Posted on: Monday, September 27, 2004

Letters to the Editor

Don't underestimate this island resource

Your Sept. 23 editorial "Ethanol energy plan only a first half-step" is sadly misinformed in its conclusion that "the ethanol effort is based on a platform of petroleum fuels" and "might actually help cement our long-term dependency on petroleum based fuels."

The hydrogen to fuel a hydrogen economy will come from a variety of renewable sources and will be produced by a variety of technologies. The potential and value of ethanol as one of these renewable sources should not be underestimated or overlooked.

Ethanol contains hydrogen. It is cheaper to transport hydrogen-containing materials like ethanol than to transport hydrogen itself, because hydrogen must be compressed or liquefied for transport or storage. An ethanol-fueled transportation system could lay the groundwork for a more incremental transition to hydrogen.

Significant advances have been made to cheaply extract the hydrogen from ethanol. For example, earlier this year in the journal Science, researchers from the University of Minnesota devised a way to produce hydrogen from ethanol in a prototype reactor small enough and efficient enough to heat a small home or power a car.

Ethanol as an interim solution to reduce our dependency on imported fuels and as an important resource in our desire to move toward a hydrogen economy was always part of the Legislature's policy justification to support ethanol production. Ethanol is the perfect commodity to move Hawai'i's 20th-century sugar infrastructure into a desired 21st-century new economy opportunity.

Voters favored Carlisle's record

KITV investigative reporter Keoki Kerr's cost-per-vote analysis shows that job performance mattered to voters more than money in the race for Honolulu prosecutor. Incumbent Peter Carlisle, who spent 83 cents per vote, defeated Keith Kaneshiro, who spent $2.86, almost three and a half times more than Carlisle.

Kaneshiro, who still had money from his mayoral fund-raising, spent more than $180,000, twice as much money as Carlisle. Kaneshiro held three fund-raisers after declaring his candidacy, compared to Carlisle's one fund-raiser. Kaneshiro accepted huge individual donations in the thousands, while Carlisle did not accept any donations over $100. In terms of money, Peter Carlisle was the underdog in this race.

Keith Kaneshiro, who once defeated incumbent Charles Marsland in 1988, ran a strong, coordinated and professional media campaign. Nevertheless, Kaneshiro was defeated in all 35 representative districts on O'ahu. Carlisle was re-elected to an unprecedented third term as Ho-nolulu prosecuting attorney by a 26 percent margin. He received 107,967 votes — more than any other candidate on the ballot with the exception of U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye.

The Honolulu Advertiser was right on in its endorsement, saying "A dominant theme of the Carlisle years in the prosecutor's office has been independence. He does not belong to any political or institutional faction and, indeed, has been willing to take on power players over the years." Voters chose Carlisle because he is doing a great job in fighting crime, taking on political corruption, and maintaining an independent office. Peter Carlisle is truly a man of the people.

What exactly does tuition hike buy?

Regarding the Friday article "UH will ask state for more money," and the acting president's ultimatum of "Give us what we need, or we'll have to raise tuition even more":

I have seen tuition increase steadily, but for what purpose? The UH system is in the Dark Ages as far as technology is concerned. Online registration is a joke; every semester, I (as well as every other student) must walk up to the fourth floor of the math building to fill out a form because the computer system doesn't keep track of the classes I have taken. I know for a fact that this isn't the norm at Mainland universities, so why is UH so far behind?

So in response, exactly who needs what? And exactly how will the extra revenue benefit the students? The administration needs to convince more than just the Legislature that it deserves the money asked for.

No excuses; UH lost to better team

It is sad to see all the talk about old AstroTurf. Not once has June Jones said we just got beat by a better team. Maybe they should take their elevator music on away games, as the live Rice band playing put the team into shock. They were out-played, end of story.

It looks as if the only thing Jones wants is the passing record on his watch; wins really don't matter, as he has his self-created bowl to go to. But seven wins might be a challenge this year.

Why not station it at Camp Pendleton?

The military has already taken control of a huge portion of Southern California's most beautiful coastline. I've driven through that facility hundreds of times on the interstate and rarely see so much going on that the addition of a Stryker brigade couldn't be facilitated.

Yes, Camp Pendleton is a Marine base, and the Stryker brigade is Army. So what? It seems like the two could get together on this. They're together in Iraq, aren't they?

Is the U.S. government trying to see how far the Native Hawaiians can be pushed before there is a big problem? It surprises me there hasn't been a big problem already.

It's begging to be a volleyball venue

While I was driving down Kalakaua Avenue I noticed the pro beach volleyball on Kuhio Beach, and farther down, the idle Natatorium.

All I could think of is the sand they want to pump in from offshore. Why not take some of that sand, and fill that stagnant hole that was scary to swim in as a kid, with jellyfish floating in it. It also has built-in bleachers. Imagine pro beach volleyball from Honolulu on the beach at Waikiki, with the sand, surf and sun. What advertising. Pro beach volleyball championships coming from the War Memorial on Waikiki Beach, Honolulu, Hawai'i.

Plus, the mayor could use it for his movie on the beach. No lifeguards, no water testing, no injuries. Plus, by moving the beach volleyball site, you clear up beach for sunbathers who have limited beach area. Think about it.

Mahalo for muscles

The recruits of the Honolulu Police Academy merit a big community mahalo for the amazing job they did last week in removing tons of heavy debris from the diamondhead rocks of Magic Island. It took lots of muscle and teamwork.

Slater column on illegal immigration far from real

Cliff Slater's Sept. 13 column ("Illegal immigrants: Let's get real") treats undocumented immigration from Mexico to the United States as if it were nothing more than a law-enforcement issue.

In Mr. Slater's view, all we need to do is put more agents along the border to stop undocumented immigrants from crossing. However, the U.S. government has been trying this approach for more than 10 years without success.

From fiscal years 1993 through 2004, the federal government more than quintupled the amount of money spent on border enforcement from $740 million to $3.8 billion, and nearly tripled the size of the Border Patrol from 3,965 to 10,835 agents.

Yet during this time the number of undocumented immigrants in the United States doubled from roughly 4.5 million to 9.3 million. Why? Because the U.S. labor market continues to generate demand for less-skilled workers, because U.S. policymakers have promoted the economic integration of the North American continent since at least the mid-1980s, and because U.S. immigration policy remains blind to both of these facts.

Rather than effectively regulating immigration from Mexico, increased border enforcement has merely driven a large share of it underground and into the hands of brutal smugglers. Until our outdated immigration laws are brought into line with economic reality, no amount of border enforcement will solve the problem.

Mr. Slater's column also gives the misleading impression that a U.S. citizen can sponsor a foreign national cousin to immigrate legally simply by filling out some forms. This is far from the reality. In reality, the U.S. immigration system treats siblings as the most distant family relationship able to directly petition for a foreign national relative. And because of annual quotas in our outdated immigration system, a U.S. citizen "sponsoring" his brother or sister from Mexico will have to wait approximately 12 years for that sibling to be eligible for a visa. If the sibling is a citizen of the Philippines, the wait is now more than 22 years.

DOE's been sitting on its hands

It does not surprise me that Rae Loui ("Schools say Stryker will overburden system," Sept. 16) from the Department of Education is scrambling to meet the future requirements for public school students that some 800 new soldiers are expected to bring to Hawai'i.

The DOE has for years missed the waves of economic development and now must scramble in hope of catching the next one.

U.S. Sen. Inouye announced and has been working since 1999 on plans to station a Stryker brigade in Hawai'i. That is some five years of advance notice.

The DOE was probably sitting on its hands, waiting until the formal order was given. This is a pure sign that the DOE has an absence of vision.

We all would have believed that discussions would have begun within the DOE administration about the impact of the Strykers being assigned to Hawai'i back in 1999.

I have had discussions with veterans who operated the Strykers in Iraq and in combat situations. They all strongly believe in the Stryker. This truly gives me pause when the 29th Infantry Brigade, including the 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry, has been assigned to Iraq.

Our sons and daughters of Hawai'i, Guam, American Samoa, Saipan and a few other states are going into harm's way with the potential support from the reliable and lifesaving Strykers.

The Stryker also strikes down the anti-military individuals who attempt to use the DOE as the reason for stopping its deployment. As a Vietnam combat veteran with the 101st Airborne Division and former member of the 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry, I feel the Strykers would be a welcome development for the local troopers.

On another important note, Sen. Inouye has made statements that there is the potential of an aircraft carrier being home-ported at Pearl Harbor in 2008 or 2009. Again, he has provided Hawai'i advance notice of the potential of some 15,000 new sailors and their families coming to Hawai'i.

Is the DOE still going to continue sitting on its hands if this happens? Or has she begun discussions about the impact of a final decision being made should a carrier and its support ships call Hawai'i home?

Is Ms. Loui also sitting on her hands waiting for the potential population increase of South Hilo and Puna of about 200,000 caused by economic growth stimulation of foreign trade?

Then let us look at the growth of O'ahu's population in the 'Ewa and Central O'ahu areas. It should concern us when statements from the DOE are "We're scrambling to be able to do this" and "We are already behind the curve."

The DOE is a critical leader for the state of Hawai'i. The DOE must get to the front of the wave and lead. Let us not hear of excuses of why it cannot be done, but rather how it can be done.