Please leave crater out of debate on dump

Now, wait a minute. I thought Koko Crater was zoned for conservation. I thought there were countless rare plants from around the world there, some of which have none left in the wild. I thought it was a site for an ancient grove of endemic native Hawaiian wili wili trees, which are protected by city and state statutes. I know that it is where countless dryland native, extremely rare Hawaiian plants are planted and cared for.

I thought this landfill-in-Koko Crater issue went out with the '90s.

Please leave the crater out of this.

Put a muzzle on Tam

Rod Tam, what a visionary! I remember when his great idea was for us to provide snacks and naps; now he wants to trash Koko Crater? Can Waikiki Beach be far behind? Thank goodness for Charles Djou!

Choosing Campbell as dump site amusing

The outcry over choosing Campbell Industrial Park as a dump site is amusing.

In the late '90s, Animal Rights Hawaii sued Palama Meat for building a slaughterhouse. It's across the street from the proposed dump site. ARH argued the huge manure pit and pesticides would stink up Kapolei and pollute the beaches, making people sick. It said it was a tsunami zone, and that it would endanger the turtles.

A team of high-powered lawyers showed up in court to get the case dismissed on an unconstitutional technicality. The state even backed loans for Palama. Then the earth, animals and people downwind lucked out and Palama went bankrupt. However, H-Power is still spewing dangerous heavy metals into the air and water, as is the oil refinery. The rendering plant stinks, and there are mountains of scrap metal.

So excuse me if I chuckle when I hear the nearby bottler complain about the air quality, or the environmentalists complain about an endangered plant there, and when Ben Lee says you can't put garbage there. They are about 20 years too late.

Complaint on school days off was wrong

Patrick Adams complained in his Nov. 17 letter that there were "Too many days off for students in November." The only days off from school that I can see from looking at my calendar are the following: Election Day on Nov. 2, Veterans Day on Nov. 11 and the Thanksgiving holidays on Nov. 25 and 26. This means that students will be in class for 18 days, not 13, as he states. Teacher institute day was only one day, on Oct. 11 (not in November), for O'ahu.

Yes, schools usually end at 1:20 p.m. on Wednesdays because teachers and administrators need the time for meetings (grade level, committee or school leadership).

What infuriates me is his snide remark, "Makes you think maybe the teachers would be happier if they did not need to have any classes at all." Mr. Adams obviously doesn't have a very high opinion of teachers, nor does he appreciate the professionalism and dedication of our teachers. As a recently retired teacher, I can only hope that in the future Mr. Adams will think before sounding off about something he obviously knows nothing about.

Yes, there may be problems, but they are being addressed by the Board of Education, the Department of Education and especially the professional educators in the schools. Sniping from misinformed and uninformed sources does not help.

I shudder to think what Mr. Adams will say about the month of December because of Christmas vacation.

Credit the Wahine for a great season

Congratulations to the UH Wahine volleyball team for going undefeated during the regular season, for winning the WAC championship and for being voted No. 1 in the nation. With what was supposed to be a rebuilding year with only one starter returning from last year's team, who would have thought they would have so much success so quickly?

There were a number of keys to their success. First was teamwork, which was vital without the likes of Kim Willoughby and Lily Kahumoku. Although the team was young and had little experience playing together, they played with maturity beyond their age.

Second was the one constant on the team, its setter, Kanoe Kamana'o, who deservingly won the WAC's Most Valuable Player Award and who should be a serious contender for the same award on the national level.

And last, much credit goes to coach Dave Shoji and his staff for fine-tuning the lineup throughout the season and coming up with the right combinations. It would be safe to say that coach Shoji earned his pay and then some.

Good luck, Wahine, on your quest to bring home the NCAA championship.

Game of basketball is now out of control

The recent brawl at The Palace between the Indiana Pacers' players and the Detroit fans is the pinnacle of what's wrong with major league sports in America.

The NBA has set the tone for, and now defines, the game of basketball. It is no longer basketball; it a cross between field events and professional wrestling — and this has permeated the sport down to the high school and neighborhood levels. In what used to be a relatively non-contact sport, youths are now regularly injured playing and practicing. It is a shame that should be corrected.

What we need is the RBA (Real Basketball Association) to promote sportsmanship, athleticism and basketball talent. It's all I would watch.

Gov. Lingle supports high-tech tax credits

Contrary to The Advertiser's lead Nov. 12 editorial, the Lingle-Aiona administration has always fully embraced the idea of encouraging expansion of the high-technology industry in Hawai'i through the use of tax credits. Even before her election, Gov. Lingle consistently stated her support of Act 221 as a means to help advance Hawai'i's high-tech sector.

Once in office, however, she learned that the loose, liberal language in Act 221 had led some investors to promote projects that were not technology-related and did not provide lasting benefits to the state.

In some cases, for example, a business was restructured so that what actually was a business expense could qualify for both the 100 percent investment tax credit and the 20 percent research credit even though no new money was actually invested in the business.

The Lingle-Aiona administration encouraged lawmakers to pass corrective legislation during the 2003 session. We continued to work with the industry and the Legislature in 2004 and successfully enacted Act 215. The new amended high-technology tax-credit law extends several Act 221 incentives that had been scheduled to expire in 2005, and also enacts stricter requirements to ensure taxpayers will not be taken advantage of by those who attempt an overly aggressive interpretation of the law.

The amended law shows that Hawai'i is serious about expanding our technology industry and creating jobs. With the administration's valid and significant concerns substantially addressed in the new law, it should come as no surprise that we can now focus on approving qualified claims.

Surfing tourney resulted in many firsts this year

For the 22nd consecutive year, the international Vans Triple Crown of Surfing settled in on the North Shore of O'ahu this past week.

For the first event alone — the men's Vans Hawaiian Pro and women's Roxy Pro at Hale'iwa Ali'i Beach Park:

• We saw 153 surfers representing 12 nations.

• Prize money exceeded $200,000.

• We broadcast international satellite feeds that took our surf and backyard to more than 260 million homes worldwide. On our final day, we were closing in on 1 million unique visitors (not hits) to our Web site.

• More than 60 reporters from outside of Hawai'i (12 countries) registered to cover the event for their respective newspapers, magazines and television stations.

• We enjoyed more than 5,000 visitors who made their way to Hale'iwa (a number that historically doubles for the second event at Sunset Beach, and quadruples by the final event at Pipeline).

• We crowned the first-ever South American professional surfing champion in the history of the sport.

• We hosted the richest women's surfing event the world has ever seen — the Roxy Pro winner took home $20,000, more than the men's winner received.

• We had three generations of men's world champions competing (seven world titles among them). We had four women's world champions at the Roxy Pro (12 world titles among them).

• We hosted the international "Keep A Breast" artistic exhibition on the beach that culminated in an auction to benefit the Kapi'olani Women's Breast Cancer Center — Rell Sunn Fund.

Yet after all that, I'm left with one question I've been unable to provide the public with an answer to this week: With so much global interest, why are we unable to receive legitimate sports coverage in a Honolulu newspaper?

I think I read somewhere that this was the state that declared surfing as its official sport ...