Posted on: Wednesday, April 27, 2005

Letters to the Editor

Only pure Hawaiians have case for redress

I would like to know why people who are not 100 percent Hawaiian are considered "Hawaiians." Suppose a person is 50 percent Hawaiian and 50 percent Japanese. The current thinking is they are Hawaiian. Why are they not Japanese?

I am 50 percent Irish but am not considered Irish. The history of my lineage makes me an American whether I like it or not.

It seems to me if a person isn't 100 percent Hawaiian, there must have been a Hawaiian in his or her past who was OK with not maintaining a "pure culture." For the progeny to take up the cudgel for rights or wrongs done to his or her past ancestors and look for redress does not seem appropriate to me.

What was done in the past may or may not have hurt the "Hawaiians" of the time (I've heard it argued both ways), but time and history marches on.

People of 100 percent Hawaiian blood might have a case for redress, but all others should not be allowed to take part in any legal action.

Students should learn about the environment

This is regarding the trash that students are throwing around all over school campus. I'm a senior from Farrington High School. I'm doing a senior project on recycling. I think students need to be more educated on environmental issues and learn how recycling paper, aluminum cans and plastic plays a big role in our lives as well as in the environment.

I urge everyone to use the four R's in recycling: reduce, reuse, recycle and respond.

Reduce is to limit your spending on things you really don't need to use. Reuse is when you keep using something over and over again. For example, old clothes: You could keep them, donate them or give them to charity. Recycle is when you recycle things that have the recycling symbol on it. Last but not least, respond is to tell others why recycling is important and how it makes a difference.

12-year-old Akila needs 'forever family'

A number of questions have been asked regarding the tragic case of Akila Nihoa, the 12-year-old boy who "vanished" Oct. 31, 2004, from his foster home in 'Ewa Beach.

But one question that hasn't been asked is perhaps the most important: Why wasn't this child, whose parents lost their rights to him in April 2003, listed by AdoptUS Kids as available for adoption?

In the year and a half since entering the system, Akila has been bumped from foster home to foster home, suffering stress and abandonment that few of us can begin to imagine. The only real solution for a child like Akila is permanency.

Of the million people who live in Hawai'i, there is surely a "forever family" that would take this child into their lives. For this to be a possibility, he must first be deemed adoptable. I believe every child is adoptable.

The other option — to let these kids languish in foster care until they "age out" of the system — has an unacceptable cost to the child, and to our society.

We can't afford and don't need rail transit

Why in the world would anyone want to spend millions (billions?) of tax dollars and foul up our traffic for years just to "give jobs" and "get federal money"? Let's be reasonable here. The ocean is there. It isn't going to move. Use a ferry system (e.g. New York, San Francisco) and build apartments, etc., at the Barbers Point or Kapolei end of the island. Get off at Aloha Tower and catch the bus to wherever you want to go.

We have rights-of-way on our highways already, so why not add some rapid transit lanes for buses and car pools? It would surely be a lot cheaper than building an immovable fixed rail system that might not work for lack of riders and have to be destroyed (at even more expense).

Forget this pie in the sky and get real. We cannot afford it, we don't need it and we certainly don't need more taxes for such a folly! Fix the potholes!

Frog defender should spend night in country

It's no wonder Wayne Johnson of Waikiki (Letters, April 20) can't seem to understand the point on the coqui frog infestation. He lives in Waikiki!

Come out to the rural areas around our state and try and get some sleep. One or two coqui can feel quite charming but imagine a banyan tree full of mynah birds going at it from sundown to "Wake up, it's time to go to work now." Get the picture?

The coqui is an invasive species that loves to chirp endlessly all night long and should be dealt with accordingly. It has nothing to do with greed; it has everything to do with one's sanity. One night here on the Big Island will change your mind, Mr. Johnson, that we do have a problem here and it's getting worse.

Wakai was there for us, catching feral chickens

We are responding to a letter written by Lori Shimoda ("Wakai's projects just aim to grab spotlight," April 13). Her comments do not represent the sentiments of most residents in Moanalua Valley. In fact, we are delighted to have Glenn Wakai as our representative.

A year ago, feral chickens were causing us many sleepless nights. When Glenn found out about our troubles, he bought a trap and caught 21 chickens himself. He didn't pass off the project to someone else. He was climbing in our backyard every other day, for seven weeks. How many elected officials would go to such great lengths to help their neighbors?

Every politician promises to work hard, but few respond like Glenn. We think it's great that he can get the media to highlight his good work. Maybe the news coverage will encourage others to provide innovative and hands-on solutions. Glenn breaks the mold of a politician and is a true community leader.

Who took the dollars and left the pennies?

Gov. Linda Lingle stated that almost every single penny will be used for collective bargaining increases. Yet, she failed to mention that her salary, the salary of her administration, the salary of her directors and the salary of state judges has increased as of fiscal year 2004 with executive pay raises.

Starting this fiscal year, they will make $84,000 to $140,000 per year and will receive automatic 2 percent to 3.5 percent pay raises each year, for the next 10 years after that. Wow, who took the dollars and left the pennies?

What Gov. Lingle also failed to mention is that they did not want to negotiate salaries with HGEA. She contends that they offered 1.5 percent and 4 percent increases. But when? The last day final positions had to be submitted is when we had no chance to respond. That's why we ended up in an arbitration hearing.

If Gov. Lingle doesn't like binding arbitration, common sense would tell you to negotiate in good faith to avoid it.

Please, Gov. Lingle, look in the mirror for someone to blame and stop blaming HGEA.

Proposal has no compassion for poor

The state Legislature plans to increase the general excise tax by a huge 25 percent. This tax will hit every man, woman and child in Hawai'i hard. Those who can least afford it will be hit the hardest. There is no compassion for the poor in this plan. Mayor Mufi Hannemann enthusiastically supports this unfair tax effort.

This is a whopping increase in the cost of the general excise tax of $896 for a family of four, bringing the total excise revenue taken from this family to well over $4,000 per year. The cost of food, medicine and even rent will be increased disproportionately for those families who can least afford the increase.

The Senate has recognized this unfairness and has proposed a token rebate of $10 to $50 per year to these families. This doesn't come anywhere near the additional $896 they will be forced to pay for the rest of their lives.

Legislators applauded for helping 'little guys'

Leon Rouse had no prior conviction in the United States of America. Even though he was a convicted felon in another country and served his time, it cannot be used as a discriminator toward employment. However, it seems that he was unjustly imprisoned in the Philippines and is fighting to get his reputation cleared with the United Nations and our local government.

I applaud Rep. Rida Cabanilla for being an equal opportunity employer giving individuals and her office an attitude that she will give her constituents the best qualified staff and individuals she can find to represent her area. I also applaud Sen. Brian Kanno and his office staff for helping the "little guys."

Jerry Byrd was a monster musician

Thanks for Wayne Harada's nice article on Jerry Byrd. Those of us who play steel guitar know what a monster musician (and a gentleman) that Jerry was. He was the professional's professional.

Byrd had a long and eventful life, and he will be deeply missed. Thankfully, due to his actions (and the Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association), a rich legacy was left of both recorded music and teaching aids, including a very professional steel guitar method and other video and audio products.

Perhaps his passing will help bring some needed publicity for the Hawaiian steel guitar. It had been my greatest hope to meet him some day at an association event, but, alas, that will not happen now.

Bill serves child's best interest

Lee Cataluna's passionate plea on the importance of protecting victims of abuse is admirable and well-intended, but her past two columns ("House bill protects abusers," April 12, and "Legislature has no business eroding TRO laws," April 24) have sorely missed the point and purpose of House Bill 1378.

We need to clarify that this bill maintains victims' rights and does not adversely affect, impact or in any way minimize the ability of victims to obtain protective orders.

HB1378 would allow Family Court judges to make decisions based on what's best for the child. At legislative hearings on this bill, testifiers came forth and provided indisputable evidence that people, particularly in contested divorce cases over custody of children, are abusing the use of temporary restraining orders in unscrupulous ways. Specifically, they file a TRO against the "abuser" and this is then used as a tool in Family Court to make the falsely accused ineligible for joint or equal custody of children.

We fully understand that it's crucial that victims have legal access to protection, but when TROs are abused and used as a sword instead of a shield, this significantly affects, and potentially severs, the irreplaceable relationship between a parent and a child.

This bill would require that the TRO petition be part of the overall case review, and not the sole criteria that hamstrings a judge's discretion to determine what is in the best interest of the child.

The bill allows a judge considering a TRO petition to meet with the petitioner and to evaluate the allegations. We believe this bill will help support the current standard in custody cases, which is to consider the best interests of the child on a case-by-case basis, and requires that judges look toward individual circumstances, attributes and deficiencies of each parent for each and every child to determine how the parent-child relationship should be framed. And this is not only for a few years, but potentially for the rest of a child's formative years until they reach the age of maturity.

This bill allows the judge to make an important decision based on all pieces of evidence before them, including past history of domestic violence. TRO laws are not being eroded. Victims' rights are maintained. Serving the best interest of the child is the main objective of HB1378.