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Trails management policy is very clear

Our department appreciates your Jan. 11 article highlighting management concerns at the Manoa Falls trail, but the issue needs clarification.

Most important, trails management by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources is guided by the following policy adopted by the Land Board:

Protection and stewardship of natural and cultural resources is the highest priority.

Access for general public activity in a manner that does not damage these resources is the second priority.

Access for commercial activity in a manner that does not damage these resources or compromise the general public's activity is the third priority.

Commercial activity is permitted on the 42 Na Ala Hele trails and access roads. Conservative maximum daily patron numbers are assigned to limit potential conflict with the general public and to protect the resource.

There were only two commercial permittees at Manoa Falls last year. Five new applications were received this year. Seven vendors would bring 100 persons daily for a resource with the commercial capacity set at 24.

There was not consensus among the applicants on how to award the permits, and the department was concerned about overuse. A random trail census last June counted 246 (183 visitors and 63 residents) on the trail. Further aggravating overuse are unauthorized commercial groups that are pending enforcement action.

Last year's two permittees were extended three months to facilitate their making other business arrangements. Both still have access to six other commercial trails on Oahu, and there is opportunity for partnerships with other landowners as vendors on Maui and Hawaii have done.

Manoa Falls is the most accessible, best maintained and managed public waterfall hike on Oahu. It is close to the urban core and Waikiki. As such it has intrinsic value to both the local public and the visitor industry.

But it is reaching a level of use that requires increased management, including solving current enforcement issues, soliciting community and user input, measuring and projecting use, regulating use and obtaining funding for needed improvements.

Gilbert Coloma-Agaran
Chairman,
Department of Land and Natural Resources

Gambling will ruin state's family atmosphere

Almost everyone I know is opposed to gambling in our state, especially on the Big Island. We've been fighting gambling ever since I can remember. Let's not cave in now. I've seen what happens to places that allow gambling. It's not a pretty sight. It's not a place to raise kids. Don't do it!

Robert G. Devine
Ocean View, Hawaii

Governor's scholarship idea has flaws

As a former part-time college recruiter, I believe the governor's idea to support scholarships for all B-average students to attend the University of Hawaii is a noble proposition.

However, the state should first consider investment in the university itself: academic programs, facilities, libraries and faculty salaries. Assuming this proposal results in a significant influx of students, without the necessary capacity the system would buckle.

There will also be a watering-down effect on the quality of a UH degree as the already scarce resources at the school's disposal will be spread over not just more students, but students of lesser academic quality.

You would have to accept, too, the fact that there will be grade compromises at the high school level for borderline cases, even if you qualify which courses would be used in calculating grade point averages.

Eric Ogawa
New York , N.Y.

Quotables "We're looking at user fees for all the tourists because they removed our natural beauty or took away our beaches, sands, all of that." Colette Machado OFFICE OF HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS TRUSTEE On the idea of OHA charging entrance and departure fees to Hawaii visitors as a source of generating income "What if someone poops on Tuesday? The pool will be contaminated for six days before another test is taken." Rick Bernstein KAIMANA BEACH COALITION MEMBER Worried about the planned once-a-week fecal bacteria monitoring of the Natatorium salt-water pool on Waikiki Beach

Does Hawaii want to end up like California?

Jeremy Lam's Jan. 15 letter calls for undergrounding proposed electrical lines to prevent the visual blight created by Hawaiian Electric Co. poles.

Heco's environmental impact statement, created 10 years ago, proposed the extension of the northern corridor to provide a back-up source to the Pukele Station in case of a catastrophic failure at the Kamoku Station.

Pukele serves a vast area of East Honolulu -- Waikiki, Kahala, Kapahulu and Kaimuki, or about 20 percent of the population. The EIS calls for undergrounding of electrical lines from Kamoku to Dole Street near the University of Hawaii campus.

It is only the segment traversing the ridge to Pukele that requires overhead support. This exposed segment allows easy inspection, facilitates maintenance and is a less costly installation.

An underground system here is impractical if not improbable. A wide trench for the conduits and manholes requires the destruction of many trees and vegetation. Blasting may be required to remove the rocks. The resulting excavation will expose the area to soil and rain erosion for some time.

California is noted for establishing national trends but I do not envy its current plight. By prolonging this Heco project and just sitting back, we may wind up in the same boat.

Leonard K.F. Chun

Bush should quit griping, start governing

The Bush administration's first big mistake was leaking out to the peripheral media the alleged trashing of the White House offices. Granted, it did allow the new president to then announce -- and repeat -- that he was not going to concern himself with the missing "W" keys on computers, but was going to take the high road, to look ahead, to "govern."

When the truth came out that there was one poster on the wall, one image left on a copy machine, one severed phone line and some missing "W" keys on computers, the facts made this exit pale by comparison to the theft of computer hard drives by the outgoing administration of Bush's father.

Clinton was smart to treat that as a prank and to go on with making our country and our world a better place in which to live.

But a week after they moved in, the Bush team is still complaining about the theft of the computer keys, and Bush is still saying he is not concerned and wants to govern.

Come on, Mr. President, you can only milk that for so long. It makes us wonder who is in charge of the White House. Can't you just tell your overzealous staffers to get on with it?

Keith Haugen

Military's 'war' on drugs could backfire

Your Jan. 26 article, "Air Force wages weekend war on drugs," raises a couple of questions.

If Ecstasy, psychoactive mushrooms or other "rave" drugs are creating such havoc among the troops, why must authorities resort to random weekend drug tests to determine if they are indeed being used? Are these tests really designed to help maintain fitness among the troops or merely another form of social control?

I also wonder if the military policymakers responsible for this new program have considered the obvious consequence: keeping the troops away from the alcohol-free raves and driving them straight to the saloons, where they are free to imbibe unlimited quantities of the most toxic psychoactive substance of all.

Donald M. Topping
President,
Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii

Hawaiians are worried about very survival

Many people believe that the Hawaiian movement is just another civil-rights effort. For Hawaiians, it is much more and much deeper. It is really a matter of existence versus extinction, life and death.

Both by choice and necessity, pure Hawaiians are marrying other nationalities. The negative effects of genetic inbreeding are forcing this.

Sadly, the Barrett vs. State of Hawaii lawsuit threatens to take away the public land and economic base from the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.

If that happens, only a private land base remains for Hawaiians. Even the Kamehameha Schools' land base benefits few Hawaiians.

Sadly, the Barrett case also threatens the political and cultural bases of Hawaiians. OHA's demise would close a critical forum and political institution. Ending gathering rights would suffocate cultural practices.

The majority of people in Hawaii and the U.S. need to be aware of the dire consequences of killing Hawaiian institutions. If significant sums of money are spent, if sizable areas of land and sea are reserved, and if extraordinary efforts are expended to save endangered plants and animals, why can we not protect a special group of people: the Hawaiians?

Charles V. Naumu
Kaneohe

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