Dog killers should get jail time

Few stories compel me to stop and write a letter to the editor but after reading "Pet's owners applaud charges" on starbulletin.com yesterday, I had to stop and write how horrified I was to read this and send my deepest condolences to Caddy's owners. We have three four-legged children, whom we brought with us to Canada from Maui in June 2005. Ipo, Max and Harry are my babies and I would be so heartbroken if something like this happened to them. Justice was served for this sickening act of cruelty and I hope those two get what they deserve in jail.

OHA trying to protect its own interests

After spending nearly seven years and more than $3 million of beneficiary/taxpayer money to get people to support the Akaka Bill, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs has begun to accept the inevitable, the bill's demise.

Their "very conflicted" declaration that it be "THE" native Hawaiian governing entity confirms suspicions of their intentions of a Sen. Dan Inouye- backed agenda: the reaffirmation and confirmation of the illegal statehood of Hawaii, the Organic Act -- the territorial acquisition of Hawaii, the alleged annexation of Hawaii, the Republic of Hawaii, the provisional government and the alleged overthrow of the government/kingdom of Hawaii by using Congress' definition of "kanaka" as indigenous Native Americans and its plenary powers to rule and eliminate our independence claims forever!

OHA acts of "global-like" settlements, cronyism and funding of special projects, taking place as we speak, continue to fester the divisiveness within our community and we are told to "stop grumbling."

OHA's kuleana is to take care of its trust responsibilities and listen to all its constituents. We have asked for reconciliation as guaranteed by President Clinton's 1993 Apology Bill. That needs to be defined.

Meaningful reconciliation would help to create more pono solutions toward self-determination and self-governance for the kanaka Hawaii and address the historical injustices rather than just the Akaka Bill, which only perpetuates our dependence on governmental handouts, entitlements and dictation.

Don't let adults ride in back of pickups

As the Legislature opens this week, it will be interesting to see how much lawmakers care for the public's safety. Why have they done nothing about riders in the back of pickups? They have passed laws about wearing seatbelts in automobiles. They passed a law about children under 15 being banned from riding in the back of pickups, but what is the difference between a 15- and a 55-year-old?

When a collision occurs, any person gets thrown out onto the road and fatalities occur. Awhile back, four women riding to work in the back of a truck in Kunia were thrown out and killed. This happened while the Legislature was in session. Our caring lawmakers said nothing and did nothing. Would these lawmakers allow their wives, daughters or mothers to ride in the back of pickups? I doubt it.

Jones might again seek better pastures

"Show-me-the-money" June and Leigh
high-tailed it to Mustang country.
Left players and fans out in the cold
in search of bigger pots of gold.
They killed the football Rainbow logo and name.
Claimed they were too pretty and tame.
Look out Mustangs, watch your tails.
June and Leigh favor Lipizzaners and Clydesdales.

The real crime occurs behind agency doors

The real tragedy in the death of Cyrus Belt is that the circumstances leading to his death are all too commonplace -- the return of vulnerable children over and over again by the Department of Human Services to dysfunctional, often drug-addicted families. I call it the Buentipo syndrome, after Reubyne Buentipo Jr., the child who was brain-damaged when his ice-addicted mother violently shook him.

In the two-plus years I served as a volunteer guardian ad litem with Family Court, every single case I was assigned had the same elements present in the Cyrus case: young children, born to drug-addicted mothers, suffering severe abuse or neglect, returned again and again by Child Protective Services to the very families they determined over and over could not safely care for them. It would sometimes take years of relentless advocacy by guardians to persuade the very agency charged with the protection of our children who are at risk, that returning them repeatedly to the families and parents who threaten them is not in their best interest. It is, in my view, criminal.

While I applaud the candor of Lillian Koller in releasing the DHS records in this case, they are but another all-too-sad sign that candor isn't enough to protect our children. Kids like Cyrus will continue to die and suffer serious injury until there is a basic change in the philosophy and practice that govern the state agency charged with their protection.