Homeowners can sue illegal rental owners
In light of the
March 26 letter to the editor by Ken Ordenstein, perhaps the community needs to be reminded that a precedent-setting judicial ruling in the case of Cummings vs. Roth was made on June 27, 2006, in the Circuit Court of Judge Sabrina S. McKenna.
In her Memorandum on Decision document, McKenna stated to the court (and in the court transcript) that "what the illegal bed-and-breakfast community needs to understand is that it's not fair for certain people to change the character of a community for their own personal profit." She added that "it's not fair to the neighbors to have to put up with this increased traffic and the noise and people coming to your front door asking, 'Is this my bed and breakfast'?' ... This is supposed to be a residential community, and the fact that certain people choose to violate the law doesn't make it right." She concluded by saying that if this activity did not stop she could make the owner sell her house. (See Star-Bulletin story, Aug. 31, 2006, and "Editorial," Sept. 4, 2006.)
Susan Cummings
Lanikai
Put moratorium on engineered crops
I disagree with Rick Klemm (
Letters, April 4), in his support of the genetic engineering of taro.
It is intriguing that most letters in support of genetic engineering in Hawaii come from representatives of large corporations, like Klemm, or from university staff eager for more federal funding. But since when have corporations been so interested in protecting taro? Reflecting on the past, didn't large agribusiness divert the streams away from our small taro farms to irrigate their plantations? This water diversion might have played a role in the loss of some of the ancestral taro varieties that Klemm now seems to cherish.
Klemm likes to use corporate key words like "reason over emotion," "activists," "fear" and "ignorance." These meaningless words are reminiscent of the carefully crafted PR campaigns used by Big Tobacco to dismiss its detractors.
The fact is that many unknowns remain concerning potential unintended health and environmental effects from the planting of genetically engineered crops. Concerned citizens have the right to demand a moratorium until we learn more about the potential side-effects of this technology.
Hector Valenzuela
Mililani
More visitors, hotels will ruin North Shore
Continued development is eating away at the peace and serenity offered by the North Shore. The North Shore is what it is because it is not overly developed. Change it by further commercialization and you will find people who have made it what it is will leave. I will have no interest in visiting there any longer once it is golf courses and hotels. Small, privately owned shops, few golf courses and little major hotel development are what make the North Shore a special place. Please count us in voting to override proposals by the Oak Tree Development Corporation, the Turtle Bay Group and others wanting to proceed with the proposal to expand the Turtle Bay Resort.
The North Shore beauty that exists now should remain, so future generations can enjoy these open spaces. Keep the country, country!
Tom and Cindy Bennett
Hampton, Va.
McCain has odd way of showing 'progress'
Arizona Sen. John McCain, aspiring presidential hopeful, says the United States is "turning the corner" in Iraq and "making progress." Forget that the death toll every month exceeds the prior month.
To prove his point, McCain visited Anbar Province recently and used his visit to an open-air market to prove his point.
Besides the flack jacket he wore, he neglected to say he had 100 American soldiers accompany him and had three Black Hawk helicopters with two Apache gun ships overhead.
That is his definition of "turning the corner" and "showing progress"? I'd expect that entourage in Detroit, but that's just me.
Whether Obama, Hillary, Edwards or Biden win in 2008, at least they all say, "Let's get the hell out!"
Paul D'Argent
Lahaina, Maui
Is president capable of saying such a thing?
I don't think that John Broussard's
letter on Friday is real. George W. Bush actually said "ideological extremists"? Really?
Louie Vierra
Haiku, Maui
Old train's right-of-way no longer exists
Charles F. Meikle, whose
April 1 letter on converting the OR&L right-of-way to a busway might be a good idea, if the the entire right-of-way still existed, which it doesn't.
As the railroad slowly shut down over the years between 1947 and 1971, bits and pieces of the right-of-way were sold until all that is left are the tracks from Ewa to Waianae. The Hawaiian Railway Society operates the track from Ewa to Ko Olina on weekends, but this is hardly a path for building a busway to Honolulu. If you wanted to recreate the right-of-way, you would have to buy back every piece of it and that would be expensive. Furthermore, OR&L only ran from Kahuku to Iwilei, not to Waikiki.
Dexter Wong
Honolulu