Posted on: Friday, November 7, 2003

Letters to the Editor

Killing sharks would harm ocean's ecology

Dan Stillman (Letters, Nov. 5) should stop watching "Jaws" movies and learn about sharks instead.

Mr. Stillman insists that we should go out and kill all sharks before they hurt another human. If we are to follow Mr. Stillman's advice, then we should kill off the top predator on land, us humans. The sharks' domain is the ocean, and a person lying on a surfboard can be easily mistaken for a seal or turtle.

I guess Mr. Stillman believes the "Jaws" movie series was based on true stories and that sharks are out to get humans. I bet he spent more time watching "Jaws" movies than in the actual ocean.

Killing sharks will only interrupt the balance of the natural ecology of the ocean. Human activity is one reason why we have extinct and endangered species.

Anyone who does believe sharks are out to get humans should get better educated about them before killing them toward extinction.

U.S. military didn't destroy Kaho'olawe

Kaho'olawe was not destroyed by European influence or the military. Our youth wonder at the spin of our elders. We can look up, in the library or on the Internet, and know the condition of Kaho'olawe at the time of Capt. Cook.

We know that around A.D. 785-1035, the inland plateau where rainfall was more abundant was cleared for the cultivation of dryland crops. Since this environment must have been rather fragile, it is likely that these agricultural activities resulted in the ecological disaster that followed. The once-thriving population had to leave.

The barren island had a few fishermen living on the coast at the time of Capt. Cook. Of course, the introduction of sheep and goats in the late 1800s didn't help. The native population was long gone before any European influence.

Help out by returning items to same branch

In this time of state library budget crunches, unfilled staff positions and reduced hours, I, as one of many volunteers at the 'Aina Haina Library, would like to inform library patrons as to how they may lend a hand to alleviate the problems faced by libraries.

Among the many tasks performed by staff and volunteers is one aspect of service the public has long enjoyed. It is the process by which a borrower of books, videos, DVDs, talking tapes, CDs, etc., from one library may return the items to another library.

The items must be: (1) individually checked in by the receiving library; (2) stacked; (3) sorted by yet another person to ascertain which library the item will be returned to; (4) put in one of the various boxes marked by destination; (5) picked up by a roving staff person for delivery to the original library; (6) sorted and checked by the receiving library; then (7) shelved. Four to six people may get involved in one or another of the tasks involved just in this one part of the services.

When one considers that there are approximately 50 public libraries in the state, about 30 on O'ahu, it's not difficult to imagine the man-hours involved in this situation. It's not unusual that books borrowed from the Hawai'i Kai Library are dropped off at the 'Aina Haina Library, and vice-versa. On one unusual day, I spent two hours doing only steps 3 and 4, handling almost 900 items.

I am merely urging that library patrons think twice about this practice, and assist libraries by returning books to the library from which they were borrowed.

What's happened to UH football in 30 years?

Well, we've had it after 30 years of backing the UH football teams. The disenchantment started with the name change to Warriors. (Remember when both sides of the field got into "Rain! ... Bows!"?)

Then along came the "nervous" H logo and the dark uniforms. These were closely followed by tattoos, bandannas, taunting and showboating. This taunting and showboating have carried over to our "mascot," who now has had to apologize for his conduct during the UTEP game. The whole theme has gotten very dark. Talk about overpaid coach and under-coached players. The unsportsmanlike conduct penalties speak for themselves.

Ah, then, to raise money, we put the only billboards in Hawai'i along the sidelines, touting, among other things, a casino upstairs in a Las Vegas hotel. Not to be outdone here, we also have a runner after every score (ours) making the rounds carrying a banner with a huge hamburger on it.

Add to this confusion a hundred or so guests of the coach standing on the mauka sidelines, making observation of the UH cheerleaders all but impossible.

In closing, we do recognize some fine players on the team. Even so, we won't be there next year unless there is a major change.

Protesters chose to break 'no-signs' rule

In response to Robin Makapagal being "appalled" at the arrest of "peace-loving" protesters at the Oct. 28 Army Stryker brigade meeting: I am appalled that she is appalled. Those protesters' comments were obviously not important if they chose to be arrested and hauled away rather than follow a simple rule of no signs in the Honolulu Country Club.

That evening's 10 o'clock news broadcast confirmed at least one protester's ability to speak when she exercised her First Amendment rights with belligerence while being escorted to a police car, so what stopped her (and the others) from adhering to the rule and voicing the comments represented on her sign? Nobody twisted their arms into refusing to follow a civilized rule, so they deserved to go unheard at the meeting.

Credit the students, not Hawaiian immersion

While it is clear that Hawaiian-immersion education hasn't prevented success in standardized testing or acceptance by prestigious colleges, as some critics predicted, these excellent results were achieved despite, rather than as a result of, the language immersion.

It is the students who have achieved the "resounding success," not the language curriculum. Just as there is value to learning Latin even though there are few speakers, the Hawaiian immersion may likewise provide benefits.

Cultural values aside, language is a tool for communication. One wonders whether students might have benefited even more if they had devoted the same effort to Mandarin or Japanese.

Government should leave us alone on taxes

So Jerry Burris, Advertiser editorial page editor, thinks the people of Hawai'i are not taxed sufficiently. Well, Jerry Burris and anybody else who thinks we don't pay enough in taxes should be free to send more of their money to the government; as for the rest of us, leave us alone.

Whatever amount of taxes you pay, it's never enough. Politicians will always have some pet project (light rail) that they think is indispensable and have to raise taxes for. If politicians have a project they want to fund, they should save for it just like us mortals have to.

If I had my way, I would make government live within its means just as we have to in the private sector. I would go with a flat tax with brackets according to your income. This flat tax would be a percentage of your income. This percentage would be etched in stone to make it as clear as possible to politicians not to come back to us and ask for more.

Repair our roads before rail transit

The roads on O'ahu are among the worst in the nation. Repairing our roads to serve all of the people makes more sense than spending billions of dollars on rail transit to serve only a select group of people.

Reach a compromise on re-opening Ha'iku Stairs

I live in the continental United States and am an occasional visitor to Hawai'i. One of my great pleasures on each trip to Hawai'i is hiking.

I have a number of friends in the Islands who are hikers, and I have heard from them about the debate going on over the closing and then planned re-opening of the Ha'iku Stairs.

It seems clear to me, with the outsider's point of view and without the emotion of being directly, locally involved, that such a historic site should be open, and also that it should be open in a way that limits disruption to the surrounding neighborhoods and provides funding for the ongoing maintenance of the stairs and of the access areas.

Please use your editorial voice to encourage those opposed to ever re-opening the stairs and those who loudly demand unfettered access to come to a reasonable agreement.

I hope to hike those stairs on a return trip to Hawai'i. I don't mind if that means reserving ahead of time at a Web site and paying a parking and entrance fee. Such things are worth protecting and maintaining.

Remember Lili'uokalani

Her Majesty, Beloved Queen Lydia Lili'uokalani, died on Nov. 11, 1917. Remember 11/11 as your day to recommit to her and your ancestors. Justice must be served! Ea! Ku'e!

Light rail not for 'greater good'

Mike Leidemann's Nov. 4 Drive Time column, "Public needs to be convinced that rail tax is for greater good," is a classic case of ideology taking precedence over facts. This is the overriding problem with advocates of such social planning. Reality is never permitted to intrude.

The main problem with Mr. Leidemann's column is revealed in the headline. That the rail tax is for the greater good is an opinion, not a fact. The experience in other cities around the nation invariably proves just the opposite. Rail transit projects, because they are so expensive and eat up huge amounts of transit funds in a highly inefficient manner, actually increase traffic congestion rather than alleviate it.

Thus the money wasted on fixed-rail or light-rail public transportation projects is actually contrary to the greater good. No such transportation project by its very design can ever service more than a small fraction of the commuting public, can never approach a number large enough to effectively impact commuter traffic congestion. The Portland, Ore., experience, on which the O'ahu plans now being considered are modeled, is a well-documented example.

Portland's existing light-rail line carries less than a third as many passenger miles as a single lane of a Portland freeway. This is true of all light-rail transit systems. Even at optimum usage rates, they simply cannot carry enough people to match even a single lane of highway. It is physically impossible for it to be otherwise. Since fixed rail costs two to four times or more per mile than a multi-lane highway, let alone a single lane of highway, light rail is by far the least cost-effective means of human transportation per passenger mile.

Therefore, looked at objectively, fixed rail stands in opposition to the greater good. It wastes money that would be better spent on highway improvements. It fails in its primary goal of relieving traffic congestion. It imposes taxes upon the vast majority to benefit a few, that small fraction of passengers who will actually choose to ride the rails. It costs more per mile than a single lane of highway, thus is an inefficient waste of taxpayers' money.

All in all, this is not what John Locke had in mind when he put forth the theory of a social contract. When he spoke of the greater good, he meant precisely that. Not a lesser good forcibly paid for by a greater number, which is precisely what fixed rail does. Light rail is an idea whose time has come and gone decades ago. Taking facts over ideology, we should give it up.