Employees aren't seeking boycott end

The management of Turtle Bay Resort could easily have written the misleading headline on the front page of the Jan. 21 Advertiser. I am a Turtle Bay worker, and I do not "seek end to boycott."

The vast majority of Turtle Bay workers are united in our resolve to see an end to the relentless assault on our union and the constant threat of being subcontracted out. Your headline plays directly into the hands of Benchmark Management and Turtle Bay Properties LLC.

Most of the long-time loyal employees who consider Turtle Bay their career choice understand that ending the boycott would eviscerate the union's bargaining power.

Turtle Bay Resort has pulled out all of the stops in order to bust our union, including trespassing and harassing our union representatives. The National Labor Relations Board is investigating several complaints against the company.

Since some people only read headlines, I hope The Advertiser has not caused any more damage to our livelihood. And you will see many of us out there on the picket line supporting our boycott.

Where's Kevorkian?

Regarding Jim Henshaw's letter of Jan. 18: If death with dignity is no big deal and "anyone can take their life at any time without this legislation," why is Dr. Jack Kevorkian still in jail?

Liquor inspectors should be targeted

In a recent TV news interview, Honolulu Liquor Commission Administrator Wally Weatherwax said the commission "is taking steps to crack down on wrongdoing by liquor licensees and implementing new rules that would give the commission broader power to punish clubs and bars that offer bribes to investigators."

Mr. Weatherwax is merely attempting to transfer the guilt of his subordinates to liquor licensees.

Eight Liquor Commission investigators were convicted of the crime of extortion last year. Ten others were relieved for similar offenses in 1989. Extortion is a crime in which someone obtains the property or services of another through the use of force and threats.

If Mr. Weatherwax has his way, licensees who feel compelled to pay bribes in response to extortion threats would be the ones prosecuted. In case you don't realize it yet, it should be the other way around.

Hemmings' idea good

In response to Fred Hemmings' critique on the mass-transit issue:

The senator's plan to encourage comparatively inexpensive methods of improving traffic patterns is appealing.

Even if we choose to build a mass-transit system, making current traffic operations more efficient will make the time spent under construction more tolerable.

Taxpayers pay Sen. Hemmings to think, and he does it well.

Don't cut our taxes, solve our problems

Is the Legislature serious about tax cuts? I couldn't believe my eyes when I read that. With all the critical needs facing the state (education, housing and transportation, just to name a few), it is downright irresponsible of them to do this.

It just makes no sense. I mean, over the years we have been told by our representatives that they are working hard on these issues, but that "money is tight" or "there's just not enough resources" to solve the problems. It now appears those were simply excuses for inaction.

As a strong believer that government should help solve society's problems, I am very disappointed in our state leaders; and I urge my fellow teachers and other public servants to visit our legislators and remind them of why they got our time, money and votes in their recent campaigns.

Shame on any member of the state Legislature who chooses a tax cut instead of taking care of the problems government is supposed to solve.

Crosswalks are often blocked by vehicles

Why so many pedestrians are killed or injured outside a nearby crosswalk is no mystery.

I don't think there has ever been a day over the past decade when I haven't had to cross 'Ena Road 20 feet from the crosswalk.

When Beach Market was open, there was usually an HPD squad car blocking the crosswalk; now commercial vehicles find the crosswalk a convenient place to park.

Although 'Ena Road has 25-mph signs, traffic from Ala Moana usually rounds the bend in excess of 50 mph, which means anyone trying to go around a vehicle blocking the crosswalk is most likely to be transformed from a pedestrian into a pancake.

However, the Department of Transportation has always been more concerned with traffic flow than safety, so the 'Ena/Hobron crosswalk fronts the former Beach Market instead of the HECO substation, where drivers and pedestrians would be able to see each other in sufficient time to avoid accidents.

Time changes everything except the attitude that a dead pedestrian was at fault; in reality, the pedestrian's fault was being too young or too old or too frail or too exhausted to leap out of the way of oncoming traffic.

Price controls are self-defeating

History has taught us that freely floating prices clear a market and match demand with supply. It has also taught us that price controls on gasoline are self-defeating and lead to shortages, rationing, more shortages and general annoyance.

Most American politicians have been careful not to mention price controls on gasoline, even as oil and refined products set record price after record price.

And let us remember that a good part of the price of gasoline are the taxes that are levied on it, rather than the basic price of oil.

We need to practice disaster evacuation

With the recent earthquake and subsequent tsunami in the Indian Ocean and the knowledge that someday that disaster could happen in Hawai'i, I feel we should practice evacuation to safe areas, whether it be monthly when the warning alarm goes off, or quarterly, twice a year or yearly.

We keep hearing that it is a matter of time, that it is not "if" but "when."

Many people do not now know what do to, where to go and what to bring if possible.

That should be made clear so that there is no panic but some kind of orderly movement to safe areas.

We need to practice, practice, practice. Since there is no guarantee that a catastrophe won't happen, we should be ready and vigilant.

The whole state of Hawai'i should be involved!

Traffic-camera bill isn't tough enough

The bill to be introduced by Sen. Lorraine Inouye for the purpose of catching by cameras, and fining, scofflaw drivers who ignore red traffic lights is a good beginning.

However, it needs some refining — mainly the elimination of the initial one-year period in which only warnings would be issued.

Anyone who drives the streets and highways of O'ahu on a daily basis must realize that a "law-abiding" driver is extremely rare, possibly even nonexistent. Speeding is probably the most prevalent transgression.

Running red traffic lights also occurs all too frequently. It seems that far too many drivers think that the yellow light lasts forever.

To them it seems to mean step on the accelerator, not step on the brake.

I pay particular attention to how many incidents I observe where drivers have ample time to stop, but do not, before the yellow light changes to red.

Many times I see that a driver in an adjacent lane, but farther back, who observes my brake light come on as I begin to stop when a yellow light ahead comes on, but that other driver speeds up and hasn't even crossed the painted stop line before the yellow has changed to red.

These scofflaws don't need, or deserve, a one-year period where they can continue their unsafe practices. If they're old enough and sufficiently skilled to have qualified for a driver's license, they surely know that running a red light is not only a traffic violation, but also a highly unsafe move.

Don't give them a one-year period, or any period, where they can continue their deliberate traffic violations without penalty. If we want to stop them, stop them now.

Stench at Capitol seems all-pervasive

I attended the rally at the Capitol on Jan. 20. The most offensive thing I experienced was the stench from the scum that covers the "reflecting" pool. It looks and smells like an open sewer.

One might think the pool would be cleaned up while the Legislature is in session; or is the smell of politics within the chambers such that the legislators have developed an immunity to odors?

Shouting 'freedom' doesn't erase our ignoble record

I write this letter in the earnest hope that it will thoroughly disappoint Ms. Janice Johnson, who in a letter to the Advertiser (Constant degrading of the U.S. is tiresome, Jan. 24), belittles native Hawaiians by comparing them to "teenagers," accuses them of dwelling in the past and giddily expresses her hopes of reading more of what she calls "uplifting words" in the Letters and Commentary section.

In our culturally diverse community, Ms. Johnson need not look very far to find Holocaust survivors and Mainland Nisei internees, who refused to give in to similar flag-waving attempts to deflect legitimate grievances against grave injustices committed in the past. I wonder if Ms. Johnson would have the temerity to confront such individuals and tell them to their faces that they "are looking for a free ride" or that they "expect everything and have no pride"?

Over a hundred years ago, U.S. troops overthrew the government of a sovereign nation that posed no threat to us, because we coveted its natural resources and strategic location. While the global geo-political focus has shifted elsewhere long ago, the United States appears to have made no progress in its attitude toward other countries. And even though President Bush and people like Ms. Johnson scream "FREEDOM! FREEDOM! FREEDOM!" to exculpate the foreign policy misadventures of the U.S., past and present, the "degrading of the United States" in the eyes of the world today comes about because of our ignoble deeds in places like Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo, and not from those who speak out against such outrages, present or past. Injustices cannot be camouflaged with red, white and blue.

May this letter lift the hearts of every Hawaiian who reads it.

'Straight talk' won't give us truth about the overthrow

I have always admired and respected Sen. John McCain. His strong individualism, history and honesty have been admirable traits, much coveted by the majority of Americans and non-Americans throughout the world.

So you can imagine my disappointment and shock at his frivolous use of innuendo and subterfuge in claiming that statehood was allowed only after Hawaiians agreed to forgo any attempt to be recognized as indigenous, native Indians.

Hawaiians are not Indians and, with all due respect to our fellow native people, have no desire to be anything that we are not already. We are Native Hawaiians!

James Kuroiwa Jr., Hawai'i political director for Sen. McCain's 2000 campaign, refers to "straight talk" in his Jan. 14 letter. It is obvious that there is a difference in the definition of "straight talk" between Hawaiians and Kuroiwa.

Kuroiwa states, with emphasis, that beginning today, the people of Hawai'i will be given "straight talk" on the truth that affects all of us in the Islands. Does he mean that finally there will be an effort to raise the profile on why the United States apologized to the Hawaiian people in 1993 for the illegal overthrow of the sovereign and independent Hawaiian kingdom in 1893? Or does "straight talk" mean that we turn our heads and pretend that it never happened?

Kuroiwa further states (his words), "We will have discussions to understand the truth leading to the 1893 overthrow of the monarchy ... " Really! For 112 years, Hawaiians have been attempting to expose the truth about the dastardly act and blatant theft of the Hawaiian nation by the United States for its own political and military gain.

Moreover, Kuroiwa's despicable falsehood stating that the United States forgave a large debt owed it by the monarchy in exchange for ceded lands is totally unsubstantiated in the annals of history.

The Hawaiian people eagerly await the promise of dialogue between Sen. McCain and McCain spokesman Kuroiwa.

Spin all you want, Mr. Kuroiwa; ultimately you will come to know the truth.