Posted on: Tuesday, December 21, 2004

Letters to the Editor

Bush, Rumsfeld are contemptible for war

I cannot express my feelings of contempt for President Bush and Donald Rumsfeld.

For the last 19 months, soldiers and Marines have been maimed or killed daily in Iraq, with one of the biggest concerns the lack of proper equipment. There is no doubt that many of these casualties could have been reduced or eliminated had the troops had the correct protection.

Over the past few months, the Department of Defense has repeatedly stated that everything possible was being done to provide the necessary armor. It took an Army specialist to publicly confront Secretary Rumsfeld to get the ball rolling. Now, amazingly, all vehicles in Iraq will be properly armored in six months.

What changed in the last few weeks? Public knowledge and opinion. It is increasingly clear how poorly President Bush and his secretary of defense have handled the Iraq war — from initial "misunderestimating" the insurgents, Abu Ghraib and now this. Isn't it ironic that some of the 2004 campaign commercials attacked Sen. Kerry's vote against personnel armor?

Unfortunately, we are all along for the ride for at least the next 49 months.

Hawaiians deserve to be treated fairly

I appreciate the response to my letter by Janice Johnson on Dec. 11 that shared her sincere concern for Hawaiians.

First, regarding OHA's quest for federal recognition for Hawaiians: Should Hawaiians receive recognition, they would be the third of three indigenous, native people residing in the United States. The others are of course the American Indians and the Alaskan natives. The legal premise under international law and the U.S. Constitution would then hold true. Simply, native and indigenous people have inherent and inalienable rights that set them apart from the rest of the U.S. citizenry. Hawaiians have been denied those rights. Certainly "justice for all" should apply to the Hawaiian people as well.

Johnson's second point is whether it is fair that she must suffer an additional tax burden in support of the rehabilitation of Hawaiians. Hawaiians ask, "Was it fair of the United States to support the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom by landing military forces in Honolulu in 1893, an act described by then-U.S. President Grover Cleveland as an illegal "act of war against a weak and feeble nation."

Hawaiians are loyal citizens of the United States and as such have the inherent right to seek justice for themselves. The very precepts of American democracy are being challenged today. We are in a war for our very existence.

America must tend to its own questionable history if it ever expects to regain the respect and admiration of a questioning world. We must regain our credibility if we are to survive.

Justice for the Hawaiian people can certainly be a beginning.

Property owners are taking a big hit

Our property taxes are flying out of control — up, up and away— but for most of us our income is still on the ground.

Why are some of us leaving the state? Well, let's just say that somebody is not doing a good job. Why do property owners get the burden of paying for almost everything that goes on in the city?

I would think that if we raised the state sales tax and were to get a little of that income, we would be in a much better position.

Using blower to clean up toxins bad move

The contractor who had the job next to King Intermediate of cleaning up the toxic material his work generated didn't get the concept. Instead of using a blower, which blew it all up into the air to be deposited on neighboring areas, he should have been using a vacuum machine to pick it all up, with filters to capture all the toxic material and discharge clean air.

The contractor should be subject to heavy fines for polluting and pay for all the cleanup.

And those infernal blowers should be outlawed for the noise they produce and for blowing dust and debris into the air to be deposited not only in somebody else's back yard, but into their houses and lungs.

It's surprising that the NIMBY attitude isn't aroused at their use.

Absence is excusable

I think we can probably excuse Mr. Abercrombie from missing the key intelligence vote on Dec. 7. I believe he has a good reason for doing so. According to your obituary section on Wednesday, his mother passed away on Dec. 4. My guess is Mr. Abercrombie was in Florida with his family grieving the loss of his mother. I'll bet www.neilwatch.info didn't have that info. Perhaps we can give him a break on this one.

Accident is waiting to happen in Waipahu

Regarding your Dec. 15 article on the state Department of Transportation changing its mind about installing a traffic signal at Honowai Street and Kunia Road in Waipahu: I have lived in that area for almost 23 years and used that intersection to access Kunia Road until seven years ago when I had an accident there. Also, about 10 years ago, my wife was in an accident there.

If a traffic signal had been in place, those accidents would not have happened.

Sen. Willie Espero was quoted in the article as saying everyone is now happy and there is a traffic signal at the intersection of Kunia Road and Waipahu Street. I don't know any Waipahu resident who is happy, and there is a stop sign at that intersection, not a traffic signal.

The DOT spokesman indicated this is not a political move. My question to the DOT is, "Would this decision be made if Sen. Cal Kawamoto had still been in office?" I think not.

We're being ripped off on bottle deposit law

When Hawai'i implemented its recycling deposit several weeks ago, it didn't say it would be ripping off consumers. Read the label on the can — what does it say? "DEPOSIT HI .05c" Yes .05 cent deposit, right? Yes. We pay the 5 cents plus 1 cent (non-refundable) when we buy a drink, but that's not what the label says.

Look carefully and you'll notice that according to the HI 5 label, we're being overcharged 100 times what the label calls for: .05c isn't 5 cents — that's five hundreths of a cent, or 5 percent of a cent. It would take you 20 cans to equal 1 cent worth of deposit. Five cents should be written as 5c without any decimal points or $.05 without the cent sign.

Make it clear that this is false labeling and consumers are being overcharged 100 times more than what is said on the product.

That's my two cents.

Kuhio, Ala Wai roadwork is a boon to Waikiki area

I would like to speak out in support of the projects along Kuhio and the Ala Wai Canal. It's been frustrating to have the roads torn up, but both roads look a whole lot better now. In the long term, these projects will actually have a positive effect on Honolulu traffic by slightly reducing the number of cars in and out of Waikiki.

When you increase available parking or widen roads, you also increase the number of cars on the road, and then you have a problem worse than when you started. When you eliminate lanes, traffic will temporarily worsen but will return to its previous level as commuters find alternate routes or make other arrangements. This requires that alternatives exist and that commuters find those alternatives more attractive (or at least less frustrating) than driving in traffic.

Having pleasant streets along which to walk is worth some degree of personal sacrifice, but fortunately we do have alternatives. Waikiki is served by more buses than any other area in the state, perhaps in the nation. Door to door, the route "B" bus is faster to downtown than driving yourself if you include the time it takes to park. Arriving every 10 minutes, the transit "E" bus is a convenient way to get to Ala Moana, Ward Centre, Ka-ka'ako, Aloha Tower Marketplace and downtown.

Riding the bus may not be anyone's idea of a thrill ride, but it does have its advantages. I sold my car about six months ago as an experiment to see if I could live without it. Today, I am enjoying the extra $500 in my pocket each month considering the car payment, fuel cost, depreciation, parking, repairs and insurance I no longer pay. After spending $40 per month for my bus pass, I still have a lot left over for Christmas presents. Best of all, I don't have the hassle and expense of parking downtown, and I can read a book or magazine while somebody else worries about the traffic.

So I'd like to thank our mayor for the beautiful walkways and trees along Kuhio, the new coconut palms and repairs to the Ala Wai, and for the excellent new E-Transit bus service. I suspect, too, that at least a few of O'ahu's 4 million visitors each year appreciate these changes as much as I.

Aquaculture is surging ahead

We want to commend Advertiser editorial page editor Jerry Burris and commentator John Griffin for their thoughtful coverage in the Dec. 12 Focus section on the future of Hawai'i's agriculture and the land it uses.

However, no discussion on the future of agriculture in Hawai'i is complete without considering aquaculture — the fastest growing segment of the diversified agriculture industry in Hawai'i. Aquaculture is playing an increasingly important role in meeting the world's demand for seafood and in taking pressure off natural stocks of fish, shrimp and other marine life.

Since the mid-1980s, aquaculture has been the world's fastest growing food production system, increasing an average of 9.6 percent annually.

The growth is happening in Hawai'i too. There were only two aquatic farm operations in Hawai'i in the 1970s, which together generated $11,000 in annual revenues. Today, the industry achieved remarkable revenue growth of $25.2 million in 2002, up 13 percent from 2001. Production from local aquaculture farms rose from an average of 20,000 pounds of production in 1970 to 2.9 million pounds in 2000.

The demise of Hawai'i's sugar industry, coupled with an increase in the number of terrestrial farmers who have switched to aqua-farming, has helped fuel the growth of aquaculture in Hawai'i. Aquaculture business models showing rates of return of 30 percent or more have also spurred interest.

A major benefit is that while most aquaculture farming is currently done on land, usually near the ocean, the increasing use of open-ocean fish farming using cages will free up more of Hawai'i's precious land for other uses, including preservation.

Here at the Oceanic Institute, we are helping support the aquaculture industry by developing new ways to raise high-value fish faster, more affordably and without adversely impacting our ocean resources. We then transfer those new technologies to the private sector, where farmers can put them to good use, making their fish and shrimp farms more profitable and sustainable as a result.

Also, thanks to our new partnership with Hawai'i Pacific University, we're working to establish OI as a global center for the study of marine and ocean sciences, and producing the next generation of scientists and aquaculture farmers.

We believe aquaculture can, and should, play an increasingly important role in Hawai'i's economic future. We believe, working together with Hawai'i's aquaculture industry, we can achieve this goal.