Letters to the Editor
BEV HARBIN
NEW REPRESENTATIVE IS INSULT TO 28TH DISTRICT
What an embarrassment for Gov. Lingle and to the Republican Party to have appointed Beverly Harbin to replace Rep. Ken Hiraki, and what an insult to the residents of his 28th District! The governor was elected because the public was tired of the exploits of some members of the Democratic Party.
To appoint someone who doesn't pay her taxes to a body that makes these laws is a slap in the face of the public. We hold our elected officials to a high standard so as to set an example for us. Rep. Hiraki was such a person. The governor must ask for Harbin's resignation to preserve her integrity.
Laura G. ManisKaka'ako-Ala Moana
PRICE RELIEF
MORE DATA WOULD SHOW GAS CAP HELPS RESIDENTS
I enjoyed reading the gas price cap article in Sunday's Focus section that was written by University of Hawai'i economics professor Jack Suyderhoud. Perhaps he should go back to school before he writes another one.
The professor takes one year's worth of cost-comparison data regarding the gas cap, and then makes an assumptive guess that the cap won't work and won't save residents any money.
However, the only time this state's gas prices were even close to another state's was when the oil companies were taken to court and had to expose the fact that they were raking us over the coals, year after year, and decade after decade.
So when the gas cap went into effect and I saw that Hawai'i's gas prices were 30th highest in the nation instead of the perennially first we always have been, I felt that the tide was finally turning, and that the residents of this state were finally getting their fair due.
Leave the caps alone. Gather the data for a year or two to base a real analysis on, and not just rely on a guess based upon a small speck of data from someone's incomplete analysis.
My untrained economic assumption would be that after gathering information for two years, the data would show that we would now be more in line with the average price of the rest of the country, instead of always being the highest.
Don RochonHawai'i Kai
SONG, DANCE
HO'IKE WAS PROUD EVENT FOR WAI'ANAE
As a current resident of Hawai'i Kai, born on Moloka'i and raised in Wai'anae, I had the honor and privilege to participate in last week's Ho'ike 'ike O Wai'anae in beautiful Makaha Valley.
The song and dance festival featuring the talents of na keiki, na makua and na kupuna made the evening one to remember. I came away feeling proud to be of Hawaiian ancestry, and even more proud to be from the Wai'anae Coast.
Mahalo nui to the Wai'anae Coast Coalition in partnership with Makaha Resort and to all the wonderful people who made this event something very special.
Greg C. SolomonHawai'i Kai
PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
LONG-TERM SOLUTIONS SHOULD ALSO BE EFFICIENT
Regarding the Sept. 19 article by Mike Leidemann, "Plans could cut travel time in half":
Do you want traffic and pollution to destroy our beautiful island? The majority of Hawai'i's economy relies on tourism. We have a responsibility to protect the paradise that we call home.
In short, if we build more highways, enlarge roads and dig tunnels, we are not tackling the long-term traffic crisis on our island. These are merely short-term remedies; the island will only become more and more populated and inevitably we will be forced to build more roads.
Hawai'i must focus on long-term, sustainable development, especially regarding transportation. Not only should Hawai'i focus on building an efficient railway system, it should add more buses, build bike highways and pedestrian walkways.
This type of long-term planning will not only save energy and gas, cut pollution and keep our island beautiful and tourism (our economy) thriving, but it will also keep our people healthy and fit.
We have a lot to lose by enlarging our overcrowded highways, but we have even more to gain by focusing our energy on efficient public transportation.
Mariko DavidsonKailua
KAMEHAMEHA REPORT
SCHOOL SHOULD HELP HAWAIIANS IN TRUE NEED
The Kamehameha Schools recently released a report that showed that Native Hawaiians are, on the whole, worse off than any other group in Hawai'i in terms of economic indicators, education and health.
This is not exactly new information. What was new was the way they used these data. They said that this information provided support for their Hawaiian-only school admission requirement. The implication was that their admission policy is helping to improve these dire statistics on Native Hawaiians.
Unfortunately, the population covered by the report is quite different than the students and alumni. In the school a student who is 31/32 Chinese and 1/32 Hawaiian is considered a "Native Hawaiian." I'm sure that the report did not include anyone of that or similar ethnic makeup in their "Native Hawaiian" group.
Rather than misuse the report findings to support an admission policy that has not been as successful as it should in correcting the problems cited, the report should be used to create a new admissions policy that is directed squarely at uplifting the economic and educational well-being of the "real" Native Hawaiians who are truly in need.
Dick O'ConnellMakiki
KATRINA AID
MAINLAND LAW STUDENTS GIVEN HOME HERE
Hats off to the many Hawai'i lawyers who have stepped up to the plate to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Besides contributing generously to the Red Cross and Salvation Army by making monetary payments, attorneys such as Andy Winer have arranged for jobs, homes and relocation stipends for at least 13 first-year law students from Tulane and Loyola law schools who found themselves without a law school after the disaster.
What were these law students to do after paying as much as $20,000 for the first year's tuition and then not having a law school to attend? Through the generosity of Hawai'i's lawyers, law firms and judges, these first-year law students will be able to contribute to the state of Hawai'i by doing legal work here and having a place to live while their New Orleans law schools are rebuilding.
Many Hawai'i lawyers also dug deep into their pockets to pay for relocation costs, clothes and other necessities for living.
The lawyers of Hawai'i wish to thank our generous colleagues who have stepped forward.
Richard TurbinPresident, Hawai'i State Bar Association
HURRICANE STATISTICS
50/50 ODDS CAN APPLY TO NEARLY ANYTHING
If "Gilligan's Island" is ever resurrected, Edward Conklin (Letters, Sept. 20) would nail the part of the Professor.
His statistical analysis of the probability of a Category 4 or Category 5 hurricane hitting Hawai'i is amusing.
Let me offer some more relevant statistics:
Lahaina, Maui
BROKEN PROMISES
ALL HAWAI'I IS EVER 'GONNA' DO IS NOTHING
I think Hawai'i should change its nickname to the "Gonna" state.
Hawai'i has some of the worst schools as far as test-score statistics in the nation and our schools are crumbling before our eyes, but we're told "It's gonna get better."
The governor promised before she was elected to work to split up the gargantuan school district to more localized districts, but she now says, "I'm gonna do it if I'm re-elected."
Our gas prices are the highest in the nation because of this utterly unworkable gas cap, but we're told, "Prices are gonna come down because of the gas cap."
The only thing I can be absolutely sure of is that Hawai'i is gonna raise our taxes. Hawai'i should be ashamed of all the "gonna" they promise, but everything either stays the same or gets worse.
S. AndersonHilo
HURRICANE PREPAREDNESS
DON'T BE IN RUSH TO HIT ALARM
The Hannemann administration would like to laud The Advertiser for its series "Is Hawai'i ready for the big one?" Your excellent series by James Gonser and Robbie Dingeman objectively informs the public of our vulnerabilities, what is needed to address the gaps and what our exceptionally able and dedicated responders in Hawai'i are now doing.
On the other hand, Peter Armstrong's commentary in Sunday's Advertiser is alarmist, and actually hurts preparedness efforts as he uses misleading and downright wrong information.
Armstrong predicates his article on a Category 5 hurricane. As the experts know, no government can be totally prepared for a Category 5 hurricane. At the top of the scale, such a hurricane would have winds over 155 mph and a storm surge of over 18 feet.
Let's be clear: there would be catastrophic building failures, devastating damage to roofs of buildings and small buildings overturned or blown away. Yet Armstrong begins his article with just such a worst-case scenario, on one hand scaring the public while, on the other, implying that government can magically protect us from such a storm.
Armstrong goes on in his uninformed way to call for a "full-scale emergency exercise" and saying that "blowing our emergency sirens on the first day of the month just doesn't do it." It doesn't take a civil defense or homeland security expert to know that you don't need to lock down an entire city in a "full-scale emergency exercise" to do the job.
In fact, preparedness exercises are being held regularly. But you don't have to close down the island or tie up all of our police, fire and EMS to exercise. For example, just five weeks ago, the City and County of Honolulu sponsored an exercise that brought together a selected group of 120 public safety officials from city, state and federal agencies. It also included non-governmental representatives from the medical and industrial sectors of our community. Our Honolulu Fire Department personnel two weeks ago participated in a biohazard exercise with the federal government.
Armstrong again is quick to hit the alarm button when he writes that our emergency communications system will surely fail, that the batteries will run out.
Here are the facts as the mayor pointed out in his Sept. 9 press conference on disaster preparedness. Using federal funds, our Fire Department as of three months ago is now on the same radio system as the Police Department. Our EMS people now also have access to that system, allowing all three of our first-responder departments to communicate between themselves in an emergency.
As for Armstrong's concern over "the batteries running out," our first responders have long developed redundant and back-up power sources.
Armstrong is also wrong in implying that emergency shelters are a city responsibility. Almost all of our shelters on O'ahu are located in schools that are maintained by the state. The city certainly supports state administration efforts to get these shelters into shape and our civil defense officials joined state civil defense officials in asking the Legislature for help on this last week.
What we need in the wake of Hurricane Katrina is balanced, objective viewpoints that help our constructive efforts as we act on lessons learned.
And let's keep in mind one of the most important lessons learned from Katrina. Politicizing disaster preparedness doesn't do our preparedness and response efforts any good.
Press secretary to Mayor Mufi Hannemann
STATE WORKERS MERE PAWNS IN LINGLE'S RE-ELECTION BID
As a state employee of 29 years who is now retired, I know when public employees are being used inappropriately for political purposes.
The latest example is Gov. Linda Lingle's "Celebrating the 1,000th Day of the Administration" booklet. I agree with Editorial Page Editor Jerry Burris (Sept. 4 column) that it is the beginning of the governor's 2006 re-election campaign.
The booklet clearly misuses thousands of taxpayer dollars for political purposes. The governor's cover story that the booklet is part of the state's employee recognition program falls apart under the weight of her political ambitions.
Politics is the only way to explain the booklet when, four months after she attacked her employees' arbitration award by proclaiming "we simply shouldn't be paying these types of raises" to them, the governor now praises them as "our shining stars" responsible for Hawai'i's bright future.
What changed between the 865th day when she denounced their award and the 1,000th day when she issued the booklet? Not the employees who, in her words, continued to "labor each day to make Hawai'i a better place to live, work and play." Instead, what changed was the fast-approaching 2006 elections.
The evidence for this political shibai is in the booklet's introduction by Gov. Lingle and Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona. Their carefully chosen words reveal the celebration is really about themselves, not their employees.
In their message, employees work hard to "implement our vision." Employee accomplishments are "the hallmark of our first 1,000 days in office."
As soldiers have said throughout the centuries: The grunts shed their blood and guts; the generals get another star.
Hawai'i's public employees work diligently every day with little expectation of recognition. However, when recognition is given it should be sincere, without political motivation. The governor should not treat state employees as pawns in her quest to be re-elected.
Manoa
