PHILANTHROPY

HELP WILL BE NEEDED EVEN AFTER SHOW ENDS

It is wonderful to see hundreds of local volunteers respond to the needs of the Kalihi family benefiting from the free construction being provided through ABC-TV's "Extreme Makeover" program.

However, after the television lights go dim, the cameras are packed up, and the highly-paid network production crews go home, volunteer efforts are sorely needed every day of the week for "makeovers" in Hawai'i, especially when no one is watching. They're not always "extreme," but they're always necessary.

Since 1926, your neighborhood Lions Clubs on O'ahu, Maui, Hawai'i, Lana'i, Kaua'i, and Moloka'i have been building park pavilions, bus stops, sidewalk benches and local playgrounds — free of charge. We repair deteriorating school buildings, renovate senior centers, clean trash from highways and beaches, construct access ramps for the disabled, and remove graffiti from public buildings — free of charge. We feed the homeless, find employment for the disadvantaged, give vision screening tests to children, collect and refurbish hundreds of thousands of used eyeglasses for the underprivileged, and have provided over 3,000 cornea transplants for the visually impaired — free of charge.

Interested? Give us a call and we'll find a Lions Club in your neighborhood planning their next "makeover" service project near you. Get involved. Keep involved. You will never regret it.

DEVELOPMENT

INFRASTRUCTURE SEEMS OVERBURDENED ALREADY

The Board of Water Supply says we don't have enough water. HECO says we don't have enough power. The dumps are running out of space. Our sewage system can't handle the load. The roads are in a gridlock. And yet we still build.

Who's giving out the building permits? And does the city planner even check?

RAIL SYSTEM

TEENAGERS WANT WHAT THEIR IDOLS HAVE — CARS

I have a simple question for all the pro-rail people to answer: Since the rail is for the future generation, I want you to ask the future generation, people in their teens: What type of transportation do you want? Most would probably say a car. You want to know why? It's because they want to imitate their TV idols.

Anybody watch "MTV Cribs"? In that show you see the lifestyles their idols have, and every young person wants what they have, whether it is the clothes, jewelry, shoes, cell phone, animals or cars.

You wouldn't see any one of their idols in this type of scenario: "Yo, yo, yo, welcome to my crib, before you enter my house, check out my ride, the rail, bet none of y'all don't have one of those."

Sure, if you ask a little kid if they want to ride the rail, of course they would say yes, because it would be cool to them. But ask a teenager. They would say that they would rather have a car. The cycle is not going to end.

IMMIGRATION

DEFEAT OF BILL WAS GOOD FOR NATIONAL SECURITY

The defeat of the general amnesty bill in the American Senate on June 8 was a very important victory for the American public. It was because of their many letters, faxes and phone calls protesting the bill that it was voted down. The scale of the protest was something not previously seen by present senators.

Yet the lead story in this newspaper on June 8 was "D.C. shows it can't govern," written by Dan Balz of The Washington Post. The most significant part of the defeat of the bill, the triumph of the will of the American public, was missed entirely. In addition, Mr. Balz got some significant facts about the bill wrong.

Had this bill passed, the 12 million-20 million illegal aliens in this country would have been granted amnesty, leading to many more crossing our borders illegally because they would be greatly encouraged that they, too, would be granted amnesty.

Six years after 9/11, our borders and ports are not secure. The laws to secure them are already on the books but are not being enforced because big business and the government don't want them enforced.

ILLEGAL MIGRANTS SHOW FLAWS IN OUR SECURITY

I am an American, a veteran and a person who cares deeply about the American way of life. Like many Americans, I am deeply concerned about the lack of good and courageous leadership in the Congress, the Senate and the White House. I am mostly concerned about illegal immigration.

It appears that no one in Washington, D.C. , listens to the cries of the American people. It is so disheartening and scary to know that more than 12 million illegal aliens have been able to cross our borders and enter the United States.

It does not take a rocket scientist to see that something is drastically wrong. If 12 million people can enter our country illegally, then terrorists can, too. The border states are experiencing increases in violent crime because of the illegal population.

In addition, illegal aliens are draining the welfare and other social systems that hard-working Americans have contributed to for years. They want amnesty, and they claim to pay taxes, but they are using up more in social systems than what they pay in taxes. Americans continue to pay more taxes to support these programs.

Illegal is illegal. You cannot define it any other way.

SAFE HAVEN

WHAT DO SUCH BILLS SAY ABOUT OPEN ADOPTIONS?

Re: The May 31 article, "Is 'safe haven' baby bill all that safe?"

I struggled for 28 years in child-placement work to lessen the inherent damage done to children when they are moved between birth parents and other caretakers. Such movement is damaging even if it saves the life of a child in the process. After 17 years removing children from abusive homes, I worked 11 years in open adoption work. Open adoption is necessary to minimize the trauma of placement. Open adoption does not eliminate all the pain, but makes the process a much more human and sensitive one.

Open adoption does not deserve the image given to it by the very existence of "safe haven" laws. Such laws send a fatal message to the public saying it is "reasonable" to want to abandon your child rather than go through the process of an adoption. What does that say about adoption?

Those who have historically supported "safe haven" laws have not been the adoption pioneers who developed and spread fully open adoption practice. The pains and losses that adoptees and birth parents suffer were the driving forces behind the expansion of open adoption. They are also the pains and losses that now continue and spread because of "safe haven" laws.

More lives will be saved with a positive image of open adoption alternatives being given to the public than will ever be saved with the damage done to the adoption alternative by the very existence of "safe haven" laws.

"Safe haven" laws are not the answer!

AG LANDS

POAMOHO ESTATES NO LONGER WHAT IT WAS

I am very disturbed, albeit not surprised, that the Poamoho Estates on the North Shore has become a gated community. As a lifelong resident of the North Shore, I have seen the rural atmosphere of the entire northern sector of O'ahu undergo many changes that are not conducive in keeping ag lands just that — land used for agricultural purposes only.

I feel bad for nursery owner Tina Jensen, who has started a plant-rental and nursery business on the Poamoho Estate property that she and her husband purchased for commercial agricultural use, which is what the property was intended to be used for in the first place.

I am inclined to believe (my gut feeling) that a large segment of the new property owners of the agricultural subdivision never had farming or raising animals for commercial purposes in mind when they purchased their parcel.

It is imperative that the city conduct a thorough investigation with respect to the usage of what are supposed to be agricultural lands as soon as possible. Why is it necessary to cordon off the entire area? I fail to understand why individual landowners do not take any responsibility to secure their own property, i.e., put up their own fence to enclose their personal property.

Creating a gated community only makes me suspect that eventually the Poamoho Estates will just be another place for the very wealthy to settle on.

WIND POWER

DOES PLAN TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THE BIRDS?

How is the wind power plan going to coincide with the endangered 'ua'u birds on Lana'i?

GRAFFITI

GRADS' KOKO HEAD SIGN ISN'T THE REAL PROBLEM

The following is my response to Rosalinda Kolb's note about Kaiser High School and "alleged graffiti" on Koko Head Crater:

As a proud parent of two Kaiser students from the mid-1990s, Rosalinda, where were you when Kaiser grads in the '90s "graffiti'd" Koko Head Crater? Where was your concern then? What about other high schools, such as Kalaheo, that do the same thing? These students are proud of their accomplishments!

You should really be more concerned about the real graffiti all over the freeway overpasses, freeway retaining walls, on buildings, just to name a few. That, to me, is real property damage that we all as taxpayers, even you, have to pay for to be removed. Let's concentrate on eradicating that kind of graffiti and educating the taggers about their lack of concern and hold them accountable instead of singling out Kaiser High School in Hawai'i Kai.

My congratulations to the Class of 2007 at Kaiser High School. Best wishes for a wonderful future!