Bishop trustees
under fireIf leaders won't resign, then remove them
It doesn't appear that any of the Bishop Estate trustees are going to resign. Therefore, some higher power must remove them from office.The beneficiaries of the trust have suffered long enough. These trusteeships should belong to people who are not motivated by money and power, but who have a deep concern for the future of Hawaii's children.
There are many qualified people out there who would do the job out of love, not for the money. Who will step up to bat for the true beneficiaries of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop? And how long must the children wait?
Kerryn Carland
Via the Internet
Trustees should be replaced with Kamehameha graduates
I am truly saddened by the events surrounding Kamehameha Schools and the Bishop Estate trustees. The trustees were doomed to fail from the beginning, because each had a relationship with the state judiciary, Supreme Court or legislative bodies.Because of their ties to the state system and the people who make the selections, the best people were not considered for the trustee positions. The current trustees should be removed.
Kamehameha Schools have produced many leaders throughout the state and country in both private industry and public service. These leaders should be sought out to lead the school and estate into the future. The only people who truly care about what happens to Kamehameha are its graduates.
A. Dias III
Kamehameha Schools, Class of 1977
Via the Internet
Actions of five raise many questions
What in the world? How do you become a Bishop Estate trustee? Who appoints these people? What is the criteria? Is it professional ability or Democratic Party loyalty? Do these folks care at all about the trust's educational mission?After years of supporting and caring about Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate, I am aggravated and frustrated by the arrogance and ignorance of these trustees. They are condescending and self-serving.
Please, get rid of these embarrassing people. Get on track. I want a different kind of education for our children, different from what they're learning from the actions of the trust's administration.
Charles M. Ka'ai'ai
Via the Internet
Politicians are judged by different standards
The logic of this defacto State of Hawaii overwhelms me. When the trustees of the Bishop Estate make windfall profits for the estate, the state wants them removed from office. Yet when the governor and his cabinet put the State of Hawaii in serious debt, the voters re-elect them and give them leis.Eric Po'ohina
Kailua
Via the Internet
Estate makes big profit for a 'nonprofit'
My mind boggles at the vast sum of money the Bishop Estate stands to make on its shares of Goldman Sachs. What is the amount of tax it will be required to pay on its capital gains? Or will it somehow squeak by and pay nothing because it is a "nonprofit." Just curious...Diana Jardine
Via the Internet
Leniency with Holt shows inequity
Excuuuse me, but something doesn't seem right. Mackey Feary had several run-ins with the law, bounced in and out of treatment, jail and other troubles, and ended up in a state courtroom, where he was ordered to jail. He requested help up to the last minute in the form of a drug treatment program but was denied the opportunity.Sadly, he is dead. Either he failed in society or we failed him, but he did not leave this world without help.
Now former state Sen. Milton Holt admits to using drugs on at least two occasions, has been indicted on charges of theft in the wrongful use of campaign money and also tested positive for illegal drugs after telling an official he never used illegal drugs.
Holt goes to a federal courtroom and, against the objections of federal prosecutors, is allowed to enter a drug treatment program.
What message does this send to the general public about the justice system?
Gary K. Hashimoto
Kailua
Bishop Estate Archive
"Much of medicine is not knowledge; it's what the physician does with knowledge. The most important thing that standardized patients do is test bedside manner." Dr. Michael Nagoshi
Kuakini Medical Center assistant chief of staff
Explaining how he teaches people to act sick so the hospital can instruct aspiring doctors at the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine"I didn't realize there was so much dissatisfaction out there."
Anthony Turbeville
Chairman of the blue Ribbon Commission on Teacher Morale
On results of a local survey showing low teacher morale in Hawaii's public schoolsWhy should foreigners get so many tax cuts?
It is reported that among the ideas moving through the Legislature are tax credits of up to 100 percent for hotel construction and renovation. Am I missing something here?Politicians break their arms patting themselves on the back for attracting offshore capital to buildhotels in Hawaii. Then the offshore interests run off with the bulk of the profits, leaving local residents with minimum-wage jobs like cleaning toilets and changing beds.
Now, through 100 percent tax credits, taxpayers are supposed to pay to renovate the hotels belonging to the offshore interests, too?
How's this for an alternative, Mr. or Ms. Legislator: Encourage the formation of local real estate investment trusts and restrict such tax credits to them. Or, if this isn't legal, don't offer them at all.
John Coleman
Via the Internet
Alcantara did muchto strengthen GOP
There have been a number of Republican Party chairpersons since I first ran for U.S. Congress in 1966. Ed Johnston, Carla Coray, Pat Saiki, Howard Chong and Andy Anderson each contributed to the party.But no party chair, including Johnston, matched the job done this past year by Donna Alcantara. She leaves theparty solvent, with staff and their needs cared for, unlike several of our past chairpersons.
She filled virtually every seat, held excellent fund-raising events and mounted some very significant races. She gave each general election House candidate $1,000 or more as well as logistical support by way of brochure production, etc.
As she leaves, she deserves the thanks of the citizens of this state for her valiant effort to create a two-party system in Hawaii.
John S. Carroll
Former Republican PartyChairman
1980-82 Honokaa, Hawaii
Via the Internet
Economic recovery is supposed to be here
Well, I guess we can all forget about the possibility that Linda Lingle will be Hawaii's governor in 2002.Ben Cayetano confidently says she won't because "By then, the isle economy will have rebounded."One thing puzzles me. Didn't Al Gore, our very own vice president, use his best union-activist voice in Hawaii to tell us during the last election season that we should stick with Governor Cayetano because "the signs of economic recovery are everywhere"?
Richard N. Griffin
Kaneohe
Via the Internet
Higher quarantine fees will backfire on state
The move to raise fees at the animal quarantine facility in Halawa is why Hawaii is in such sad shape. Because the number of weeks an out-of-state pet is required to spend in quarantine has been reduced, and the state earns less, government's response is to increase and almost triple the current monthly fee.Do these people really think that by increasing the fees they will earn the same amount or more? More than likely, they will earn less. Since the fees will be at a level exceeding what most who move here will be willing or able to pay, fewer will bring pets here.
When is government going to learn that it needs to bite the bullet like the private sector? When revenues decrease, so should spending. Accept the reduced revenues or reduce spending, for example, by cutting staff.
Kurt Fey
Via the Internet
Airing playoffs live inconveniences viewers
This is my favorite time of year for televised sports. They don't call it March Madness for nothing.But just when I was anticipating watching the Goliaths of college basketball being knocked around by Davids with names like Valparaiso and Gonzaga, I discovered that KGMB haddecided to duplicate its cruel act of last season: televising the weekday games at times (7 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.) when they can be viewed only by unemployed playboys and professional sports journalists.For the benefit of KGMB station management and their advertisers, allow me to lay out the consequences of this decision:
Thousands of working men and women return home from hard days at the office only to discover the NCAA tournamentpre-empted by a poorly produced 1983 Kalapana concert.
Hopefully, in the year 2000, KGMB honchos will learn from their mistakes and return the games to their rightful place in prime time.Key word:Hopefully.
Keola Kamaunu
Via the Internet
Integrity of ballots still questionable
Your March 17 editorial on the election recount misses the point. You called the results of the general election recount "highly reassuring." Our main concern was not that legal ballots were counted incorrectly, but that illegal ballots were counted correctly.Yes, there were several faulty ballot-counting machines and the recount found out which ones they were. But machines, whether high-speed or low-speed, can't tell you who marked the ballot or whether that person was actually a qualified voter.
A machine can't tell you how the ballot was obtained or if there was coercion or threat involved in its casting. And it certainly can't clear up all the questions that were raised on Election Day.
Confidence in the system will not be restored until there are adequate answers to these questions.
Rep. Barbara Marumoto
House Minority Leader
Legislature Directory
Hawaii Revised Statutes
Legislature Bills
Write a Want to write a letter to the editor? Let all Star-Bulletin readers know what you think. Please keep your letter to about 200 words. You can send it by e-mail to letters@starbulletin.com or you can fill in the online form for a faster response. Or print it and mail it to: Letters to the Editor, P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, Hawaii 96802. Or fax it to: 523-8509. Always be sure to include your daytime phone number.
Letter to the Editor
