Posted on: Thursday, October 30, 2003

Letters to the Editor

Violent commercial invites copycats

I'm disgusted. I called Road Runner a week ago about the violent ad it keeps running on CNBC, channel 39. I get to see it 11 times a day. "We're taking this under advisement, sir," the slick PR gal says when she calls me back. "Others have also complained."

Complained? You don't hafta be an insurance actuary to figure out that dropping computer monitors out of buildings is risky. You don't hafta be a criminal psychologist to know there's a gooney out there, seeing the same ad, maybe gonna toss his computer out a window on top of somebody's head.

But I guess you hafta be a corporate muckety-muck to ignore common sense and keep running an annoying ad that shows stupid behavior that invites emulation.

Hello? Road Runner? Anybody home?

Homeless editorial conjures up my youth

The homelessness editorial on Oct. 21 reminded me of personal experiences encountered living alone in New York City in 1959, at age 16 1/2.

Clueless how to budget money and unable to generate much income, I was often locked out of furnished rooms, for which I paid $16 per week rent. Difficult as it was to comprehend my dilemma (I was making $20 per week), I roamed the cold and mean streets of New York, begging money to ride frosty subway trains running through Brooklyn, Manhattan and the Bronx.

The trains became my homeless bedroom. I slept, rocking to and fro, clutching a navy coat, riding beneath beautiful high-rises and fashionable streets of the world's great financial center, awakened by gruff, rude train conductors evicting homeless drifters.

Today, asking Honoka'a High School students to respond with me to the editorial, I offer my response, remembering those terrible times through which I lived, awaiting common sense to develop within me to further my education, find substantial work and create a livable home.

Retired from a lucrative career, now teaching, realizing not all homeless have the wherewithal that I possessed, I view The Advertiser's editorial with empathy and understanding.

Editorial is wrong, unfair to Matsuura

Your Oct. 22 editorial "Democracy means all lawmakers are equal" is incorrect in its reference to the "death with dignity" legislation. I was the vice chair of the Senate Health Committee in 2002 and monitored the 2003 Legislature and speak from personal knowledge.

Your facts are incorrect. Former Sen. David Matsuura did hold a hearing on "death with dignity" but decided not to report the bill out of the Health Committee. When David learned that our colleagues wanted to vote on the bill, David joined and voted with reservations to permit the bill to be recalled from his committee. He did not support the "death with dignity" legislation, but did not stand in the way of one of the most impassioned debates I have experienced during my tenure as a senator. If the debate remains available on videotape, I would recommend that the public hear those speeches.

Committee chairs in both houses of the Legislature have the discretion to schedule bills for hearing, then decide whether the bills should proceed further. The checks and balances on this discretion are the members of the committee. The majority of a membership can decide to petition the chair and require a bill to be heard. The Constitution also provides the right of recall if one-third of the members of a house vote in support.

If anyone has refused to schedule a hearing on "death with dignity," it is Sen. Roz Baker of Lahaina. There was an identical bill in this Legislature, and she did not schedule a hearing. She exercised her discretion as the present Health Committee chair. I ask you, why no outcry? Why no criticism in your editorial? David had a hearing.

Your editorial concludes that some lawmakers are more equal than others. It appears that your criticism is waged against some more unfairly than at others.

Cataluna's column put Bush in his place

Lee Cataluna's Oct. 24 column "A handful of Bush in the bird" is a brilliant statement of the failure of President Bush's presence and priorities in Hawai'i and of creative, needed alternatives.

We have become painfully familiar with President Bush's efforts to deflect criticism, as in his standard "Can anyone really argue that the world would be better off if Saddam Hussein were still in power?"

How about restating the question: "Can anyone really argue that the crises facing us today — from Iraq, to Israel and Palestine, to international terrorism, to the world pandemic of HIV/AIDS — are brought any closer to just and lasting solutions by American pre-emption and unilateralism?"

Cataluna's column shows us how Bush's priorities play out here at home. It could not be more timely.

Officer's ticketing stranded families

We would like to thank all of the parents who sacrificed their energy and time in making the Kamiloiki Keiki Carnival an enjoyable success. Every year, Kamiloiki Elementary School sponsors its Keiki Carnival to raise funds in order to purchase school books for our children, and for this year to hire a physical education teacher.

A special mahalo to the police officers who volunteered their time working at the carnival.

Unfortunately, with all the accolades and good deeds, there was one dark cloud that loomed over the carnival. We recognize and take full responsibility for our parents who parked their vehicles illegally on Hawai'i Kai Drive and 'Aipo Street. Still, we had hoped the HPD sergeant would have had the courtesy and community spirit of the area that she serves by informing the school principal of the parking violations so that the families could move their vehicles. Unfortunately, she single-handedly shattered the spirits of several families who left the carnival only to discover their vehicles were towed.

Though the vehicles were in violation, we wonder if the sergeant is proud of her actions that left several mothers with their crying children stranded as darkness began to fall. Though the vehicles were in fact parked illegally, they were not imposing a hazard or impeding traffic to the point that such extreme and immediate response was needed.

'Somewhat liberal': No apology is needed

Chris Schmicker (Sunday's Focus section) is to be commended for encouraging his peers to think, but the paragraph about his maybe sounding "somewhat liberal" has an unfortunately apologetic tone.

Hey, Chris, don't let right-wing ideologues rob you of a word that speaks to the best of our nation's history. And is it really possible to be well informed and not disagree with President Bush? Read David Corn on "Bush's Lies" in The Nation magazine for Oct. 13.

City Council members are acting like children

To have a "coup" on the City Council this late in the session serves no political purpose.

This move was sparked by the contentious budget "feud" between Gary Okino and Ann Kobayashi. As council vice chairwoman, Kobayashi should recuse herself from the so-called "shake-up" to remove Okino as council chairman. The expected council reorganization should be up to the other six council members to determine if Okino is to be replaced by first-term Councilman Donovan Dela Cruz.

There are more important council issues to be worked on for the good of the city, such as the council having to deal with unexpected revenue shortfalls. Each of the nine council members was elected to work for his constituents and the city. The expected change in council leadership amounts to "acting like children."

Police officers can't respond to all calls

It is always a great loss when a senseless car-racing accident happens that could have been prevented. We need to accept responsibility for our actions regardless of whether a police officer is around or not.

With so many ordinances in Hawai'i, the current understaffed police officers cannot attend to each and every one. Calling 911 for an officer only to be placed on hold is not the answer. The governor and mayor should appropriate additional funding to boost the number of police officers available so public safety is not compromised.

It's Ko Olina's duty

I think you were much too generous toward the Ko Olina Resort regarding the amount of public parking it has provided at its four lagoon beaches. I wasn't there, but I can just hear them promising "adequate public parking" when they were trying to get the necessary regulatory approvals. A good corporate neighbor would and should provide at least twice as much public parking as is currently available.

PCC reunion story a chicken-skin read

I read with great joy and considerable chicken skin Lee Cataluna's Oct. 25 column about the reunion at the Polynesian Cultural Center. The story was wholesome to the max. Great to read good news.

It was about a group of people being able to get back together and relive good times.

Then I read page two, where the writer states that the earlier show was to honor the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Mormon Church. This great PCC project, now 40 years old, BYUH and the temple next door belong to the church. The idea 40 years ago was to find a way among other things to bring education to the people of the Islands of The Sea, preserve the various cultures and progress the work of the church. Not to take from, but to return to.

Strict rules of morals, faith and behavior standards are enforced. This is a land where the market does not sell booze and is proudly closed on Sunday, where the movies are never R-rated. The family history work is the best in the world. All are welcome.

No to tax increase

Regarding the $2.6 billion transit system proposal: As a fixed-income taxpayer, any tax increase will mean a decrease in my cash contributions to others.

New UH campus would be a shortsighted fix

One can sympathize with residents of West O'ahu who want their own UH campus. I wonder, though, if it occurs to them as they crawl along the freeway that the underlying cause of their nightmarish commute is an O'ahu General Plan largely written 20 years ago by large landowners and the construction industry?

We are all seeing the effects of out-of-control development of ag lands that should have been kept as a greenbelt around Honolulu.

I wonder, too, if those commuters now regret not having been more vocal in opposing the H-3 Freeway, which now dumps thousands of cars in Halawa, right in their path.

Spending $350 million of our money on a West O'ahu campus is a shortsighted "solution" that won't begin to cure the problem. Are we then going to fund the duplication of every other institution in town? We need a lobbyist-proof moratorium on further development in 'Ewa and the central plain, and a meaningful transportation plan, one that probably will include light rail.

Not only will the $350 million fail to cure the problem, but it will gut a UH system already weakened by years of budget cuts under Gov. Cayetano. Remember that we all live in the same state that built a library in Kapolei and then couldn't afford to fill it with books.

Sure, we can scrape together money to throw up some buildings, but no one has breathed a word about how we will fund maintenance and salaries for an expanded West O'ahu administration and faculty. That money and those faculty positions are going to come from the current UH system.

Residents of West O'ahu need to look again at the yearly ranking of UH by U.S. News & World Report, the major ranking of upper education in the U.S. We are barely holding on to our third-tier position; West O'ahu would drag us into the fourth, to join East Tennessee State University. Advertised faculty openings all over UH are going unfilled because UH faculty salaries are no longer competitive.

UH Manoa at this point is a poorly maintained, underfunded, mediocre institution. If we spend the $350 million, what do we all imagine we will end up with in West O'ahu? UH regents who oppose West O'ahu are acting responsibly.