Posted on: Friday, May 7, 2004

Letters to the Editor

UH Foundation audit could be misinterpreted

I wish to address any misconceptions about the medical school that the UH Foundation audit report may have created.

The $4,000 table was purchased at the Symphony Ball in 2002. Beginning in 2003, I have paid for my own tables on behalf of the medical school at all fund-raising events, or my guests have generously paid for themselves. Those invited to the 2002 event subsequently contributed $7,270 to the UH Foundation for the medical school.

Even so, I apologize for the oversight. Today, I wrote a check to the UH Foundation for $4,000. Though I am reluctant to call attention to my own contributions, I feel it is relevant in this case. Since becoming dean in November 1999 until Feb. 1, 2004, I have personally contributed $31,494 to the UH Foundation for our medical school.

Convention Center security not secrecy

In 1999, I went to Seattle to attend the Diamond Jubilee celebration of one of the city's charitable groups. How horrible, untimely and dangerous for all in the city that this event was the same weekend as the World Trade Organization meeting that went on to cause over $2 billion in damage and the arrest of hundreds of protesters.

The heart of the city was lit up as bright as day as I attempted to drive through at 7 p.m. Businesses had their doors and windows boarded. At every intersection there were armed police and National Guardsmen dressed in riot gear. What do you think happened to the people who might have been in severe distress from illness, collisions or domestic violence because the city's resources were standing guard due to protesters being alerted to the WTO event?

Our city and state, the visitors who pay into the hotel room tax and citizens are entitled to safety and security. I am surprised that there are groups and individuals who want to subject all of us to this kind of threat and property damage and scare away conventions and their revenue. Can Hawai'i afford $2.5 billion to clean up and repair a similar mess?

Step into a riot and then you have the right to complain about secrecy. This is not about secrecy.

Childcare providers a much-needed resource

I'd like to give kudos to an important group of people. Today, the nation celebrates Provider Appreciation Day, a tribute to the tireless efforts of providers who care for children of working parents.

In Hawai'i, the high cost of living drives up the number of dual-income families; therefore, many of us rely on childcare providers to take on the critical role of daily care of our children.

PATCH (People Attentive to Children), Hawai'i's statewide childcare resource and referral agency, salutes Hawai'i's childcare providers. Their dedication to providing quality care helps to shape the lives of our youngsters. I encourage you to take this opportunity to acknowledge the childcare providers in your community.

I encourage all who enjoy children and would like the opportunity to work from home and be their own boss to consider this worthy career. You can call PATCH at 839-1988 to find out more information.

Pali pothole problem being ignored by state

Want a daily chuckle? Call the state of Hawai'i "pothole hotline" at 536-7852. There you'll hear a friendly taped voice informing you that the DOT appreciates responsible citizens reporting potholes. Moreover, the tape goes on to say that the DOT will "get crews on the site immediately. We are working hard to improve our roadways."

While I never expected an "immediate response," I did expect some action. Yet a month later, weekly calls to the hotline have elicited no action to the ever-increasing and -widening potholes on the Pali Highway. When I called the DOT office, I was told that no repairs were planned, not even temporary ones, until the completion of the Castle Junction project in four to six months. This, despite the fact that one of the potholes has now grown to over 8 feet across.

Calling the governor's office offered no results, either. Speaking to one of the key aides, I was told that he sympathized with me because he also lived on the Windward side. However, he suggested that I get used to it since no repairs were scheduled for at least four months. His advice to me was to "drive around them" as he does.

Don't make the UH fan pay for league switch

Should the University of Hawai'i leave the WAC? Maybe. It's a difficult decision for UH. Do we leave an already competitive league that produces hard-earned winning records, bowl games and NFL players, or do we choose a league with more powerhouses that may adversely affect the UH program?

As UH struggles to win a bid to its own bowl game and fill the seats of Aloha Stadium, how does removing old rivalries, possibly higher road-game travel costs, new league registration fees and league exit fees fit into the equation, especially when UH is not even close to the break-even point annually?

It's risky to think that new opponents will generate excitement and return UH fans to the stadium, especially if the X-factor includes raising ticket prices. We have already seen the effects. Over the last five years, attendance has been on a steady decline.

As a UH alumnus, I will always be there for my team; but let's be realistic. The real power of UH football is found unconditionally in the stands. Do what you will, just please don't make it financially difficult to support the team we love.

Gabbard's brave stand shows he's leader-worthy

Anyone who has stood up to protect traditional marriage is not qualified to hold elective office — that's the outrageous, arrogant claim by a recent letter writer.

To the contrary, Mike Gabbard's leadership in the battle to protect traditional marriage in Hawai'i is what uniquely qualifies him to represent me and the majority of Hawai'i's people in Congress.

For Gabbard to have successfully led the fight to get the question of same-sex marriage placed on the ballot for a public vote in 1998, and then persuade 70 percent of Hawai'i's people to set aside differences in religion, ethnicity and politics to come out in support of traditional marriage, took courage, perseverance, humility and the ability to work with and inspire people of all walks of life. Those proven leadership qualities will also serve Gabbard well in Congress.

I need to be able to trust the person who's representing me in Washington. I instinctively know I can trust someone who shares my values. That's why I know I can trust Mike Gabbard. It's also why I know I cannot trust Ed Case.

Slaughter of animals should be re-evaluated

We new parents spend hours reading to our children stories depicting an idyllic farm environment with friendly red barns and wide-open spaces. But for how many farm animals does that truly exist?

Cows, like humans, are mammals, yet they are the most exploited creatures in the industrialized world. In big factory farms, young are separated from their mothers right after birth.

A deep rift exists between the human world and the animal world in industrialized countries. In the USA, Hawai'i included, we have come a long way in terms of our awareness and respect for the rights of animals and our responsibility to protect and defend the freedoms of those who cannot speak for themselves. But we still have a ways to go when it comes to cows and pigs (not to mention turkeys and chickens).

The mass production of millions of animals for slaughter needs to be re-evaluated and questioned critically.

This Mother's Day, let's remember our fellow mammals and pledge to reduce our meat and dairy consumption and speak out against large-scale agribusiness practices.

There was another side to Adam Smith

Thank you for printing Robert Rees' insightful column of April 26 in which he discussed the paradoxical views of the famous 18th-century economist Adam Smith.

For over two centuries Adam Smith has been revered by capitalists everywhere as the patron saint of the free-enterprise system, whose most memorable dictum was that in economic activity, each person's pursuit of self-interest will lead, as if by an Invisible Hand, to the greatest benefit to society.

Indeed, there is no doubt that the pursuit of economic self-interest is a great motivator, capable of leading to astounding results in production.

Smith, however, was also aware of an inescapable contradiction within the free-enterprise system, namely the clash between the beneficial and the harmful side of the freedom so cherished by capitalists.

For while they want to be free to produce in accordance with the laws of supply and demand and thereby benefit society, they also insist on being free to interfere with those very laws when their self-interest demands it, which is to say always.

This is why Adam Smith denounced "the rapacity, the monopolizing spirit of merchants and manufacturers" and their determination "to deceive and even to oppress the public" by conspiring to limit competition and thereby increase their profits at the expense of society.

This is also why Smith wrote, "People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public."

Guidelines now needed for glaucoma treatment

Gov. Lingle is to be commended for her veto of optometry bill HB 1797.

Her veto faced an almost certain override by the Legislature, and this has, indeed, occurred. She courageously chose to draw attention to the legitimate concerns of the medical community toward HB 1797, which grants optometrists, who are not medical doctors, the privilege of prescribing oral drugs, which include antibiotics. The guidelines that made referrals mandatory to ophthalmologists (eye M.D.'s) when the optometrists encounter severe eye diseases are removed by the new statutes.

The optometrists told the legislators that the previous Hawai'i statutes, unlike those of 47 other states, did not allow treatment of glaucoma, a potentially blinding disease. What should be emphasized, however, is that these states have restrictions that vary considerably throughout the country. For instance, 26 states forbid the use of oral drugs for glaucoma by optometrists. Thirty-three states prohibit oral steroids and 18 states prohibit oral antibiotics by optometrists. HB 1797 has no such restrictions.

If the governor's veto had been sustained, the ophthalmology division at the John A. Burns School of Medicine was willing to assist the optometrists in establishing the guidelines necessary to promote eye safety in Hawai'i. Perhaps our optometric colleagues, on their own, will adopt carefully constructed guidelines, such as those now functioning in California. In California, an optometrist who wants to treat glaucoma has to complete a two-year apprenticeship under the guidance of an ophthalmologist before he or she is certified to treat a single type of this disease.

The citizens of Hawai'i deserve no less protection under the law.

Police must crack down on crop theft statewide

I read with great dismay and growing anger about the crop theft in Waialua that is jeopardizing one of the few business enterprises that are attempting to replace the demise of the sugar plantation in my home community.

For shame that one police representative said, "We don't have that kind of manpower." It's not "we don't have." I think it's more "we don't want to have ... "

You try working in the fields for hours every day to eke out a living and then have the fruits of your labor stolen from you. That's like stealing your paycheck. And what about the more violent crime, more virulent property damage and drug traffic that no doubt will arise out of those crop thefts?

Let's face it, these guys who steal bushels and bushels of produce aren't stealing to simply eat, or to make enough to send their kids to a private school. Illegal profit goes to more illegal activity, probably including drug abuse.

Legislators and county officials have to press the importance of the matter to our respected law-enforcement leaders, as well as exercise their lawmaking authority to stiffen the penalties for large-scale theft and destruction of business properties and produce.

Not only that, penalties should be stiff for anyone found fencing and buying stolen goods, including stiffer fines, jail time and confiscation of property obtained through illegal sales of the produce. And they should be enforced as strongly as anti-drug laws. Not only stop the thieves in the act, but make their profits evaporate. Find and convict anyone who knowingly buys stolen produce, confiscate their property, and then go after their sources.

We're not talking losing one or two mangoes. We're talking about the loss of businesses due to tons of produce stolen not only in Waialua, but also throughout the state. Why does our society and our police allow the destruction of the livelihood of decent, hardworking, modest men and women who labor hours and hours under the hot fields for an honest living?

Pardon the expression, but that's not small potatoes.