[ OUR OPINION ]
Sacred Falls park
should be reopenedNEARLY five years after being closed to the public, Sacred Falls State Park should return soon to being a favorite hiking area for Hawaii residents and visitors. The state Department of Land & Natural Resources has begun a process that should reopen the park under a system that informs hikers of the dangers as well as its cultural and religious history.
THE ISSUE
The state held a public hearing on alternatives for future access to Sacred Falls State Park.
Eight people were killed and 50 others injured on Mother's Day 1999 when boulders and rocks collapsed into the narrow windward valley of the Koolaus. The park, which drew 70,000 visitors a year, has been closed since then. The victims' families received $8.56 million in a settlement with the state after Circuit Judge Dexter Del Rosario declared that 10 signs at the start of the 2.2-mile trail leading to the waterfall warning of possible rockslides and flash floods were inadequate.
Last year's Legislature enacted a law that shields the state from such litigation when people are injured in Hawaii parks and hiking trails, provided that the state makes an appropriate risk assessment and a plan for warning signs that are not confusing. Rosario said the state "should have posted more specific warnings" at the Sacred Falls trail.
Oceanit has been contracted by the department to provide a master plan and risk assessment for the Sacred Falls park and has devised four alternatives, ranging from unlimited access to leaving the park closed. The two compromise plans include such options as charging entrance fees for tourists, limiting access to the area nearest the 87-foot waterfall by designating it a natural reserve and requiring accompaniment to the waterfalls by a guide.
In addition, the state hired ethnographer Kepa Maly to conduct a study of the cultural aspects of reopening the park. Maly says many Hawaiians have expressed concern that hikers pay appropriate respect to the valley's culture and history.
Oceanit expects the required assessment of the park's risk to visitors to be completed and made public in two to three months. A public hearing on the preferred master plan will be conducted as early as October.
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Haiti’s peace needs
firm commitmentPRESIDENT Bush faulted the Clinton administration during the 2000 presidential campaign for "nation building" in countries like Haiti. Bush has little choice but to apply such mortar after the clumsy U.S. re-entry into the rebellion-torn Caribbean nation. An international effort is needed to plant democratic institutions that have failed to take root because of inadequate nurturing in the past.
THE ISSUE
U.S. Marines are patrolling the capital of Haiti to restore order after President Aristide was forced to resign and leave the country.
Measures designed only to prevent a resurgence of boat people from Haiti to Florida's shores during this election year are not enough. A long-term commitment -- shared by the United States, France, the United Nations and an organization of Haiti's neighbors called the Caribbean Community, or Caricom -- is needed to prevent another cycle of tyranny in Haiti.
The Bush administration had insisted that Jean-Bertrand Aristide be allowed to serve out his term as president of Haiti until rebels began advancing on the capital of Port-au-Prince and France, its former colonizer, called for his resignation. Aristide resigned from Haiti's presidency and fled the island last Sunday after losing that support, claiming unbelievably that he had been kidnapped by U.S. soldiers and taken away.
The resignation and exile, apparently arranged by Secretary of State Colin Powell, was fortunate. Aristide had spectacularly lost his popularity as a champion of the poor and opponent of the previous dictatorial regimes of "Papa Doc" and son "Baby Doc" Duvalier, who ruled with the help of violent henchmen called the Tontons Macoutes. Once elected in 1990, Aristide created his own teams of thugs.
Deposed by a military junta and exiled to the United States within months of his election, Aristide persuaded the Clinton administration to invade Haiti in 1994 and restore him to power. President Clinton spent $3 billion and committed 20,000 troops to do so, but most of the soldiers left after 18 months, too soon for lasting democracy to take hold.
When Aristide's term expired in 1995, crony Rene Preval was elected to hold the spot while Aristide continued to rule with a corrupt and iron fist. He returned to office in 2000 in an election boycotted by the opposition, who called it a "farce."
The Bush administration's decision to facilitate Aristide's departure has been criticized as setting a dangerous precedent of orchestrating a coup against a democratically elected leader. However, Aristide had made a mockery of democracy, and Bush rightly chose not to defend him.
