Is its smoky fallout helping to poison fish?

Thank you for your report on H-Power on Wednesday. I would like to see some investigative reporting of whether the heavy-metals fallout from the smokestack at H-Power is poisoning the seafood due to bioaccumulation in the flesh of long-lived fish like sharks, swordfish, mahimahi, tuna, etc.

Think of the thousands of expired AA and other small batteries going to H-Power every day as they are simply thrown in the trash by O'ahu residents. Does the magnetic separator get them (and then what happens to them)? Or are they incinerated, gasified and sent up the stack and down the tradewind track to precipitate back into our food chain (as I've read that heavy-metal fallout from electrical generating plants on the Mainland have mercury-poisoned all the fish in the streams and lakes of New England and other states). Or is our 1980s state-of-the-art plant capable of preventing such pollution of the air and ocean?

Thank you for your service to democracy.

Government should simply write a check

Personally, I think that many of these Native Hawaiian issues are very complicated and that the current government programs haven't delivered fair and just compensation equally across the board. The easiest and simplest direct solution that would benefit equally all Native Hawaiians would be to simply write them a check for the land loss that they claim to have suffered.

More government programs or bureaucracies that don't deliver fair and balanced benefits to each and every Native Hawaiian will not appease or satisfy the vast amount of people who feel that their land was ripped off. The federal government should simply write a check to compensate for the value of the land lost as required by existing laws.

We don't need more government programs that deliver false promises and false hopes. Cash in hand for just compensation is required by current laws and ought to be quickly resolved as a good first step in resolving any outstanding issues.

Pam Lee Smith's letter ("Status of Women panel needs the right leader," Sept. 17) crossed the line from professional to personal. Smith's personal attack on my leadership skills and my passion for helping women is offensive.

And to respond to Shirley Hasenyager's letter ("Is commission just a nice-sounding name?," Sept. 20): This is to make crystal clear that my 11-year commitment to the Hawai'i State Commission on the Status of Women, serving first as commissioner, then as chair, and most recently as executive director, was all about actively seeking justice for women, children and families living in Hawai'i.

My mother died in childbirth and my grandmother raised me. Throughout my formative years, I had to overcome many hardships as an Asian American girl, and woman. Some of these experiences were painful, and I decided to immerse myself in public service to fight for similarly situated women.

My work in the community helped me find my voice, understand my rights, become an advocate for women, and become a mentor to other women. This is the core of who I am.

As for my leadership skills, when I was the first woman president of the Japanese American Citizens League in Hawai'i we won the Chapter of the Biennium award, which acknowledged that the Hawai'i chapter was the best chapter in the United States. I worked among the inner circle in Bruce Yamashita's racial discrimination case against the U.S. Marine Corps that successfully concluded with his reinstatement as a captain in the Marine Reserves after five long years of litigation.

I received the "Woman of the Year" award from the Business and Professional Women's Organization for my leadership, and the "Community Service Award" from the Hawai'i Women Lawyers for my leadership and advocacy at the Hawai'i Legislature.

During my tenure as executive director, the commission developed the first "Status of Women in Hawai'i" report in 2000, which was updated in 2002. This report constitutes the baseline measure of the status of women in Hawai'i, as compared to women in the 49 other states.

The commission also established the first Hawai'i Family Economic Self-Sufficiency Standard report that calculates what a person needs to earn to be able to afford the very basic necessities to live in Hawai'i. This standard serves as a valuable public policy tool for lawmakers and state executive departments, and can be used to replace the outdated 1993 Federal Poverty Level formula that is currently being used.

Of the hundreds of bills supported and passed through the collaboration of the Hawai'i Women's Coalition, a community advocacy group led by the commission, and the Women's Legislative Caucus, consisting of a bipartisan group of all of the women legislators, the commission was instrumental in passing the following bills: Hawai'i Rx Plus program for affordable prescription drugs; funding to secure TANF support for students in higher education through the UH i Bridge to Hope program; health insurance coverage for mammography, for post-mastectomy reconstructive surgery, for breast cancer treatment, and for contraceptive services; allowing breast feeding in the workplace; establishing the Missing Child CenteriHawai'i; restrictions on trafficking of women to and from Hawai'i; equity in programs and services to incarcerated females; funding and strengthening of various sexual assault and domestic violence laws, among many others.

While I was serving as chair in 1994, the National Association of Commissions on the Status of Women presented the Hawai'i commission with the "Award of Excellence" for its Women's Health Month program. This program remains the national model.

These accomplishments in no way resemble Smith's claim of a "do-nothing organization." What must stop are personal attacks, like Smith's, and other critics' continual marginalization of women in general, and the commission in particular.

The women, children, and families living in Hawai'i would be better served if a respectful, communicative and productive working relationship is built between the administration and the commission. Any reasonable person would agree that waiting two years with no adequate response to numerous requests from the commission, and from various commissioners, to meet and talk story with the governor, is absurd by any standard.

For the record, my resignation from the commission had nothing to do with commissioner dissatisfaction with my work performance as executive director. I am now pleased to serve as the executive director of the worthy Hawai'i Meals on Wheels program, working with the elderly, the disabled, and the homebound.