Letters to the Editor
What does public get in Midway contract?
As a past resident of Midway for over six years, I keep close tabs on the goings-on of the Fish and Wildlife Service there. I see that it has just awarded a contract to an Alaskan (not Hawaiian) minority company to run the island.
The cost comes to about $8 million per year. This still does not include any provisions for public use, which was part of the deal when the FWS accepted the island from the Navy. The cost seems excessive, as that is more than it cost the Navy to run it before the FWS got it. The FWS rejected a bid of about $3 million per year from the previous contractor.
What do we, the public, get for that extra $5 million?
By the way, has the FWS instituted any controls to prevent another massive fuel spill like the last one? We all own those islands, not just the FWS.
Charles Wilson
Anchorage, Alaska
Sunset on the Beach should be permanent
I have just learned that the Honolulu City Council is planning to cut the Sunset on the Beach (and elsewhere) program. This program is a very minor aspect of the city's budget (less than 1 percent), but the returns for community and business demonstrate it to be a phenomenal success.
I've attended the Sunsets on the Beach almost every weekend for the past year and a half. Frankly, it is one of the best things about living in this city.
In general, Sunset on the Beach has given me a sense that I too can enjoy the things that generally only tourists can afford. While it feels like an affordable evening out for my family, I figure that we spend between $10 and $20 a night buying food, snacks or drinks. Many times we have also bought from one of the local artisans, or even decided to eat dinner at a Waikiki restaurant before the movie. Over a year, that's quite a bit of cash that we've injected into the local business coffers, money that we would not otherwise have spent in Honolulu.
We have met people from all over the world who, like us, love the idea of the outdoor movie, the camaraderie, the setting. There is literally nothing in the world like it. Sunset on the Beach has become a family tradition, one that I hope the City Council will make permanent.
Heather Young Leslie
Marine pilots also deserve our praise
Regarding the brush fire in Kalaheo Hills this past weekend: I am sure there are many tired firefighters after the two-day ordeal. On Saturday night, eight companies battled the fire most of the night and kept it from spreading to inhabited areas. The winds shifted on Sunday morning and the fire flared again, moving in the opposite direction.
I watched the flames come down the hill toward my community. The fire company's helicopter was working very hard to keep it from crossing H-3, but it was more than one helicopter pilot and the pumpers could do. Two Marine Corps CH-53 helicopters, rigged for dropping water on the fire, went into action.
By 6 Sunday evening, the fire was under control. I wish to thank the pilot of the fire company's helicopter for his tireless efforts, and I ask that the Marine pilots be recognized for saving the day for the residents of my community.
The Honolulu Fire Department gave this its all. When it became more than it could handle, as far as keeping the fire at a distance from residential areas, the Marines were there on the scene.
I only hope that a week from now I do not read another article in the paper about another group trying to shut down another military training area. It seems that some in Hawai'i forget that the military, to be effective, needs areas where it can train. The military is a great asset to this and all other communities here in Hawai'i. It definitely does much more good for this state than it does harm.
Let us all give credit where credit is due, and it is due.
Tom Kinney
Kane'ohe
Now's a good time to thank our police
Police Week is this week, and with this comes the opportunity to say "thank you" to the men and women of the Honolulu Police Department.
Emergencies and tragedies should not be the spark to have the public say thank you for a job well done.
The following may serve as a guide for the public to express its appreciation: cards or drawings from children, letters to the chief of police, donations made to the Honolulu Police Community Foundation, homemade goodies or a simple "thank you" to the next officer you meet.
Serving and protecting with aloha deserves a big mahalo.
Cynthia Endo
What was purpose of Hawai'i's Bachelor?
People watch and are on the end of their seats at the end of each TV episode of "The Bachelor" and "The Bachelorette." Why? Because there is an interest between the competing males and females.
What was the purpose of The Honolulu Advertiser's Hawai'i's Bachelor? Despite the bachelorettes' attempts to woo Kelly Komoda, he clearly had no interest in them. What was the result? Ten attractive women left unkissed by a guy who was never really for that special someone, but an "open door for print ads and commercial modeling."
Nothing against Komoda, but I'm sure a lot of guys (including me) would like to be in the next Hawai'i's Bachelor for more than just publicity.
Matt Ho
We fought Iraq War because of terrorism
I read Fereidun Fesharaki's commentary in your Focus section last Sunday with curiosity. Ultimately he touches on the inevitable truth: It will take a generation to truly bring about political change, balance and shared powers and lasting individual freedoms in Iraq.
To suggest that the U.S. goal is to impose democracy in Iraq indicates a lack of knowledge of the history of our own democratic republic established 11 years after the start of the American Revolution. Rather, our best hope now is to begin to set the conditions for the long road to democracy in Iraq.
More accurately and in accordance with the military plan still being executed, liberty and freedom have been the immediate results of our actions, which ousted a corrupt and manipulative regime.
Last, it is specious at best to suggest that the region's natural resources and U.S. ties to Israel fuel the true U.S. rationale for the war. We have been at war since Sept. 11, 2001. It's a global war on terrorism, not just al-Qaida. Regimes with clear ties to terrorists are our enemy. The Baath Party under Saddam Hussein was one such regime.
John Hansen
Waipahu
User fee inappropriate for city trash pickup
What is it with this fixation on a user fee for trash pickup? I fully support user fees in certain instances, but trash pickup is one of the least suitable for that application. User fees should be levied when only a few members of the public use a public facility. Golf courses and Hanauma Bay are good examples.
These facilities are paid for with public funds, but only a small percentage of the public uses them. We should be charging residents as well as visitors for this. I would support much wider use of appropriate user fees, provided the cost of collecting them does not exceed the revenue generated.
Trash pickup, on the other hand, benefits everyone, and just about everyone lives on a parcel of land for which property taxes are levied. It is these property taxes that pay for trash pickup; everyone benefits and everyone pays. No need whatsoever for a user fee.
Raise the property taxes, if you must. But don't set up a user fee for trash pickup, which will necessitate a large department of accounting clerks to bill, collect and account for what is very likely to be a nominal sum.
James V. Pollock
Kane'ohe
We have forgotten education's importance
On the last day of classes at the community college, an older student sat next to me and whispered, "What can I do?" Her hands were swollen, her knuckles red. She had finished an eight-hour shift as a janitor and rushed to school for her exam. She wanted me to know that she liked the class, but she didn't think she'd be back next semester. She couldn't pay the tuition.
Five years now I have been teaching in Hilo, and each day I see students struggling. They burden themselves with loans. Work 40 hours a week. Carry a full load of classes while caring for their families. And what do we say to them? "Right now, UH-Manoa's tuition is ranked 17th out of 19 state universities considered to be peer institutions. That suggests that tuition could be raised substantially and still reflect a bargain" (Advertiser editorial, May 13).
How have we let things get this far? When did we forget that education could change the world? That schools were cheaper than prisons? That all people deserve a chance? When did we start believing that education was a product to be sold to the highest bidder?
No tuition increases!
Lou Zitnik
Hilo
Letters critical of mascot view off base
Regarding Summer Keliipio's May 9 letter "Mascots are symbols of pride, strength": The term "Let's go 'Bows" is made by shortening the word "Rainbows." Why not chant "War-ri-ors, War-ri-ors"? That's their real name in the first place.
By the way, don't comment on my game attendance. I was a 14-year season-ticket holder.
Regarding Al Tringali's May 8 letter "Rainbow is sacred sign in Hawaiian folklore": How dare you call me ignorant. You don't even know me. I have no disregard for Hawaiian culture at all. I am part Hawaiian and very proud of it. My mother taught me the beauty of being Hawaiian, and I hold it closer to my heart now that I am in California.
You said that a rainbow is a sign of a Hawaiian chief or a great warrior being born. You also said it was folklore. By the way, Manoa Valley is famous for rainbows because of it being a valley. The rain is more frequent there. Also, are there still chiefs or warriors being born these days? Hmmmm.
Jaymie Fuller
Fullerton, Calif.
Superfluous campus
UH-Manoa tuition compares favorably with the University of Colorado-Boulder, but only 10 percent of Boulder's budget comes from state coffers. Senators in West O'ahu insist that a superfluous campus be added there, and they have the clout to ruin the rest of the UH system.
Richard Thompson
San Diego
Media did not do well by the McCubbin story
It has been less than a week since Dr. McCubbin's resignation announcement. In this short span, he has gone from front-page media coverage to media non-interest. Perhaps his greatest sin is the sin of timing; his resignation was sandwiched in the news vacuum between cessation of Iraqi hostilities and (alleged) Hawai'i Kai animal abuse.
It is perhaps a fine thing that we are blessed with competing newspapers; but this competition also feeds the "not-to-be-outdone" monster, where ego battles develop and reporters employ every nuance learned in creative-writing classes to usurp the best efforts of their competitors.
Our landscape has been fogged with the stale smoke of a moribund false-alarm Wisconsin fire, perhaps with the hope that old smoke can suggest fresh fires here.
The Advertiser has at least exhibited a measure of fairness by publishing the McCubbin 'Ohana Island Voices submittal; the Star-Bulletin declined.
There has been no profit in this exhibition. Dr. McCubbin has decided — perhaps wisely — to maintain dignified silence, while the meanest and smallest 'alamihi among us, i.e., "informed sources," creep out to cast their poisonous spears at his departing back. No matter they feel no shame. We have sufficient shame for them.
The media have not profited; they have not printed the "truth," since at this juncture the "truth" is probably unknowable and is certainly not so neatly packaged as "informed sources" would have them portray it.
At its essence, the reputation of a hard-working man of intellect and vision has been unfairly sullied. We have not profited. Shame on all of us.
Robert Moore (KS '53)
Paulette Moore (KS '52)
