Letters to the Editor
CHEAPER
RENTAL MARKET STILL TRAILS THE MAINLAND
I applaud the May 22 article about the rental market finally improving in Hawai'i.
My family and I left because we were stuck in the crunch of finding an affordable rental for our little family. We did not want to rely on family and have all three of us live in a bedroom in their home. We wanted to try our best to make it on our own. So like many other families, we moved to the Mainland.
Unfortunately, it is not my island home, which I lived in for 29 years of my life, but I pay $600 for a two-bedroom apartment, one that would cost me at least $1,500 a month or more on O'ahu. I wonder how many more dips in the population does Hawai'i need before the market really starts improving?
We have been discussing coming back, but we will continue to watch the trends in the housing market as well as the job market before we make this decision. Perhaps Hawai'i will become just a place to retire, instead.
Dawn WebbPortland, Ore.
UARC
FINAL WORD WON'T GO TO UH 'COMMUNITY'
For all his impassioned verbiage, Ikaika Hussey of the Save UH/Stop UARC Coalition seems not to have grasped a fundamental fact of life out there in la-la land (Letters to the Editor, May 12).
Not if the recent, hyperventilated "Open Letter to the UH President" — opposing the Navy's sole-source award of a prestigious University Affiliated Research Center contract to the University of Hawai'i at Manoa — is any indication.
Albeit presuming to speak for an entire UH "community," neither Hussey nor the rest of his alleged community own the university, ergo do not have the final word on this matter.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but the taxpayers have bought and paid for — and are still paying for — that university and fund all who inhabit it. Thus, it shall fall to a responsible Board of Regents to assume the role of the adults in what so far has been low-brow comedy.
The board must make a reasoned decision whether or not to boot away this prestigious opportunity for UH scholars to join the leading edge of technical scholarship in the nation based on all relevant factors and not be unduly influenced by the hooting and jeering of a faculty populated with so many ignorant people posing as "scholars."
By way of a footnote, Mililani contributor Hector Valenzuela (Letters, May 17) is flat wrong in his celebration of Hussey's rant: "The goals of a university and the military are diametrically opposed."
If it were not for the effort of our armed forces to preserve our freedom over the last 230 years, there would be no university.
In short, UARC may be thought of as an intelligence test. If UH boots it, it flunks.
Thomas E. StuartKapa'au, Hawai'i
TESORO
What's with this ethanol exemption?
Well, isn't that special? First the state Legislature knew more than the economists it hired. The Legislature created the gas cap. Thank goodness that's gone!
Now it appears the state Department of Agriculture knows more than the ASTM. The ASTM is the group that created the specifications for E-10. E-10 is the ethanol gasoline you, the consumer, put in your car.
The Department of Agriculture has granted Tesoro a "non-temporary exemption" from meeting some of the ASTM requirements of E-10 ethanol gasoline, which could affect "drivability." Drivability is the way your car runs. And, the Department of Agriculture didn't think it needed to tell you, the consumer, either.
How can you make a choice? A choice that is right for you, your car, your wallet and the environment. An informed choice.
Come on. No secrets. Let me decide. Let us all decide.
Bob SwartzKailua
CHILD SAFETY
SCHOOL BUSES SHOULD ALSO HAVE SEAT BELTS
I applaud all the efforts of the Honolulu Police Department to enforce the seat-belt law with its annual Click it or Ticket campaign. I believe that seat belts do save lives.
But what I don't understand is why wouldn't the same seat-belt law apply to children riding in school buses?
I think our lawmakers have missed this important population of passengers and should make every effort to require all school buses to be fitted with seat belts for all our children's safety.
B. Favela'Ewa Beach
PAPAYA
TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR GMO DAMAGE
The views of professor Richard Manshardt of UH and Ms. Stephanie Whalen of the Hawai'i Agricultural Research Center ring hollow in light of the continuing contamination of Hawai'i's papaya, plunging papaya sales, losses incurred by organic and non-GMO growers and consumer frustration over GMO papaya.
It's time for them to get real and take responsibility for the damage caused by GMO papaya. Ms. Whalen attempts to shift the responsibility to organic and smaller farmers, when it is the developers of GMO papaya who are really responsible.
If my neighbor or town somehow contaminates my property, is it left entirely to me to foot the burden of cleanup and repair and to provide preventive measures, while they are let off the hook? Good civic behavior is required of the GMO gang, UH, USDA and PBARC, which has plans to develop more GMO tropical fruits and vegetables.
It's also time for the Legislature to put into effect meaningful laws to protect those who are involuntarily impacted by GMO damage.
Merle InouyeHilo
HULA EXHIBIT
HAWAIIAN IDENTITY BROUGHT TO WAIKIKI
Mahalo to Outrigger Hotels and Resorts for a wonderful opening reception for a hula exhibit designed by Bishop Museum on display now in the Outrigger Reef on the Beach Hotel lobby.
There has been much discussion in recent years on the need to bring back a sense of Hawaiian identity to Waikiki, and this exhibit does just that.
Special thanks to MaryLou Foley, public relations manager for Outrigger's Waikiki Beachfront Division, and Elliot Mills, general manager at Outrigger Reef Hotel, for their on-going efforts to reach out to the Hawaiian community.
The reception included performances by kumu hula Blaine Kia, Michael Pili Pang and Aunty Mae Kline, who each dedicated their dances to living treasure Aunty Pat Namaka Bacon, who was the reception guest of honor.
It is very, very gratifying to see Waikiki blossom once again with the sights and sounds of Hawaiian music and culture.
I hope that other hotels follow Outrigger's lead in this effort. What makes Hawai'i a special tourist destination is not surf and sand, but the host Hawaiian culture and the unique blending of other Asia-Pacific cultures we have here.
Nanette Naioma NapoleonKailua
LIVES AT STAKE
CIGARETTE TAX INCREASE IS CRITICAL
I am responding to Elizabeth Karasmeighan's May 22 letter in which she argues that Gov. Lingle should veto the cigarette tax increase passed by the Legislature (Senate Bill 2961).
It is important to point out that Ms. Karasmeighan resides in Washington, D.C., and that she is a lobbyist for an organization called Americans for Tax Reform. This group is funded by the large tobacco companies and, therefore, her primary interests are not the welfare of Hawai'i or the health of our citizens.
SB2961 represents a modest increase of one cent per cigarette for each of the next six years. Ms. Karasmeighan argues that this increase at the end of six years will result in a cigarette tax that is higher than the currently highest in Rhode Island. She conveniently overlooks two important facts:
If there is one tax in which Hawai'i wants to be the highest, it is the cigarette tax.
In contrast to Ms. Karasmeighan's contention, Hawai'i's citizens overwhelmingly support an increase in their tobacco tax. A recent poll conducted by OmniTrak Group Inc. earlier this year found that 61 percent strongly support and 11 percent somewhat support an increase of our cigarette tax, with only 6 percent strongly opposed to it.
The cigarette tax is a sin tax and as such has always been viewed as a user fee to offset the cost to society for the harmful consequences of smoking, such as decreased productivity and increased healthcare costs.
Ms. Karasmeighan also ignores the fact that the increased revenues would not go into the general state coffers but would directly support several health-related services, including our new Cancer Research and Treatment Center in Kaka'ako, which would allow us to expand our research in cancer prevention and control and, foremost, to offer comprehensive cancer care with access to the latest technology and innovative clinical trials for our growing number of cancer patients in the state.
The truth is that smoking causes many cancers and other debilitating lung and heart diseases, not to mention the incalculable pain and heartache of families who lose loved ones to smoking-related deaths. Our entire community bears the terrible consequences of smoking. This is the real burden for our citizens created by smoking, not the cigarette tax.
Our hope is that smoking will decline as a consequence of the combined effects of the secondhand smoking bill and an increased cigarette tax and particularly in our teenagers, a result that Hawai'i residents and the Cancer Research Center of Hawai'i would embrace.
Please, Gov. Lingle, sign Senate Bill 2961 into law.
Dr. Carl-Wilhelm VogelDirector, UH Cancer Research Center of Hawai'i
ACHIEVEMENT UP
NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND IS REAWAKENING OUR SCHOOLS
Whatever Lee Takagi was describing in her Island Voices commentary ("No Child Left Behind leaving kids behind," May 17), it sure didn't sound like the No Child Left Behind Act.
Far from "killing" our schools, the law is reawakening them to their core mission. It ensures that all children, including limited English speakers, are held to high standards and brought up to grade level as quickly as possible in the two most important subjects, reading and math.
Takagi speaks of "mounting frustration and hopelessness." But there are few things more frustrating than being told by a university or an employer that you just don't have the skills they're looking for, despite holding a high school diploma. That is exactly what happens when schools expect little from their students.
That's beginning to change. Since 2002, when the No Child Left Behind Act was signed, fifth-grade reading achievement in Hawai'i has increased by 13 percentage points. Nationwide, more reading progress was made by 9-year-olds in the last five years than in the previous 28 years combined.
Increased standards have been coupled with increased resources. President Bush has proposed $46.6 million for students in Hawai'i's high-poverty Title I schools, a 76 percent increase over 2001 levels. Before No Child Left Behind, only about 15 percent of all limited English proficient students received federal assistance to help meet their unique educational needs. Today, 80 percent receive such aid.
The No Child Left Behind Act is helping to raise test scores and narrow the achievement gap in states all across the country. I believe this is something to be celebrated, not condemned.
Eric EarlingDeputy secretary's regional representative, U.S. Department of Education, Region X
