KATRINA VICTIMS

HAVE KIDS SHOW KIDS 'MAGIC OF THE SEASON'

I admire Jan Olson (Letters, Sept. 16) for the idea of giving gifts for Christmas for the people who lost everything in Hurricane Katrina. However, I think that she is missing a great opportunity to teach children that instead of receiving gifts they could pick out toys and clothes for the children who were victims of this tragedy.

This would be a wonderful time to sit down with children and talk about the homeless boys and girls: How it is better to help others rather than just getting more material things for themselves.

I am sure that the children would love to be involved in a very tangible way with helping other children. It would be teaching them social responsibility and the Golden Rule. The "magic of the season" should always be about helping others.

KALAKAUA STATUE

POOR MAINTENANCE AT PARK IS A SHAME

The statue of King David Kalakaua at the entrance to Waikiki is very impressive until you begin to look at the details of the mini-park. Seeing these details every day is so discouraging.

The pool of water that should be flowing around the statue is still not running most of the time. A huge majority of the time. And the flowers that encircle the pool and the entire circumference of the monument are replaced from time to time, but never in sync with the water flow. Much of the time the flowers look wilted and withered. I believe a hardier type of flower or plants should be considered.

It really is a shame the people who presently take care of the park are fighting a losing battle. And now even the grass is neglected and mostly brown. If the folks who get paid to take care of the park cannot keep up then a gardener should be consulted. What would King David Kalakaua think of his park if he were alive today?

HAWAIIANS

ALL WE NEED TO HEAR IS HOW TO RIGHT WRONG

It amazes me to see how so many people who have not walked in our (kanaka maoli) shoes know so much about what is good for us and how a judicial system can change the law and/or a will, as in the case of Kamehameha Schools, that was set up in a country that they had no jurisdiction in.

Let's switch the roles for a year. Forbid the speaking of English and force everyone to speak Hawaiian. From now on voting would be limited to the Hawaiians and Asians. Those of other racial ancestries could vote only if they had an individual annual income of more than $100,000 a year and swear to uphold the Constitution prior to the reign of King David Kalakaua.

The commander in chief of the United States admitted wrongdoing. Lawbreakers are punished and restitution is made. I don't want to hear about what non-Hawaiians think unless it's about how to right the wrong. It's like someone who has been blind from birth explaining the beauty of a sunset to another blind person. Give it a brake ... or a break, whichever comes first.

SAVING GAS

SMART STRATEGIES HURT FLOW OF TRAFFIC

My hat's off to Mike Leidemann for the gas-saving techniques on increasing your fuel mileage (Drive Time column, Sept. 13). Some of his suggestions include cleaning out the trunk to lighten the load. Others are to accelerate slowly and anticipate the next stop by slowing down way ahead of time.

I tried doing this only to have other drivers around me becoming quite irate, as this holds back the flow of traffic. I even have police officers pulling me over and asking me if I am drunk.

Until everyone understands Leidemann's gas-saving tricks, I better step on it and not hold back the flow of traffic.

MADE IN HAWAI'I

SHAKA HAS ROOTS IN KID-TIME, ESPINDA

"Ah han-a!" Immediately, the shaking and twirling of hand would gesture nose-digging, along with a lot of good-natured teasing and laughter to follow.

My early childhood days were pre-Depression — prior to prohibition in a sugar plantation camp on the slopes of Mauna Kea on the Big Island.

Kid-time, we each had a shaka king marble for the game of "shoot-marble." We'd build a dirt mound, "apapu'u," to mount the opponent's king marble, the shaka marble, and then we'd shoot to knock it off. Those were the days long before Kleenex. We were the barefoot kids with no shoes. It was not long after World War I, my oldest brother during his "kid-time" was doing the same. So it was, pass it down ... pidgin.

Now, after World War II ... as I recall, Lippy Espinda was a car salesman, somewhere along Kapi'olani Boulevard. He would reach out to greet oncoming cars with his right hand extended in a friendly and spirited aloha, shaka-shake. He placed a smile on every passerby.

Having no other single-word description of this hand gesture, shaka seems quite appropriate for the shaka-shake ... because it is made in Hawai'i with much spirited aloha.

KAKA'AKO

LET'S FIRST MAINTAIN WHAT WE ALREADY HAVE

Nice editorial — polite! However, the idea of developing Kaka'ako is extremely ill-timed. I suggest that the governor and the Hawai'i Community Development Authority first develop a viable plan to house several thousand homeless people and spend the state's "surplus" money where it is most needed.

Secondly, develop a plan whereby public toilets all over O'ahu are cleaned up so that visitors won't have to wade through ankle-high sewage. Existing public parks, facilities and parking areas should be well-maintained. Streets and beaches should be made safe for visitors all over the island.

"Honoring the Host Culture," whatever that means, should be served, first of all, by trying not to look and act like a Third World country.

SEAGULL SCHOOLS

VANDALISM SPURRED OUTPOURING OF HELP

On Monday evening, Sept. 12, the Seagull preschool in Kapolei was vandalized. The children and staff were greeted Tuesday morning by a classroom with broken windows, carpets covered with glass and a busted-up playground.

One child's parent then called two local TV stations, which ran the visual story on their 6 o'clock news programs.

Amazingly, before the school could even close at 6:30 p.m., the school's phone began ringing with offers of support to repair the damage.

Kapolei High School called to offer volunteers to clean up, as did U.S. Navy personnel. A school equipment representative donated a new carpet and parents and grandparents made cash donations.

Throughout the week, parents and grandparents of children in the school continued to call, pledging more monetary donations. The James and Abigail Campbell Foundation, Group Pacific Hawai'i and BEI Hawai'i all made significant financial pledges, as did Seagull Schools' board members.

The outpouring of good will reminded us of what makes Hawai'i a truly special place. If there is a heart to our school, it certainly got bigger and warmer. Thank you.

BOYCOTT CONCERT

EAGLES TICKET COSTS OUT OF THIS STRATOSPHERE

Wow! Boy are you going to be in for a surprise after you wait hours in line to get tickets for the Eagles. You will go up to the window and say, "Give me four seats, the best available, please."

And the clerk says, "That will be $1,004, sir/ma'am. One thousand dollars for the tickets and $1 service charge per ticket."

Did you ever think the day would come where you would pay $250 for a floor seat to the Eagles concert? Sure, they are great. Are they great enough to spend 250 of your hard-earned dollars? I should think not.

I could see it if they were donating $100 from each ticket toward Hurricane Katrina victims. But they want us to donate it to their pockets.

I say boycott the show. Or just buy the upper tickets for $55 and leave the floor empty. That is just not right. Not with the price of gas over $3 a gallon and people in so much need of help in our own country.

How dare they!

RONALD CHING

WHO HIRED HIT MAN?

In your Sunday story on "hit man" Ronald Ching, you made no mention of who employed him to do the dirty work. Surely our prosecutors went after the guys behind the Ching murders — didn't they? If so, who are they and what were their sentences?

ODDS 50/50 HURRICANE WILL HIT HAWAI'I IN NEXT 10 YEARS

According to the state Civil Defense statistics published in Sunday's Advertiser, the odds of a hurricane hitting Hawai'i in any given year are about 1 in 15, and the odds of a Category 3 or Category 4 storm are about 1 in 75.

Given these figures, it's not too difficult to calculate the odds over a longer time span. The probability of any hurricane hitting Hawai'i is 50 percent over a 10-year period,

75 percent over a 20-year period and 82 percent over a 25-year period.

For the more serious Category 3 or Category 4 storm, the probabilities are 13 percent over 10 years, 24 percent over 20 years and 29 percent over 25 years.

Statistically, past performance does not affect future outcomes, and the fact that it's been 13 years since the last hurricane does not mean one is more likely in the next few years.

However, it remains true that the odds are 50/50 that there will be another hurricane some time in the next 10 years, and going without one for 20 or 25 years is not very likely.

GAS PRICE CAP

LAW TO LIMIT ANY 'OVERCHARGE'

I have the highest regard for Jack Suyderhoud (Focus, Sept. 18) for his knowledge and experience. I agree with him that the gas cap is not the best option available to Hawai'i to redress the chronic problem of high gas prices in Hawai'i — compared to average Mainland prices.

However, not to do anything and to let market forces continue to operate, as advocated by the oil industry, would have been the worst option for Hawai'i.

It has been amply demonstrated that Hawai'i is a captured market dominated by one major oil company, Chevron, which supplies the bulk of the refined gasoline products in Hawai'i and effectively sets the wholesale prices.

Records show that Hawai'i drivers have been paying 30 cents to 50 cents per gallon more for gasoline than Mainland drivers in recent decades.

The data furnished by Chevron in the lawsuit filed by the state included a remarkable fact: Hawai'i constituted only 3 percent of the domestic gasoline market for Chevron, but 23 percent of Chevron's profits was generated by the Hawai'i market!

A simple calculation shows that to achieve these results, Chevron's profit margin in the Hawai'i market must have been up to 10 times the average profit margin it made in the rest of the U.S. market.

While the state Legislature was reviewing the gas cap law, from September 2004 to May 2005, the curve shown in the article is relatively stable and well-behaved.

It is pure conjecture on my part, but it would not be surprising if Chevron deliberately avoided raising prices while the Legislature was reviewing the gas cap law. Once the Legislature adjourned, however, the curve rises rapidly, from about $2.40 to $3.60 by September 2005.

The "wobble" in the curve may be disconcerting to the driving public, but on an annual basis the total cost to the public should be about the same. The important point is that the "overcharge" represented by the excessive profit margin of up to 10 times will be limited by the gas cap law.

There is a better option, but space does not permit its discussion here.