Posted on: Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Letters to the Editor

'English Rule' would cut down on lawsuits

Your lead editorial on May 19 discusses several approaches to lowering medical costs but omits one of the most effective approaches — switching to the "English Rule" for payment of attorneys' fees in medical malpractice lawsuits.

The "American Rule" (in effect in Hawai'i) leaves the doctor who wins his lawsuit to pay his own attorney's fees with no reimbursement from the unsuccessful plaintiff. Where the doctor has malpractice insurance, the insurance company pays these fees. A large portion of insurance premiums goes toward payment of defense attorneys' fees and greatly increases the cost of this insurance.

Under the English Rule, the loser pays the winner's attorney's fees. This is the same principle presently employed in contract-dispute litigations in Hawai'i, but not in medical malpractice litigations.

If the English Rule is adopted in Hawai'i, it will significantly reduce the number of medical malpractice lawsuits and substantially lower the cost of malpractice insurance. Our Legislature should include this in its consideration of the other remedies discussed in your editorial.

Comparison missed key factor: land value

I found your article "Median U.S. price buys little here" very amusing. You might as well have compared a mouse to an elephant!

Allow me to explain: In your article you illustrate that $200,000 in Arlington, Texas, can buy a five-bedroom, four-bath home of approximately 4,181 square feet; however, you cannot even buy a single-family home of 848 square feet with three bedrooms, one bathroom in Makaha for that same price.

To show the difference, you even superimposed an outline of the Makaha house over the giant Texas house. What you failed to elaborate, however, is that most of the cost of a single-family home on O'ahu is for the land and not the house itself. In Texas, where land is plentiful and cheap, however, you mostly pay for the house and not the land.

Why is our land so valuable? Simply employ your own illustration by superimposing the island of O'ahu over the state of Texas. I haven't done the math, but I'm certain that a 5,000-square-foot parcel of land on O'ahu represents a much greater percentage of the overall land available than, say, a 15,000-square-foot parcel of land in Texas.

It seems to me that land on O'ahu is still, comparatively, quite a bargain and land, after all, is mostly what people are buying when they purchase a single-family home on O'ahu.

Movement is about praying for blessings

Thank you for your coverage on Transformation Hawaii.

Transformation Hawaii is about praying for blessings for the state of Hawai'i — praying for families to be healthy, for a solution to the ice problem, for blessings on businesses, employees and customers, on unions, our military and their families, on our civil servants.

We're asking God for solutions to the high cost of housing, for redress of the grievances caused by the overthrow of the kingdom, for living-wage jobs and manageable taxes.

Transformation Hawaii is about asking God to give inspiration to our leaders so that Democrats and Republicans can work together to solve difficult problems.

Transformation Hawaii is about improving the life situations of all the people of Hawai'i through bringing God's blessings to bear on our needs.

Waikiki stuck with its predator of serenity

The folks on Maui and the Big Island should feel fortunate that they only have to contend with the coqui frog and not the pernicious noisemaker that has invaded Waikiki.

This predator of serenity attaches itself to commercial motor vehicles. Unlike the coqui, this monster spews its noise venom both day and night and is most prevalent during daylight hours. Many times this harasser of the auditory nerve will sound off for 10 or 15 minutes straight, other times alternating on and off in short intervals. At times, 10 or 15 of these creatures can be heard at once. The resulting cacophony stretches human nerves to the breaking point.

This insidious noisemaker has an affinity for tour buses, back hoes, delivery vehicles and cement trucks. It has been a major contributor to the destruction of once-peaceful Waikiki. After several days of enduring this beast's penetrating call, the noise becomes an hallucination — like a song you can't get out of your head.

Neighbor Islanders have some chance of eradicating the coqui, but, I'm afraid, this Waikiki creature is here to stay. The government has no interest in destroying it, and, in fact, it is responsible for its proliferation, making it a crime to operate a vehicle without one attached. This destroyer of peace and quiet is the nasty, noisy backup beeper!

What happened to roadwork deadline?

After the excavation was completed at the Castle Junction hillside, Scott Ishikawa of the state Transportation Department stated, on TV news, that the repaving of Kalaniana'ole Highway from the junction to Kailua would be done in April.

The road surface from the junction to Kapa'a Quarry Road is so filled with temporary patches and new potholes that it is a disgrace.

Well, April has come and gone and the road is still in the same condition. I guess Mr. Ishikawa meant April 2006 or another year because obviously he didn't mean April 2005.

Think low-income, not vacation, rentals

I couldn't believe my eyes when I read the May 22 letter by David Richardson of Kailua. He thinks short-term vacation rentals are a great idea for the visitor industry and the island economy. Auwe!

Doesn't he realize the homeowners associations and neighborhood boards in these communities have already voted to keep commercial businesses out of the residential areas?

Most of Kailua is zoned as single-family dwellings or is long-term rentals. The others operate illegally and pay nothing toward state taxes. This only complicates an already tight real estate market. There are fewer and fewer rental units available for the people who live and work here year-round.

Recently, the wait list for low-income family rentals (under Section 8) was sealed with 10,500 still without housing. If there are people who have an extra rental unit available in their home, wouldn't it serve the greater good of our Island 'ohana to offer it for rent to a local resident before catering to the tourist? After all, the hotels have plenty of rooms available for them.

Try express lane

Instead of wasting money on a rail system that will probably not work, there needs to be a permanent express lane. In the morning, it would be open to east-bound traffic, and in the afternoon and evening, it would be open to west-bound traffic. Instead of looking to other cities for ideas with a rail system, why not look at how they deal with traffic?

It's better to save taro with genetic engineering

The recent article on activists seeking a ban on genetic modification of taro was very interesting, yet disheartening — especially so for the commercial taro growers within our state.

Hopefully, Sen. Clayton Hee can bring these parties together. Genetic engineering is a safe scientific option for controlling the many plant diseases reducing taro yields and offers a solution to these problems without the use of pesticides.

Wetland taro production is limited to areas adjacent to streams or other continuous water sources. These areas are becoming fewer and thus limiting future expansion of taro production. Anything that can be done, including genetic engineering breeding for resistance to taro diseases, should be seriously considered. Increasing taro yields, by whatever means, should be a primary goal of all concerned.

Taro has many pest and disease problems, such as the apple snail, pink rot and pocket rot, to name a few, plus various fungus diseases that attack the leaves. There are very few EPA-approved pest-control materials available to taro growers compared to other crops.

This means that the taro farmer is extremely vulnerable to pests and diseases that reduce his yields or production. Crop pest problems do not decrease with time; they usually become more potent. An example of this is the current taro pocket rot disease that was not a problem more than 10 years ago.

Genetic engineering offers the possibility of breeding a variety of taro resistant to one, or perhaps all, of these pests or diseases, before a more potent strain develops, which could wipe out the entire taro industry. This could happen, and it almost did happen to the papaya industry.

It would be a shame to ban such scientific research when it can offer so much to the prolonged existence of the taro industry in Hawai'i.

NOAA views on marine sanctuary

I am writing in response to Jan TenBruggencate's May 23 article about Congressman Ed Case's bill proposing to designate the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands a national marine refuge.

Mahalo to The Advertiser for covering this new proposed legislation and for asking me to comment on it from my standpoint of involvement with NOAA's National Marine Sanctuary Program. I was most concerned, however, with my comment being included under the headline, "Plan for marine refuge opposed."

Let me clarify a few points, for the record:

• First and foremost: NOAA is currently looking into the impacts this legislation, if passed, would have on the ongoing public process to designate the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands a national marine sanctuary and on the structure and function of the National Marine Sanctuary Program. Something this important deserves full, thoughtful consideration.

• NOAA's extensive visioning, public hearing and scoping processes to date have involved the active participation of the public and stakeholder constituencies. Nearly 52,000 public comments have been received. The majority of comments support strong protection.

• The sanctuary designation process provides many opportunities for the public and stakeholder communities to help decide the future of this special place.

• Here's where we are in this process: A draft management plan and draft environmental impact statement are now being developed targeting completion by the end of this year. A public comment period, including public hearings to be held statewide and in Washington, D.C., will follow in early 2006, with NOAA's final decision on designation reached thereafter.

• If the legislation passes, it would affect the designation process. The current sanctuary designation process would most likely transition into a refuge management plan development process.

• Because we do not know whether this bill will become law or not (or if it does, when), we are obliged to continue with the designation process as scheduled.

In closing, while neutral on his proposal, we thank Congressman Case for his interest and concern to protect this important ecological treasure. Without question, the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are a legacy to be preserved for future generations.

Toward this end, we look forward to working with all concerned citizens to make sure that these precious coral reef ecosystems will thrive forever.