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Saturday, June 12, 1999

Murder victims deserve to be remembered

Thank you for bringing attention to the Dana Ireland tragedy. My best friend, Sam Burgess, was killed in Kona in July 1980, so I know something about this type of crime. Sam and Dana are with me every day, and your reporting is appreciated.

Good work!

David April
Kealakehua, Hawaii
Via the Internet

Families of other victims suffer, too

While I empathize with Dana Ireland's family, I can't help but feel, "What about us?"

On the night of Jan. 9, 1983, in Kapahi, Kauai, my then 33-year-old brother, Keith Haig Makakaualii Williams, was gunned down in his own yard, while his pregnant wife and 5-year-old son huddled in the house, in fear for their own lives. It was the beginning of a long night of grief, frustration and futility for my family, a night that has not ended.

Sixteen years have come and gone since that tragic event and, to date, the Kauai Police Department has not charged anyone with the murder. Where is justice?

Robin Williams Makapagal
Kaneohe
Via the Internet

Quotables "Mrs. Lindsey's conduct -- in no way, shape or form -- rises to the level of a removal of a trustee. If you don't like her, you know what? Tough." Michael Green Attorney for Lokelani Lindsey After Judge Bambi Weil issued a critical 190-page report explaining her decision to permanently remove Lindsey as a Bishop Estate trustee "They were just munching on anything that was green and doing their toilet work. We had a particularly bad week, when we had the Kona winds coming here, and it was smelling kind of stinky." Jack Dameron Makakilo resident On grazing cows that are part of Campbell Estate's effort to minimize brush fires in dry Makakilo and Kapolei

Mortimer, Cayetano have failed badly

Both UH President Mortimer and Governor Cayetano are doing a tremendous disservice to their constituents. Mortimer's wanton and irresponsible neglect of the UH School of Public Health threatens a potentially important aspect of economic recovery for our islands.

How many times have politicians pointed to the health-care industry (particularly with regard to the aged) as an area of expected economic growth in Hawaii? Without a viable MPH program, this potential growth engine is threatened.

Why didn't Cayetano make more noise about Mortimer's intransigence? The governor claimed that he supports health care as a component of our economic recovery. Will he keep his promise to see it through? Or will he sacrifice the school like he did his attorney general?

John Ellis
Via the Internet

UH's priorities are badly misplaced

I am so tired of hearing that the costs of keeping the UH School of Public Health open and hiring a permanent dean for it are too exorbitant.

Please explain to me why UH is willing to spend $150,000 of its own money on dirt (yes, dirt) to fix an error made by a contracted architect who should have built a softball field correctly in the first place.

Why does the university devote millions of dollars to sports-related expenditures while the library crumbles and necessary graduate programs fold? What is UH's priority: education or second-rate sports programs and venues?

I am currently completing a public health summer internship in New York City. The NYU library has the journals, books, computer terminals and materials that UH lacks -- all the resources necessary to do university-level papers and theses.

Although I have two bachelor's degrees and a master's degree from UH, I have difficulty understanding why UH administrators say there is no money for academics, yet spend untold hundreds of thousands of dollars on football coaches and other "necessary" budget items.

Apparently, the education I received at UH was not adequate, as I fail to see the logic of these decisions.

Tanya Piilani Henriques
New York, N.Y.
Via the Internet

Legislators are ignorant about high-tech

As someone who's worked for a Silicon Valley-based high-tech firm for the last 17 years, I got a chuckle out of editor and publisher John Flanagan's admitted cluelessness regarding the monotony of some high-tech jobs ("The darker side of high-tech," Letter to Readers, May 22).

Don't feel too bad, John; from reading some of the high-tech-related bills that were considered in the last legislative session, you're not alone.

Having read those bills, it is clear to me that our legislators, as a group, are at least as naive with regard to understanding high-tech industries.

This is a perfect illustration of one of the many reasons why our state government should forget about trying to force the taxpayers to subsidize certain businesses. The state does not generate real income; it merely collects its tithe and redistributes it, so the state can't really subsidize businesses, it can only force taxpayers to do so. How can a legislature make a good decision on which businesses to subsidize if the legislators don't even understand the businesses under consideration?

Poor decisions on which businesses and industry segments to aid, not to mention all the extra, unnecessary, accompanying paperwork, will continue to be a drag on our economy.

As the governor ponders many bills, I hope he keeps this in mind.

Nobu Nakamoto
Via the Internet

Our leaders have betrayed country

The pledge of allegiance is the first introduction every citizen has to our country, America. Allegiance in this context is the obligation of support and loyalty to our country and the government of the people.

Selling out the security of our nation and then shirking responsibility is without any doubt subversive. Yet the office of the president has been desecrated by allowing a sex scandal to go relatively unpunished. Then a paradoxical "peacekeeping" mission is blundered into.

Finally, China has been allowed to steal technology and undermine the security of our nation. All of this within a couple of years.

It will not get better but worse. The leaders of our nation are corrupt and drunk with power. They do not understand the pledge that they made at an early age and we, the citizens, are paying the price for electing not patriots but very good salesmen.

David Klan
Via the Internet

Caucasian perspective is sorely needed

I have a great idea for a new column for your newspaper. The title would be "Caucasian Persuasion."

It would feature constant racist and discriminatory attacks and innuendo on a single ethnic group. The content will include outlandish, illogical and irresponsible arguments, patently offensive and vile comments, and will be totally devoid of any sense of fairness or intellectual integrity --much like the "Asian Persuasion" column by Emil Guillermo that you regularly publish on Thursdays.

Since it will not require any great skill or careful thought, I'll even provide it for free.

Richard Garver
Kailua
Via the Internet

Legislature Directory
Hawaii Revised Statutes

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