ALOHA SPIRIT

SPORTSMANSHIP AND GENEROSITY AT HUI WA'A

On June 29 at Ma'ili Beach, the team of Na Keiki O Ka Mo'i hosted the Hui Wa'a Regatta.

The opening ceremony was very impressive as the team paid tribute in particular to three members who had refurbished a prized koa outrigger canoe, which then circled the finishing flags as the loudspeakers played "All Hawai'i Stand Together." It was a special moment to cherish and remember.

Four boats were initially entered in the women's platinum heat; two came to the starting flags.

At the finish, the race was too close to visually determine a winner by the team members on the shore.

As the Lokahi ladies chatted nearby or took a dip in the surf, the ladies from Ka Mo'i came over to them, bearing well wishes and small gifts.

The sportsmanship and graciousness of the Ka Mo'i team was evident in the smiling faces and kind words.

The impact on the Lokahi team was obvious. The aloha spirit is alive and well on the Wai'anae Coast. Mahalo plenty, Ka Mo'i.

HISTORIC SHIP

WAY MUST BE FOUND TO SAVE FALLS OF CLYDE

I and many others are saddened by the possibility that the Falls of Clyde might be sunk because of lack of funding.

In 1977, I was assigned as vice commodore of area Sea Scouts and Bishop Museum (John Wright) managed to get a grant for the Falls of Clyde because of the Sea Scouts' weekly work aboard the vessel.

Capt. David Lyman came aboard many times to help train the Sea Scouts. Bob Krauss also spent time with my Sea Scouts.

I'm sure that Capts. William Matson, David Lyman, Fred Klebingat, as well as John Wright and Bob Krauss as well as my mother (she, too, loved the Falls of Clyde) are turning over in their graves upon hearing this impending news.

Say it ain't so, Honolulu! Remember she is listed as a national historic monument. Suggestion: the USS Albacore and USS Batfish, both U.S. Navy submarines, were towed ashore as museum ships.

HB 2761

MEDICAID WAIVERS BILL SHOULD NOT BE VETOED

The Legislature passed House Bill 2761, which directs the Department of Human Services to apply for a Medicaid grant to expand services to low-income women with babies. Currently they get help for two months. This bill increases services to at least six months.

The Medicaid expansion funds, or "Medicaid waivers," provide a 90 percent federal contribution. The state funds only 10 percent.

Twenty-six other states have obtained these Medicaid waivers. In its first year, California's waiver demonstrated that for every dollar spent, the program saved $4.48, or about $512 million in public funds.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently conducted an evaluation of all the waiver programs, and determined they provided substantial cost-savings to both state and federal governments.

Gov. Linda Lingle put this bill on her veto list. Hawai'i can provide 100 percent tax exemptions to the tech industry and determine to buy Turtle Bay, but Gov. Lingle tightens the belt when it comes to health and poor women.

Hawai'i calls itself "The Health State." To ensure we remain in the lead, and not the caboose, I ask that others who care about the health of Hawai'i's people urge the governor to sign this bill.

SB 2878

EARLY LEARNING BILL IS FISCALLY RESPONSIBLE

As head of Hanahau'oli School, a board member of the Hawaii Association of Independent Schools and co-chair of the Act 259 Early Learning Task Force, I wholeheartedly agree with your June 29 editorial urging the governor to remove Senate Bill 2878 from her possible veto list.

This needs to be a time of fiscal constraint, as the governor advocates. However, starting this 10-year initiative now is a smart thing to do, not only for Hawai'i's economy but for its families.

Every dollar invested in a child's future yields significant benefits as that child grows up. The results are in: Children who have access to high-quality early learning experiences are more likely to become high school and college graduates, avoid entanglements with crime, and successfully contribute to their communities as employees and citizens.

The bill establishes the Early Learning Council as a governing agency to launch the "Keiki First Steps" program. It is intended to design a comprehensive system of quality early-learning opportunities that will best meet the unique needs of Hawai'i's children. The council is a public-private partnership and funding in the future will be shared across both sectors.

I urge the governor to see SB 2878 as an opportunity to move the early-learning agenda ahead. It is the fiscally responsible thing to do.

FINANCIAL LOSSES

HHSC PUBLIC BENEFIT MUST BE PART OF DEBATE

Hawaii Health Systems Corp.'s financial woes are a matter of concern to all of us, not just to those living on the Neighbor Islands.

Without HHSC and public support from the state, Hawai'i would be unable to provide safety-net healthcare facilities in many rural parts of our state.

That said, we need to take a hard look at all five regions served by HHSC facilities and decide which ones the people have an appetite to support and close the ones that are marginal. HHSC cannot, by law, close facilities without the Legislature's approval. Consequently, it is between a rock and a hard place without concurrent political will to honestly address the current financial and healthcare delivery situation.

With that in mind, I take issue with Gov. Linda Lingle's comment that last year's legislation (SB 1792), which reorganized HHSC into five semi-autonomous regions, was enacted to "protect Sen. Baker" politically.

SB 1792 was pushed by the Maui region of HHSC. We anticipated the coming financial storm and pressed for change to ensure the viability of Maui Memorial, Kula and Lana'i hospitals, the sole hospital providers for the islands of Maui and Lana'i. This was truly grass-roots legislation. Fortunately, Maui's legislative contingent saw the wisdom of this approach (local control) and helped carry the bill, which Gov. Lingle could have vetoed but wisely didn't.

In general, public health systems across the country lose money. They nonetheless exist because without government support, healthcare would not be accessible in many rural communities. Hawai'i is no different.

So, the angst we are experiencing over HHSC's financial performance should focus less on the fact that HHSC loses money and more on the amount of losses the public will bear in exchange for the community benefit derived from providing healthcare services in rural Hawai'i.

CLIMATE

WEATHER REPORT DATA INDICATE COOLING TREND

Surface temperature measurements are too inexact to define global climate change.

Readers of The Honolulu Advertiser have a better measure for the Pacific Ocean region.

The polar front jet stream appears every day in the weather report. It marks the upper boundary between cold and warm air in the lower atmosphere.

At this time of year, it normally appears near the Arctic Circle.

On July 1, it was 2,200 miles south, along latitude 30 degrees. Hawai'i experienced a passing cold front. These are true measures of atmospheric cooling.

The record number of intense tornadoes in the Midwest during May and June was also an indicator of unusual cooling. Rapidly moving thunderstorms, containing intense tornadoes, are triggered by small vortices translating in the polar front jet stream. The jet stream was further south than normal. Snow and ice prevailed in the Northwest. These were true measures of atmospheric cooling.

My sense is that The Honolulu Advertiser weather report has signaled unusual cooling over the Pacific Ocean for, at least, the past five years. The evidence from this side of the planet suggests global cooling.

OIL DRILLING

SHORT-TERM SOLUTIONS NEEDED IMMEDIATELY

I am a fixed-income retiree, and all other average-income citizens need immediate relief from skyrocketing fuel costs, which affect not only gasoline prices but other items that are dependent on oil.

Solar and wind technology may be a good substitute several years from now.

However, we need instant replacement and relief from imported oil from the Middle East, Venezuela and Iran.

We must start drilling our own oil from Alaska, California, Texas, and Florida to name a few possible sites.

Let's fix the oil problem now, and not wait for the long-term solutions!

TRASH

DON'T TARGET SMOKERS; MANY OTHERS LITTER

This is in response to the June 30 letter from L. Taba suggesting that a 25-cent tax be imposed on smokers to stop them from littering with their discarded cigarette butts.

Smokers are not the only folks who are littering our precious 'aina. Why target them as the sole litterbugs? Why not charge a fee for those who buy diapers, plate lunches, etc., and dispose of them on the ground instead of in a rubbish can?

There is no easy answer to the problem of litter, but targeting and taxing smokers will not have a significant effect on eliminating the litter in our state.