Miss Hawaii showed lack of
compassion and aloha

As a heterosexual local resident, I was embarrassed to be from Hawaii while watching the Miss America pageant on Saturday night.

During edited taped interviews, Miss Hawaii was asked how she felt about same-gender marriage. She responded that it was "sick" and "sad."

What is truly "sick" is Miss Hawaii's intolerance toward tax-paying gay and lesbian families. Furthermore, what seems truly "sad" is that a statement like this came from a representative of the Aloha State.

If the shoe were on the other foot, and we lived in a world where heterosexuals were the group that was instantly stigmatized and discriminated against, I wonder how Miss Hawaii would feel if she heard someone on television describe her relationship with a man as "sad" and "sick."

In contrast to this, Miss Illinois, who ended up winning the pageant, said her goal was to help people with HIV/AIDS by promoting education and prevention programs.

It's too bad that Hawaii lost, but I was glad to see that compassion beat out ignorance and bigotry.

Mei Zhou

Hawaiian-only rule
is right for Kamehameha

Hopefully, Kelly Greenwell wasn't serious in his Sept. 13 View Point column when he suggested that Kamehameha Schools open its doors to all ethnic groups in Hawaii.

Actually, the school is already open to children of all ethnic backgrounds. Note the beautiful mixture of faces in their song contests and a look at their surnames.

Ke Alii Bernice Pauahi Bishop was a wise woman who foresaw the importance of a good education for her people 100 years ago and she did something about it.

Hawaiian children deserve this special advantage. Unfortunately, the school can take only a limited number of students and it is too bad that the outreach programs, which touched many more children in remote areas of the state, were terminated.

Reform is needed, but the intent of a well-planned trust must not be broken. Greenwell's rhetoric adds fuel to what some trustees have claimed. One wonders whose purpose he is serving.

Anneliese Chun
Kailua

No company has 5 CEOs
making $900,000 apiece

Recently, the argument has surfaced, by both the Bishop Estate's spokesperson and an individual trustee, that Bishop Estate trustee compensation should be viewed as "CEOs with hands-on management responsibilities." This same rationale has also appeared in the news media. Frankly, this argument is specious.

No organization has five CEOs and five CEO-type compensation packages.

As a matter of fact, it is highly improbable that a single top manager or CEO of a nonprofit organization or educational institution would be compensated at $900,000 per year. Perhaps there might be one, but five in the same organization? Preposterous!

Thomas Criste
Lahaina, Maui

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Bishop Estate Archive

Hike in hangar rental fees
at airport is unwarranted

Recently it has been disclosed that the airport fund has a surplus of $800 million. As a result of this enormous surplus, the state is lowering landing fees for commercial airlines in the hope of stimulating increased tourism. In a sagging economy this makes good sense, and I'm sure most of us in the private sector applaud the decision.

However, in view of this large surplus, hangar and tie-down lessees are wondering why the state has chosen to raise our rates in a time of economic hardship.

Condo and new home sales have plummeted to as much as 40 percent of their former market value. New building projects have slowed to a trickle. Bankruptcies and Chapter 11 applications are at an all-time high.

In short, we are in hard times. The hangar owners I have talked with are outraged at this action by the state. Given a healthy economy, we would accept the increased rent as a necessary fact of life, but surely not considering the present state of our economy.

The increase in state revenues realized from hangar and tie-down rentals is so small, relative to the state's total budget, it could be considered negligible. However these increases represent a significant burden to the lessees and particularly to those small businesses operating out of the hangars. Why then, in consideration of these difficult times, can't the state hold the line on rental increases?

Wendell Davenport
Aircraft owner and hangar lessee

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Same-sex archive

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