No more shame from the Dobelle debacle

Why so many letters to the editor about the UH regents' firing of Evan Dobelle? Perhaps we all have a strong sensitivity to shame.

News of this debacle has spread nationwide, and the coverage is not flattering. The Chronicle of Higher Education, read throughout academia, began its June 25 article, "ALOHA, BABY: The board of the University of Hawai'i has fired the president of its system, Evan S. Dobelle, 58, 'for cause,' though the board declined to say what that cause was." And so goes the New York Times, Newsday and even the International Herald Tribune published in France.

Shame for us.

The regents wish to avoid paying Dobelle $2.26 million severance and have claimed his firing was "for cause." The reasons have yet to be made known and will have to bear both public and legal scrutiny when they are. If they aren't clear and convincing, what will it mean?

More shame.

Was record-keeping on the president's credit card expenses adequate and were policies and procedures in place to assure that personal and private expenses were carefully separated? Why did the UH Foundation not have in place the simple and common-sense controls that other large and small organizations typically have? And shouldn't Dobelle himself have exercised more control over his expense reporting? What is it about standard accounting practice that no one seems to understand?

Dear Regents: The world is watching. Please, no more shame for Hawai'i.

Democrats don't need Dobelle as a candidate

The people suggesting that Evan Dobelle run for governor as a Democrat must be Republicans. There is no vacuum of leadership in the Democratic Party, and we will prove it in the elections this year as well as in 2006.

As a lifelong Democrat, I applaud the regents for doing what needed to be done, and I really don't care whether Gov. Lingle had a hand in it or not. It was the right thing to do.

Dobelle's departure will not hurt the University of Hawai'i; it will only help it. He is now old news. Let's get on to other, more interesting stories.

There were citizens who were also traitors

Contrary to what Ken Conklin states in his letter of May 24, sovereignty activists do not deny that non-natives were "full members" of the Hawaiian kingdom.

For example, Sanford B. Dole was indeed a full-fledged, native-born citizen of the Kingdom of Hawai'i. That is, until he sat idly by as his queen was illegally driven from her palace. At which point, he turned on his sovereign, setting himself up as "president" of an unlawful "Republic of Hawai'i." That is when he stopped being a citizen of the Hawaiian Kingdom and became a traitor to his queen and his country.

So if Conklin is still wondering why the Akaka bill excludes non-natives, perhaps it is because, after 111 years, the sovereignty movement has finally had enough of "full members" like Dole and Conklin.

Wonderful coverage

Three cheers to Jan TenBruggencate for his coverage of the recent voyages of the Hokule'a. I always enjoy reading his work — but these articles and photographs have been outstanding.

It's too bad Hokule'a didn't sail back home

I was very disappointed to learn that Hokule'a was to be towed back to Kaua'i ("Hokule'a begins trip home," June 12).

From the moment I first learned of its passage to Kure Atoll, my main interest has been in how it intended to return to the main islands. Would it work its way east through the variable winds just north of the Hawaiian chain? Would it stand to the north and use the westerlies at about 40 degrees north latitude? Or would it take a long tack south through the trades?

Not to take anything away from the extremely interesting, and well-reported, passage Hokule'a just completed, the trip from Kaua'i to Kure is pretty straightforward: downwind, down-current, down-swell. What sailors call a "downhill run." However, the "uphill run" from Kure to Kaua'i, under sail, would have been a real challenge.

Accomplishing it, especially using traditional navigation techniques, would have proven that pre-contact Hawaiians could have made regular round trips to the Northwestern islands. It is a pity that this opportunity has been lost.

Help sponsor a rider in cycling fund-raiser

Next month, the Life Foundation, Malama Pono Kaua'i AIDS Project and Maui AIDS Foundation will hold their seventh annual fund-raiser, The Paradise Ride. It will be a bicycling event taking place from July 17 to 23 on O'ahu, Maui, Moloka'i and Kaua'i to raise money for these three agencies that provide AIDS/HIV treatment, education and prevention services in Hawai'i. Riders will average 60 miles a day, for six days, for a total of about 360 miles.

Despite recent medical advances in the treatment of AIDS/HIV, the fight against this disease is far from over and people affected by it are in daily need of assistance to receive medication and treatment. These three agencies help provide that and much more.

I will be one of the bicyclists at this event, and I am seeking sponsors. If any of your readers would like to help sponsor me, they can visit my Web site at www.geocities.com/rider1219, which has a link to my donation page, or they can e-mail me at rider1219@yahoo.com or call me at 945-9345 and leave a messege. I will return their calls and provide them with information on how they can help sponsor me this year.

Micronesian, Polynesian cultures are indeed linked

The June 22 Island Voices commentary says that the "star navigation used by the Hawaiians today is not Polynesian at all — it's Micronesian ... Micronesian navigation is not Polynesian because ... the Micronesian culture never contacted the Polynesians."

That's not true. The navigator's star compass used throughout the Indo-Pacific region, whether by Arabs, Micronesians or Polynesians, is the same compass. Did they talk to one another and agree to use the same stars in the same places in their separate systems?

The Micronesians call the Southern Cross "Wenewen"; the Hawaiians call it "Newenewe" (just backward, same word). Navigators from the Marianas called west "Liu-giu," meaning Ryukyu, and west beyond Ryukyu (Ruk, Luk) Lu-jan (Luzon, Philippines), same as Lu-Chan (China), but where is Lu, Ru, Ruk, Luk, Lug?

The Marshallese' sky-propping god is Lug-ei-lang, and over here it's Lu, at Kau-no-Lu, the "stance of Lu" on Lana'i. And Lu had a son, Ahu, thus the full name of the island here is O-Ahu-a-Lu-a-Nu'u — Ahu, son of Lu, son of Nu'u, meaning the "zenith"; when the sun is on the meridian at noon, then it is at luanu'u, meaning the oracle tower in the Hawaiian temple (heiau). Hawaiians are descended from Lu, same as Lugeilang in the Marshalls.

Did you know that the Mayans in the Yucatan, Mexico, see the Belt of Orion as three stars across the back of a sacred turtle? So do the Tibetans and the Tongans, but the sacred turtle also holds up the island of Moloka'i just as the sacred cosmic turtle holds up the sacred mountain, Meru, in Buddhist cosmogony. There are two turtles carved onto a submerged mountain just below Yonaguni Island in the Ryukyus (Okinawa), once the home of the Jomon people. Wasn't it Tangaroa (Kanaloa) who took care of a male and female turtle under the land of Rangatiti ages and ages ago? Interesting.

Fugitive forced his own death

This is in response to your June 21 editorial regarding the shooting incident at Mayor Wright housing recently. You are absolutely correct that having a fugitive killed in a hail of gunfire and an officer wounded is not "business as usual."

However, your query on whether police could have placed Gordon Morse under surveillance until he moved to a place where a collar could be handled in relative safety, rather than responding in force, is exactly what you claim to be avoiding, Monday morning quarterbacking.

Your inference that police are being complacent because he was in a Weed and Seed area (Mayor Wright) couldn't be further from the truth. As you are aware, officers had been actively pursuing fugitive Morse since he was identified as the suspect in the attempted murder of a police officer and the person responsible for a series of carjackings several weeks ago. Morse had been sighted at several locations throughout the island, and Mayor Wright was just another of his temporary hideouts.

With due respect to his family, Gordon Morse was an ice addict who was a plague and a danger to society. By her own account, his own mother begged him to surrender; he ignored her advice, choosing instead a life of crime. He claimed to be turning his life around to care for his children, but in reality, he chose his addiction over his family.

By witness accounts, officers pleaded with Morse to surrender and drop his gun; instead his evil "ice master" compelled him to shoot officer Ermie Barroga Jr., who was armed with a "less than lethal" weapon in an effort to take Morse in alive.

When I arrived at the scene shortly thereafter, the officers involved were visibly traumatized. Their eyes were filled with disbelief at what they had just been forced to do. They came in overwhelming numbers to force Morse to surrender, something any reasonable person would do when faced with similar circumstances. But Gordon Morse — not the officers, Gordon Morse and only Gordon Morse — forced his own death.

The officers will live with this event the rest of their lives. With tears in his eyes, one officer could only say, "It was just senseless — why did he do it, why?" The officer had been forced to take a human life and watched as a colleague, a brother, was shot down before him senselessly. The officers will never forget what happened; the event will play in their minds over and over and over for the rest of their lives. I know from personal experience. I live a similar event that occurred 16 years, one month and four days ago. It never goes away.

The question you should be asking is not, "Did these officers do the right thing?" The question is, "What can we do to thank these officers?" What can we do to prevent another Gordon Morse from destroying lives?