Criticism of Goodenow was unfounded
Dick Hagstrom's Oct. 24 letter to the editor was factually incorrect. I have attended numerous community meetings. The minutes of both the Kailua and Waimanalo neighborhood boards will verify this. The record will also show Hagstrom's lack of attendance.His statement that I am "a pawn of Joe Souki" is also misinformed. I am an independent representative. For example, I opposed the abolishment of the state Land Use Commission and fought for an elected Hawaiian Homes Commission, both views not shared by the House leadership.
Another good example is the Bishop Estate issue. From the start, what I heard from the community and what I came to believe was that the Legislature should be out of the process. So I submitted a bill to repeal the law and completely break the connection between the estate and the Legislature.
I fought for my version throughout the session but, in the end, voted for the Senate version, because something had to be done to end the trustees' outrageously high commissions. I still believe in repeal, and that the Legislature has no business in a responsibility expressly reserved for the courts.
I am proud of my record and my first term. I welcome anyone to read the House Journal. I am very doubtful if Hagstrom has himself read it, because his statements are in error.
Rep. Kenny Goodenow (D)
Waimanalo, Keolu Hills,
Lanikai, Kailua
Kenny Goodenow has regularly attended community meetings, including those of the Waimanalo Neighborhood Board. He has provided clear, thoughtful and sincere input at those meetings. In fact, at the last one, Goodenow reported on several important state issues that affect Waimanalo residents.
Goodenow has shown himself to be a caring, independent thinker. He speaks from his heart as well as his mind.
Wilson Kekoa Ho
Chairperson, Waimanalo
Neighborhood Board
Like his predecessor, Eve Anderson, Representative Goodenow regularly attends our Kailua Neighborhood Board meetings. He is always available to answer questions from the community and has addressed legislative issues as well.
He realizes that the board is there to do its own job, and that it is not a platform for other agendas.
Claudine M. Tomasa
Chairperson
Kailua Neighborhood Board
All Krishna devotees were tainted by story
I protest your Oct. 9 article, "Krishnas admit students abused at their schools." There are millions of devotees of Krishna and countless organizations throughout the world that teach Bhakti Yoga (love of Krishna). By failing to identify the International Society for Krishna Consciousness as being the organization responsible for the child abuse activities referred to in the article, your newspaper has unfairly tarnished all devotees of Krishna and organizations such as ours.Jeannie Bishop
President
The Science of Identity Foundation
Working multiple jobs isn't much to brag about
I would be curious to learn if all those menial jobs the governor espouses on one of his TV ads -- i.e. truck driver, gas pumper, construction worker -- were held concurrently like a great many other people who have four or five jobs to live in Hawaii.Together with the endless rhetoric, baton passing, cronyism, questionable work contract favoritism and unions in his back pocket, surely it's high time we all realized there is a drastic need for change in leadership.
Cayetano's emphasis on schools and hospitals is commendable, in that one can get a good education and then be assured of first-rate treatment when one gets sick after working four jobs with little sleep.
John L. Werrill
Lingle didn't deal with sewage spill
I was inclined to vote for Linda Lingle, but her decision to allow Maui County to be sued in a costly legal battle will hurt taxpayers and only enrich lawyers. In the meantime, the spills will continue to occur.Jay Lono Aragon
Waianae
Telling the truth isn't negative advertising
A lot of voters were wondering whether Stan Koki would start to influence Linda Lingle's campaign for governor. Now I realize that he has.Whenever someone attempted to expose his record (or lack thereof) on issues important to the community, Koki won't respond. Instead, he runs full-page ads in the paper, smiling benevolently at us with his family at his side, telling the voters of the district that there's no place for negative advertising in Hawaii.
Negative advertising? How about the truth? Isn't there a place in Hawaii for that?
Now Lingle too is hiding behind the shield of "negative advertising" when confronted with her record on Maui. Why aren't we entitled to hear both sides? To paraphrase Jack Nicholson, does she think the voters can't handle the truth?
Erik Floyd
(Via the Internet)
Education budget should have been raised, not cut
I can't believe that people continue to shower gratitude upon Governor Cayetano regarding his "mere" 3 percent cut in education funding. Sure, compared to other department cuts 3 percent is seemingly nothing. However, he should not have cut a single penny from education.In fact, Cayetano and the Legislature should have exceeded the Department of Education's requests. If they were serious about putting education as priority one, that 3 percent cut would have been a 3 percent raise over all requests.
Scott Gruzinsky
Mililani
(Via the Internet)
Preventability of SIDS is highly questionable
How disappointing that your Oct. 5 article on the Child Death Review Council implied that Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is "preventable." It is not. As parents, we can reduce the risk by following guidelines, but there is no certainty that this death will not occur.We followed every rule in the book with our daughter and yet our healthy, happy six-and-a-half-month baby girl died. How could this be?
By printing information like this, you not only give a false sense of security to new parents but place tremendous guilt on parents who have lost a child to SIDS.
The Back to Sleep Campaign has a valuable message, one that has likely saved lives. But it didn't save our daughter, and she never once slept on her stomach.
Andrea Fujii
Kailua
Republicans keep chasing their impossible dream
It is not as if we have never before seen madness of such magnitude as the current impeachment inquiry in Congress. Such madness happens often enough that we have expressions to characterize them in our folklore."Making a mountain out of a mole hill" is one of them. Another is "You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear."
But this Republican Congress is better compared to the medieval alchemists, who persistently searched for a formula that would convert lead and other lesser metals into gold. Similarly, the Congress is now searching for credible rhetoric that would convert episodes of marital infidelity into high crimes and misdemeanors worthy of impeachment.
When all is said and done -- hopefully, by the end of the current congressional session -- Republicans will find in their hands a mole hill, a sow's ear and an unsightly lump of lead.
Shin Shimabukuro
(Via the Internet)
Clinton must be held accountable for actions
Try not to confuse the Starr report with a sex novel. The independent counsel's report has substantial and credible information covering 11 possible grounds of impeachment, including lying under oath, lying to a grand jury, obstruction of justice, and tampering with potential witnesses such as Betty Currie.William Clinton has built his 30-year career on one lie after another. When people have been lying for years, they get to the point where they do not recognize when they are telling the truth. Lying before a grand jury should be an impeachable offense!
Bill Clinton must be held accountable for his lying. Please do not patronize me by saying that lies only hurt the people who tell them.
Alvin R. Burk II
(Via the Internet)
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