Terrible economy
doesn't help teachers, either

The Star-Bulletin's front-page article on Feb. 21 about the teachers' strike misrepresented my position on the settlement. After a full 10-minute interview, your reporter used only one of my quotes: "A tax increase would create a win-lose situation by temporarily helping students and parents but hurting everyone in the long run."

Isolation from my other statements gives the impression that I favor a tax increase to pay for the settlement, when I do not. I never have been in favor of a tax increase nor will I be.

Hawaii's economic recovery is dependent upon selected tax cuts to both individuals and small businesses. But if the teachers' settlement takes away these tax cuts, a continually stalled economy will not help anyone in Hawaii over the long run.

State Rep. Gene Ward
Minority Leader
House of Representatives

Manoa to honor a resident,
and will fight for its rights

Mary Cooke will be honored by Malama o Manoa on Wed., March 12, with a testimonial dinner and the unveiling of a life-size portrait by artist Pamela Fitzgerald. Mary founded Malama o Manoa in 1992 to help preserve and enhance Manoa Valley.

Unfortunately, the future beauty and health of our beloved valley is now threatened by the likely erection of hideous 135-foot-tall aluminum towers and the planned construction of a massive 138 KW electrical powerline along the entire eastern ridge of this still-peaceful valley.

The dinner for Mary will celebrate the founding of one of Hawaii's fastest-growing community groups. It will also mark the beginning of a public campaign to save Manoa from a project that could utterly destroy its unique character and general well-being.

Ken Harding

Hawaiians must take back
what was stolen from them

The state/HSEC clamor for kanaka maoli sovereignty rings hollow. It is a skeleton dancing on a tin roof, a lot of noise but no substance. We have only to look at the government eviction last year of the Makua Beach residents, and on the Big Island this year of the Pai ohana from its ancestral lands.

And let us not forget the attacks against the kanaka maoli since 1893, when the queen was overthrown by haole oligarchs, and a puppet government was established by Sanford Dole and his cohorts. This systematic government led to Hawaii's annexation by a pernicious U.S. government.

When genuine kanaka maoli independence takes place, it will be because the kanaka maoli have taken back their stolen lands and forced the U.S. interlopers out. It will not come from state-run plebiscites, referenda or calls for a state within a state.

J.J. Kaufmann

Timeless struggle with idea
that tourism is important

As an islander always at heart, it is with sadness that I watch the Hawaii Legislature and taxpayers grapple with the need to increase revenue at a time that tourism is declining.

During my life in Hawaii in the 1970s, the Legislature wrestled with the need to create jobs and industry outside of tourism and was blocked at every proposal.

The defections and turnovers at the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau indicate the fears are reality: No one wants to turn out the lights when the last tourist leaves, but somebody has to pay the bills. I wonder who.

Larry Fallin
Dakota Dunes, S.D.
(Via the Internet)

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