Hawaiian students can find tuition elsewhere

Last year, U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye got $20 million for the education of Hawaiians. Bishop Estate has money for the education of Hawaiians and there is money coming in for the Hawaiian people from the airports, etc.

It seems to me there is enough money there to pay the tuition of any Hawaiian who is eligible and wanting to attend the University of Hawaii. Why should other residents have to pay more tuition to make up the difference and to keep the university solvent?

Frances Hardy
Via the Internet

Oppressed minorities deserve tuition waivers

In response to R. Horita's Feb. 25 letter, "Hawaiians shouldn't get special treatment at UH," I believe that the resolution to grant tuition waivers for Hawaiians is more than just a "noble gesture." It is an imperative.

While I share Horita's frustration with the rising costs of UH tuition, Horita's letter ignores the ethnic hierarchy that exists in Hawaii, implying that there is an equality of opportunity to resources. Also overlooked are the oppression and exploitation that Hawaiians have endured, and the privileges that Japanese Americans have enjoyed.

Horita's daughter and I have our college educations paid for by our parents. Many Hawaiian students do not have this luxury.

Instead of whining about how unfair these tuition waivers are, we should think about the many social inequalities that Hawaiians, Filipino and other oppressed ethnic groups in Hawaii have endured.

Kristi Kunihiro
Grinnell College
Grinnell, Iowa
Via the Internet

Clarification is needed on number portability

Contrary to the headline in your March 10 article and Corky Trinidad's March 11 cartoon, the local number portability service is available on Oahu. GTE Hawaiian Tel is not charging customers a fee for "a service they can't use," as your headline stated.

GTE is spending $500 million nationally from 1997 to 2002 to comply with the government's requirement to provide the number portability service. Other local phone companies across the nation are facing similar costs.

Lifeline customers are not being charged this fee and business customers generally are paying higher fees than residential customers. local Number Portability is a particular advantage to business customers since they can change service providers without having to reprint stationery, change advertising or inform customers of changes in their phone numbers.

Star-Bulletin reporter Rob Perez was accurate in his assessment of the state of telecommunications competition in Hawaii. We understand that headlines need to be concise and provocative, and that cartoons will bend the truth in search of satire.

Most days, we chuckle along with Corky like most other Star-Bulletin readers. But in this instance -- even if only in jest -- he has maligned our company, without basis or reason. And we're not laughing.

Brian Blevins
Director of Public Affairs
GTE Hawaiian Telephone

Via the Internet

Quotables "I have to stay clean and sober." Milton Holt Former state senator On being ordered to enroll in a substance abuse treatment center by a federal judge. "He's been transitioned back in the school. We're in a forgive-and-forget mode." Louis Vierra Campbell high school principal Announcing that an armed special education student who barricaded himself in a portable classroom last September returned to the campus this week.

Legislation should outlaw overhead lines

Your March 9 editorial condemning the efforts of the Legislature to embrace the issue of underground power lines is off base.

It is clearly the responsibility of the Public Utilities Commission to monitor the efforts of our utilities. But when it comes to the proliferation of power lines that destroy the aesthetics of our landscape and pose a safety risk to our citizens, particularly during inclement weather, it is obvious that the policy addressing power lines needs to be reviewed.

I encourage both the Senate and House to vigorously support it to improve the community's safety and restore the beauty that has been stolen from our state.

Michael Free
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii
Via the Internet

Bereaved husband should be left alone

My heartfelt sympathies and condolences go out to Scott Kitaoka and family for their loss. I hope they will be able to recover from this without the further pain that the news media can be known to generate.

I hope the Star-Bulletin honors Kitaoka's request and does not shatter him further by reporting any more details of Rene's personal life. I also hope the media won't repeatedly associate Scott's wife with the problems that the Bishop Estate is having.

I know Scott wanted to speak about his wife so he could memorialize her, and that is the service your newspaper kindly provided him in the March 13 issue. The article was tastefully written and is all that is needed to be reported on Rene Kitaoka.

Dean Shibata
British Columbia, Canada
Via the Internet

NATO is much-needed as haven of stability

Your March 15 editorial, "NATO expansion could alienate Russia," is long on platitudes and short on insight.

Instead of excoriating the NATO members for having waited too long to admit too few new members, you claim the enlargement of NATO is "no cause for celebration." In fact, you charge NATO, as Moscow often does, with seeking "expansion," a term that implies aggressive intent.

But by extending meaningful security guarantees primarily against a possible revival of Russian imperialism to countries of central Europe that have suffered countless invasions and western betrayals, NATO has demonstrated that it is not a Cold War relic "in search of a mission," as you claim. Rather, it is a much-needed haven of stability and security in the heart of Europe in uncertain times.

Oliver Schultz

Where's the proof China stole secrets?

Your March 10 editorial on China's theft of U.S. nuclear secrets reflects nothing but the anti-China sentiment of conservatives. Not long ago, these same conservatives accused China of donating money to the Democrats. Now this.

Can these accusations be proven? If not, the accusers are doomed.

Bai Shan

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By Paul F. Minczer
Happy birthday cartoon to starbulletin.com from
Paul F. Minczer & Smokey the Cat.

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