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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, November 21, 2003

Letters to the Editor

No discrimination in Kamehameha admissions

Lawyers Eric Grant and John Goemans claim their lawsuit against Kamehameha Schools is simple and based on prohibition of racial discrimination, and that the courts should not even consider the argument of past injustice.

I would go further and say that both of these arguments should not be considered by our courts. Past injustices should not be used as excuses to justify present deeds or misdeeds. Race discrimination is not an issue either. Their claim, which ensued from a civil rights law to protect former slaves, involves discrimination against one particular race. By definition, Kamehameha does not discriminate against a particular race, or any race for that matter. So where is the race discrimination? None, not an issue.

This is a clear case of racial preference, pure and simple. It is not against the law to prefer a particular race and at the same time accept all races, as long as the preference requirement is met — therefore, no discrimination.

Ken Chang
Kane'ohe


Estate won't consider alternatives to will

The Nov. 18 editorial on Kamehameha Schools was fascinating because it offered some opinions rather matter-of-factly for preparing for the future in the event that the appellate court or Supreme Court rules against the estate. However, these opinions will never be considered by the estate or the Hawaiian community.

Upholding the will of Ke Ali'i Pauahi is of the utmost importance to the trustees and supported by many worldwide. A court that dares to overturn the will of Ke Ali'i Pauahi should strike fear in the heart of every person who has a last will and testament. Auwe! There would be nothing left of the sanctity and power of a will knowing that the government could overturn your last wishes.

This cannot be taken rather matter-of-factly.

Miles A.P. Kahaloa
Honolulu


Don't be so quick to criticize WMD search

Too many are too quick to call President Bush a liar because no weapons of mass destruction have been found. But the reality is that we have not even been able to find Saddam Hussein or Osama bin Laden or other various hunted worldwide terrorists over the years.

Why, then, should we be able to find WMDs in a hostile country when Saddam Hussein has had 12 years to hide, transport, sell them or make contingency plans for their disposal?

The situation is like expecting to find drugs in a drug lord's massive three-story mansion after warning him over and over that the police are trying to get a search warrant for months or years beforehand. International law enforcement sources and local informants inform the police chief that there are drugs there. When the police finally do get the search warrant, they take hours to park squad cars in the neighborhood in plain view. Then they take some time to battle their way through the front door and outer rooms while the toilets are heard flushing. When no drugs are found, the police chief is called a liar.

We have to win the peace in Iraq. There is no turning back. Our retreat would simply encourage and strengthen the terrorists.

Iraq is a key battle in the war on terror, which will take years to win. We either will fight the terrorists on their soil or they will fight us on ours. We either show our courageous resolve, or they will show us their murderous 9/11 resolve again and again against our women and children.

Leighton Loo
Mililani


Brain drainers should roll up their sleeves

Here we go again. The doomsayers are back. My sympathy goes out to all the brightest people leaving Hawai'i.

Really, if bright people think that the government and businesses are the ones to blame, I have to disagree. Why rely on these entities to be responsible for our chosen lifestyle?

A bright person would take charge and evolve into a leader. Bright people are unique in that they look for business opportunities to create jobs for people looking for them. Bright or not, we all can be part of the solution and not the problem.

Instead of "Brain drain must be stemmed," it should be "Bright people looking for perfect ideal jobs, and relying on government to dictate their lives must be stemmed."

Elmer Carnate
Waipahu


Big vehicles should expect inconvenience

This is in response to Laurie Lush, who commented that compact cars parked in standard stalls leave no room for full-sized cars, trucks and vans ("Council committee drops plan to enlarge parking stalls," Nov. 19). Give me a break.

We have limited space in the Islands, and those who choose to purchase oversized vehicles should reasonably anticipate being inconvenienced.

Until there is an equal number of compact and standard stalls, there are oftentimes no options as to where a compact vehicle (or any vehicle) can park. Not only that, but it is extremely frustrating when parking or exiting a stall with your compact car and a gas-guzzling gargantuan vehicle is parked next to you.

Susan Viloria
Waikele


More rehab needed for incarcerated women

Hawai'i needs more community-based rehabilitation for our incarcerated women.

Building more prisons and limiting funds to our school system are nonsensical. My generation will take the brunt for this monetary mismanagement; how is the next generation expected to survive? What is the expectation of Hawai'i citizens with limited skills and little money for the increasing costs of higher education?

Basic education is a preventative measure and should be accessible to all. Drug addiction is a result of poor expectations within the school system, a symptom of poverty — not the source of evil our media play it out to be.

Our money needs to be used in ways that make sense for the entire community. We need inclusive education and more comprehensive drug treatment programs like community-based rehabilitation for female offenders. This approach helps women reintegrate into the community by allowing them to make informed choices, find legal jobs and access affordable housing.

I plead to our administration to implement long-term solutions to eradicate our ice epidemic. Make it easier for Hawai'i's people to thrive rather than survive, before and after incarceration.

Gabriella Moreno
Honolulu


There are better ways to deal with the traffic

So much time and money have been spent on how to solve the traffic problem on O'ahu, and yet no one has mentioned why we have this problem. Once you define that, you can go about getting a solution.

The problem is that all the extremities on O'ahu feed into the central city and exit back, twice a day. I would like to propose three solutions, none of which should be nearly as costly or time-consuming as constructing any kind of mass-transit system:

• Make it more costly for single-occupant vehicles to be on the road during peak traffic hours. The simple solution is no-fault insurance at the pump (I'll not go into all of the pluses here, but if you ride with someone else, you not only save gas and parking, but also are covered by insurance when you do drive).

• Most important, reverse the requirement for all traffic to go into Honolulu. If Mililani, Kane'ohe, Hawai'i Kai, Kailua, Kapolei and the Leeward Coast were allowed to develop major shopping centers, professional offices, as well as educational and medical branches, the traffic would be relieved coming into downtown Honolulu. This could be accomplished by zoning changes and tax incentives for developers without costing the non-driving public additional taxes.

• The Information Age is just in its infancy; it's only a matter of time when we move communications and services by wireless rather than by moving people into central offices. This will happen in spite of any legislation or planning.

We have already built one white elephant at the corner of Kapi'olani and Atkinson; let's not build another one over the H-1.

Irwin Don Meyers
Honolulu


A Christmas wish from inside homeless shelter

Dear Santa Claus,

I'm a single woman who now resides at IHS. I have a Christmas wish: a home for myself and my darling cat, a small apartment in a pleasant neighborhood with a lot of fragrant shrubs, verdant grass and leafy trees. I'm tired of gray cinder-block walls, a cracked concrete lanai and a water fountain so patina-ed it can't be used.

I'm tired of sleeping on a gym mat with 50-plus strangers. I'm sickened by the stark warehouse IHS calls a dormitory, belongings placed in two open crates anyone can rummage through, in a storage called "The Cage."

I'd like a towel rack to drape my towel over so it can dry. I'd like a bed I could oversleep in on occasion and not be awakened by a loudspeaker every morning at 6 a.m. I'd like to no longer live with the threat of rain or dirt or dark without safety.

And a closet to hang my clothes in.

Mostly, I'd like to be reunited with the only family member I have left, but she's on four legs and the rule is "no pets" at affordable housing.

But I still dream. Otherwise I die.

B. Ho
Honolulu


Use newer technology for mass-transit machines

Doug Carlson's rebuttal (Nov.17) to Cliff Slater's latest column lends some balance to the discussion of rail transit. One way or the other, residents care deeply about this issue, which affects all of us.Ê

I think there is too much focus on rail, "heavy" or "light." What is really important is that the transit vehicles run on a dedicated right-of-way or "guideway" through our core city and traffic areas.

I would like to see a newer technology of rubber-tired hybrid transit machines, not exactly a bus or a train. The advantage is that the vehicles can come down off the "guideway" and travel on regular roads. If we use rail, we must build the rails and the supporting structures from one end of the line to the other at great cost with no flexibility. It will likely require more transfers to reach a final destination degrading total travel time.

An essential principle went badly astray in the '90s. The route should have directly connected prime customer destinations: the central business district, the government center, Waikiki and the university with extension capability to Hawai'i Kai and Windward O'ahu. No system will be worth the aggravation and expense without an elegant plan for this.

A second essential that was missed before is that ample real estate should be acquired at stations for shuttles, taxis, connecting buses and parking. Planning must be concurrent and not competitive with other transit systems.

I believe that, if a new transit system is to gain public acceptance, there must be full advance disclosure and public debate before our engineers and special interests mess with the design.

The "vision team" approach is not what I mean; this process is prone to manipulation and produces poor solutions. I am concerned already that this route has only partially been revealed. How will the route extend in the future past the station on the border of Chinatown? How will it punch through the urban center? Will it extend along the waterfront with a massive concrete separation (remember, San Francisco until the earthquake fixed this)? Or will it pass along or under Hotel Street, or mauka, or whatever?

Bill Kibby
Retired architect, Manoa