Letters to the Editor

Rees has bad habit of defending powerful

Robert Rees is a curious knight errant. As a sometime journalist, he consistently takes the side of the powerful and privileged who have lost their positions as a result of abusing the powers given them.

Consider that he has publicly defended the late Tom "Fat Boy" Okuda, former deputy director of the state Judiciary, who was convicted of "fixing" traffic tickets in the midst of a major scandal involving the politicization of the courts; former union leader Gary Rodrigues, accused of viciously quashing his union's internal dissent and more recently convicted by a federal jury on over 100 charges involving embezzlement and the abuse of power; the ousted trustees of Kamehameha Schools (formerly known as the Bishop Estate), removed by the court required to evaluate their behavior; and, more recently, at the University of Hawai'i, Hamilton McCubbin and Evan Dobelle.

Demanding accountability on the part of those given positions of power, trust and responsibility apparently irritates Mr. Rees.

Bicycle riding can be grand — except here

I am a 46-year-old woman who just spent three weeks at my parents' home in The Villages, Florida. One of the highlights of my trip was bike riding with my dad every day during which we talked more than we had in years. He told me stories of his childhood no one in the family has ever heard before. We talked of dreams he had as a boy, the first time he met my mother, whom he married 53 years ago, and how he got his first job.

The bike paths were everywhere, and my dad knew every shade tree to rest under. We spotted rabbits, birds, lakes and friendly bikers all over the place. I saw one person every day who had to have been 100 years old, but he flew past me every time.

Ever since I returned home to O'ahu, I have cut out every article and letter to the editor in your paper about biking to send to my dad. He will be here next March for the first time. I never thought my daddy was afraid of anything, but I do not think he wants to ride bikes over here.

I guess I will have to find another venue to get to know him better when he visits. Maybe a relaxing drive around the island ... wait, I should get my scissors out!

There's a difference between the seal, logo

I too am tired of the logo topic, but not for the same reasons I keep reading. I am tired of the negativity and misunderstanding about the basic goals of the branding process.

No one believes that reputation is achieved with a logo. Reputation comes from the progressive work of faculty, staff and students. The search for a logo is not about changing that reputation.

As for the university seal, it is not now, nor has it ever been, a logo. If I take 20 university seals and strip off the words, most people would not be able to match the seal with the university — even those of some of our most reputable institutions. Your visual association is their name logo.

The logo search is about a snapshot image that can be used easily by all campuses to provide immediate recognition of affiliation in any form of communication. It is also about an image that works well for merchandising. I want something that has youth appeal and will be purchased in the millions on hats, shirts, mugs, etc.

Try not to connect the work of the university with the process for finding an attractive and marketable logo.

More data on Gabbard

Since most people want more information about me, my background, position on issues and so forth, I'd like to invite anyone interested to please visit my Web site, MikeGabbard.com.

Homeless shelter is very appreciated

Congratulations to all not-for-profit agencies, governmental departments and community supporters for your successful proposal to develop a second homeless shelter on O'ahu! A shelter, combined with supportive services on-site, will be so beneficial to those in need, especially families.

I do not worry for a second that all homeless individuals and families will "migrate" to Wai'anae. But I do feel we need to continue these types of efforts statewide, as the needs are that widespread. I wish the best for this project and for Wai'anae.

Let us use it as the prototype for all future shelters and never give up on the next step after the shelter as well: long-term, permanent housing.

Condo leasehold law report was ignored

Your lead editorial on Sunday opines that Chapter 38 — Condominium Leasehold Conversion — should be retained, as it has "withstood the test of time and court challenges." This opinion makes no reference to either the Leasehold Conversion Task Group Report of April 2 or the subsequent public hearing — and testimony — regarding this report, held on June 3, neither of which was deemed sufficiently worthy of coverage by your press.

This report exhaustively examined the proposition of "public purpose" as a crucial element of municipal condemnation and found this element to be seriously lacking in today's real estate market.

Without demonstrable "public purpose," condemnation becomes a government-sponsored transfer of property from one private party to another, which is precisely the circumstance that you editorially oppose.

In this particular case, condemnation without public purpose also threatens to rob the Lili'uokalani Trust of revenue streams necessary to fund its programs supporting Hawaiian orphans and indigents, which is certainly a social task that the city is neither prepared nor eager to shoulder, given its inability or disinterest in dealing with existing homeless.

We suggest you seek better command of the issues prior to offering editorial opinion.

The 111-year struggle against the American occupation and colonization of our homeland of Hawai'i has been a difficult and laborious endeavor.

In 1993, supporters such as the Japanese-American Citizens League adopted resolutions in support of the continuing call for Hawaiian sovereignty. Its solidarity with our struggle is an important indication to the world and the U.S. government of the righteousness of our cause.

However, we are deeply disappointed and concerned that at its national convention, it has chosen to hold a workshop that presents only one controversial perspective on Hawaiian sovereignty — the pro-Akaka bill perspective — to the exclusion of other voices. We assume that this is an oversight on the part of the conference organizers and request that equal time be given at the convention to activists and scholars who can present a reasoned, critical analysis of the Akaka bill and how the bill could actually do harm to kanaka maoli human rights and self-determination.

Federal recognition is a contentious issue for our kanaka maoli people. As embodied in the Akaka-Stevens bill, substantial kanaka maoli claims to land and sovereignty would be silenced through the creation of a puppet government subordinated to the U.S. Department of the Interior.

Moreover, the proposed legislation would maintain the prevailing inequalities of Hawai'i's political and social hierarchies. Kanaka maoli would be reduced to permanent wardship as beneficiaries of the federal dole. The victories that the American business and military interests could not secure through armed invasion and a failed treaty of annexation would be consummated through federal recognition, which will aim to silence our century of protest.

As advocates for a more profound interrogation of the inequalities and prejudices that injure all human society, we invite JACL to join us in calling for an honest, open and broad discussion of the politics of Hawaiian self-determination, because of the gravity of these issues for kanaka maoli today.

Hokule'a navigation limited

Hokule'a cannot be all things to all people, as witness George Avlonitis remarks in The Advertiser (July 23 commentary). But the canoe has done pretty well in its almost 30 years, making contributions both to understanding ancient voyaging and to encouraging cultural revival.

The Hokule'a is shown under full sail off Nihoa Island in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands on its most recent voyage in June. Advertiser library photo

Still, it would have been great to have revived specifically Polynesian navigation with its "wind compass," now only vaguely known. But that's exactly what Ariki (chief) Koloso Kaveia, and anthropologist Marianne George of Kona, are now doing on Taumako, a small Polynesian outlier in Melanesia where voyaging did not totally die out. With mat sails, Taumako's swift "te puke" canoes will soon be sailing again, taking us further back into Polynesia's seafaring past.

At the time of European contact, Tahitians apparently did not have an active knowledge of Hawai'i, Rapa Nui (Easter Island) and Aotearoa (New Zealand). Yet the learned Tahitian Tupaia gave Captain Cook the names of 74 islands to which Tahitians sailed, indicating their locations in terms of sailing days and wind compass bearings. Mapped out, they extend from Fiji, Tonga and Samoa in the west, to Te Henua 'Enana (the Marquesas), the Tuamotus and Australs in the east, covering a swath of ocean about the size of the continental U.S.

Now Hawaiians are no longer trying to prove anything about the sailing or navigational performance of traditional craft. Been there, done that. They are into cultural identity, voyaging rather than testing museum replicas. (See my latest book, "Sailing in the Wake of the Ancestors," Bishop Museum Press, 2003.)

Still, I would like to see them rig their canoes with Hawaiian "crab-claw" sails woven from lauhala, rather than modern yacht sails. Maybe Hawai'i can follow the lead of distant Taumako.