Grove shareholders didn't get whole truth

In his response to an Aug. 1 Bloomberg story, it is ludicrous for Warren Haruki (Gathering Place, Aug. 13) to state that Steve Case's purchase offer for Grove Farm Company Inc., a Kauai land company formerly owned by the Wilcox family, was higher than any credible bids. Files from Grove Farm's law firm, Case Bigelow & Lombardi, show more than 40 potential bidders, at least five of which were credible, aggressive and willing to offer more than Steve Case.

The Case firm's own documents show that credible bidders did not receive all the data they needed to form an accurate estimate of the company's value.

Haruki writes, "Guy Combs, the former director quoted in your story as saying, 'Grove Farm did not have to be sold,' is the very same person who once said that the only alternative to selling the company was bankruptcy." Subpoenaed documents show the company was financially healthy by the middle of 2000, months before the sale, with $5 million in cash, $3.5 million in escrowed real estate and two available lines of credit.

In addition, the firm failed to mention that an appraisal of Grove Farm's shopping center showed it to be worth $23 million after debt. Management also failed to reveal that Saxon Ravenscraig, an investor group, had offered to invest $40 million for a 55 percent stake in a Grove Farm residential subdivision.

Rather than revealing the cash on hand and anticipated, the company's prospectus and more than 20 shareholder letters crafted by Grove Farm's law firm and former CEO stressed that the company was dying and that the Wilcox family's name would be besmirched if the sale did not go through.

In the Bloomberg article, my father's remarks about the company are valid: "They had money. They had land. They had everything. We want our land back." This case is about rescission.

Editor's note: Scott Michael St. Clair Combs is the son of Guy Combs, a former director and shareholder of Grove Farms.

Bad bumping keeps Wahine from winning

The recognized problem with this year's University of Hawaii Wahine volleyball team is poor receiving.

Your front-page photo Wednesday of Sarah Mason bumping the ball (Sept. 6, Star-Bulletin) illustrates the seat of the problem -- her thumbs are crossed. The cardinal sin of bumping a volleyball is to cross the thumbs. The player loses extension, and if the ball hits the thumb it gets shanked.

Let us have more drills in the fundamentals of bumping the ball and give our setters a chance to do their job.

HPD nails Joe Citizen while killers walk free

This year's all-out Honolulu Police Department campaign to ticket motorists for manini offenses has gone completely overboard. HPD has a crime clearance rate of 9.6 percent, yet its manpower is being used to target Joe Citizen. Meanwhile, the recent Chinatown slaying by assailants in a yellow Hummer goes unsolved. Do we really have that many yellow Hummers?

Relying on sign-waving seniors to patrol our streets while police fill ticket quotas will never reduce Oahu's crime rate.

Jones Act provides stability, U.S. jobs

Your Sept. 6 editorial on the Jones Act was laden with inaccuracies. First, passenger ships are regulated by the Passenger Vessel Services Act.

Next, Rob Quartel no longer represents the Jones Act Reform Coalition, as many of his assertions were proven false and misleading.

During the last decade, the opposition to the Jones Act has attempted to prove that using foreign flag vessels would result in significant savings -- all without success. The last figures for the annual per capita cost to Hawaii residents for dry cargo transportation was $5.52.

In spite of its critics, the Jones Act has been providing a stable and effective supply line for goods between the mainland and Hawaii for decades, providing U.S. citizens with jobs paying decent wages and ensuring the needs for manning ships in support of the military. As Gen. Norton A. Schwartz said in 2005, "The (Jones Act trailership) SS Northern Lights made 25 voyages and 49 port calls (to the Iraq war zone) ... clearly demonstrat(ing) the value that the U.S.-flag shipping industry brings."