are excluded. While this may result in policies benefiting offshore corporations, it is not likely to result in policies benefiting Hawai'i and our own people.
"Are we now to conclude that the administration does not recognize Hawai'i's hotel workers' importance and role in 'the industry'?
"The tourist industry is here in Hawai'i, and should be here in Hawai'i, to benefit the local community. The primary benefit hotels offer us is employment — jobs for local people. To exclude the voice of the local people working in tourism from discussions regarding our collective future is unconscionable and bad public policy."
We received no response to our letter and no invitation to join the summit.
Our union has kept an open mind and positive hopes for the new administration.
These hopes have suffered a blow as Hawai'i's hotel workers have been ignored in the development of the state's tourism policy. If the governor and Republican politicians like Rep. Pendleton want to avoid the image of being dominated by global corporations, this is a very strange way to go about it.
Eric Gill
Financial secretary-treasurer, Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees Local 5, AFL-CIO
