Other articles on Page 3 show that state funding for treating hepatitis and AIDS is ending, that other health services are being slashed, that health records will be harder to get, and that we will have more and more homeless people.
Meanwhile, subsidies to the hotel industry now include a $350 million convention center, $24 million annually to the visitor board, one of the lowest hotel room taxes in the nation, and also among the lowest property taxes. Isn't there also a connection here between these freebies and rising bankruptcy rates among small businesses?
Jerome G. Manis
Borreca (Capitol View, April 4) criticizes me for my use of Hawaiian language at OHA meetings. Where should I speak Hawaiian language if not at OHA? Only at luaus to "authenticate" the occasion?
Borreca implies I am responsible for hiring Hill & Knowlton to conduct an educational and informational campaign for OHA because, as he says, "it's my way or the highway."
If Richard had done his job (as a journalist) and bothered to check the voting record on who voted to hire Hill & Knowlton, he would have found out that I must have got the "highway." I was the only one of the eight trustees present who voted no.
Isn't being truthful and accurate the difference between journalism and tabloidism, or does it matter anymore?
Clayton Hee
Chairman
OHA Board of Trustees
Editor's note: While Clayton Hee voted against hiring Hill & Knowlton, he voted with the majority on Dec. 5, 1995, to spend up to $300,000 for an educational and lobbying campaign. That vote cleared the way for hiring the public relations firm.
As a descendent of the Kahuna Nui of Hawaii and Keakaokalani, sister of Hewahewa, who was the Kahuna Nui of Kamehameha I (as well as cousin to Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop), I feel obligated to speak out about the behavior of the Bishop Estate as I see it. It is not an inspiring sight.
Beverly G. Katz
Kailua
The government now requires each law-abiding citizen who wishes to have a gun permit in Hawaii to take a gun safety course that is approved by the Honolulu Police Department. This bill, upon superficial inspection, sounds great. But what it really does is create another barrier to obtain a gun.
Gun prices are already high because of regulation by the government. How does a citizen, who happens to be poor, afford a gun to defend his family with the added expense of a gun class? A class can cost up to $80.
Ian Rothstein
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