Abercrombie is part of the political problem
Neil Abercrombie is campaigning at our taxpaying expenses. Excessively, I have received his junk mail from his Washington office. Neil, justifying his campaigning in a June 27 letter to the editor, explained his sudden interest in his constituency was a legitimate expense.It probably is. And guess who is writing the laws.
What I find more offensive is suddenly Abercrombie would have us believe that he is the pro-business candidate. Abercrombie, who earned his reputation as a far-out liberal with union PAC credentials that would be the envy of any card-carrying member, repeatedly voted for tax hikes while voting against programs such as the educational savings tax bill.
In his numerous brochures, Abercrombie boasts of the pork he brings to Hawaii. This is the politics of yesterday. Considering the years he has been in government, both in the majority and minority party, can't Neil concede that he may be part of the problem?
Ty Spalding
Voters will now decide who can marry, not courts
In Hawaii law, marriage is defined as the union between a male and female. Our state legislators originally determined marriage licensing laws. Why? Because marriage is a public policy issue.Our Supreme Court's intervention in this matter should be seen by all as judicial legislation. Fortunately for Hawaii, our state legislators recognized this flagrant attempt by the court to usurp the Legislature's power, and appropriately reacted by placing an amendment on the ballot relating to marriage.
This November, voters will finally have an opportunity to exercise their democratic right and vote on this issue. If the court had not overstepped its boundaries by entering the public policy arena, the public would not have to deal with this issue at all.
Now we are forced to defend traditional marriage at the ballot box this November with yes votes.
Stephen Kaleipahula Holck
Democrats are struggling to weaken Lingle campaign
The July 2 letter to the editor by Walter Heen, chairman of the Democratic Party of Hawaii, shows just how desperate the Democrats are to find an issue, any issue, that might derail the Linda Lingle campaign.Heen failed to mention, however, that Dan Mollway, state ethics commissioner, stated that Mayor Lingle is not subject to state ethics rules, because she is an elected county official, not an elected state official.
Also, Heen did not note that the Cayetano campaign also sent campaign information to a state employee at her state address, as pointed out on Channel 2 News by Bob Awana, Lingle's campaign manager.
The only violation of state ethics was made by the Cayetano campaign. As far as I can tell, this is a lot of huhu about nothing. Let's get focused on the real issues of the campaign: getting Hawaii back on track.
Marge Young
Business registrars strive for efficiency
In response to the Michael P. Mau's June 18 letter, it is a priority of this administration to streamline government processes.The staff of the Business Registration Division has implemented changes in processing policies and procedures that enable trade name registration to occur within 48-72 hours (down from five business days at the beginning of the governor's administration) under expedited review, and 12-15 business days (down from 20 business days) under regular review.
Fees, by statute, are $50 for trade name registration under regular review and an additional $20 for expedited review.
The division is also working with the Hawaii State Bar Association on proposed legislation designed to make business registration the easiest and fastest in the nation. The staff is constantly trying to develop and implement procedures to re-engineer existing processes.
Kathryn Matayoshi
Director
Hawaii Department of Commerce
and Consumer Affairs
City Council knows value of saving Hanauma Bay
Helen Altonn's June 15 story on the international coral reefs conference in Hawaii and the conferees' visit to Hanauma Bay contained an important call to action by a marine researcher, who said the public must convince politicians to save our coral reefs.The Honolulu City Council has been convinced for some time. Our actions on the Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve provide a case in point.
In 1996, the Council enacted legislation that required the closure of the park for an additional half-day to restrict use of this fragile and overtaxed resource. We called for the completion and provided the funding for a carrying-capacity study (as yet undone) to determine appropriate limits on beach-going.
The Council also set aside admission and parking fees into a special fund for expenses related to the preservation and expansion of the preserve.
Mufi Hannemann
Chairman, Honolulu City Council
Waikiki needs more than one back-up power line
The July 6 letter of Christen Mitchell asked for data from Hawaiian Electric Co. to prove that its proposed "southern corridor" transmission line will reduce the probability of blackouts.It doesn't take a fancy study to note that there are only two 138KV transmission lines supplying power to the Pukele Substation. When either of these two lines trips out or goes down for maintenance, most of the very important Waikiki load is fed from only one 35-year-old power line.
In the 21st century, with computers controlling cash registers, charge cards, billing records, emergency equipment and modern elevators in numerous highrise buildings, two old transmission circuits powering a major critical load like Waikiki is simply not acceptable.
The most practical and reasonable solution to this problem is to convert the existing 46KV transmission line on Waahila Ridge to 138KV, and thereby provide an essential third source of power for this critical utility customer load.
Alan S. Lloyd
Engineer
Kailua
Carl Richie's fate was affected by ruling, too
By focusing on the Supreme Court's ruling that lap-dancing constitutes prostitution, you have virtually ignored its reversal of Carl Richie's conviction for ownership of an unlawful business.The 10 years he received for this "racketeering" charge (plus the five-year concurrent sentence for promoting prostitution via lap-dancing) was a major factor in the uproar about his case.
Were it not for his much-appreciated, early parole after suffering 2-1/2 years in prison, Richie would still be incarcerated in Texas as Councilman Andy Mirikitani and our law-enforcement officials pontificate about the fate of these "clearly illegal" lap-dancing establishments that still flourish lucratively in Honolulu.
These belated determinations suggest that many "reasonable people" are still baffled by all of this.
Faye Kennedy
Filipino workers weren't recruited to bust strike
Your June 10 story on Angel Ramos and his sugar plantation days carried falsehoods. In it, your reporter wrote that the 6,000 Filipino workers in 1946 were "recruited to bust a strike by union workers." Then, in the next paragraph, she wrote, "The attempt to break the union failed, said Dean Alegado, a UH professor on the Filipino experience in the U.S."The Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association brought in men from the Philippines for both the sugar and pineapple companies from January-June 1946. The 79-day sugar strike started in September 1946.
The war caused a severe shortage of workers in the sugar and pineapple companies. In order to admit large numbers of workers into Hawaii, the companies sought approval under the U.S. Interior Department regulations governing importation of Filipinos.
In August 1945, the governor authorized 6,000 laborers, along with their wives and children, to come to Hawaii. Clearance had to be obtained from both President Osmena of the Philippines and General MacArthur. Unless the companies could prove real, substantive need, it would have been highly unlikely that the approval would have been granted.
Further, while I do not have the date of application, it must have occurred months before the granting of the approval, certainly long before the strike could have even been anticipated.
Harold Hee
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