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Thursday, July 29, 1999

Tapa


Dog gone it, people
in Hawaii do care

This past weekend, our two Basset hounds, Buttons and Uma, disappeared from our yard. Frantically, we searched the neighborhood. When they didn't turn up, we became even more worried. By that evening, we had canvassed the entire Wilhelmina Rise area.

On the second day, we posted flyers on light posts and in stores, and put leaflets on car windshields. We e-mailed everyone we knew, here and on the mainland, asking that our mainland friends e-mail Hawaii acquaintances and ask them to be on the lookout.

Strangers at Kinko's saw what we were photocopying and offered to post them in their own neighborhoods. Kids on skateboards rode around, looking for our dogs. Mail carriers searched as they delivered mail. Your own classified advertising person was very helpful in taking our ad. People we didn't know called to leave messages that they were looking too, and praying for us.

Finally, 60 hours later and after distributing over 3,000 flyers, some neighbors called. They had heard a noise under their house -- actually inside the foundation of their home -- which they thought might be our trapped dogs.

It turned out that Buttons and Uma had fallen into an 8-foot- deep pit, left by builders during an excavation. A neighbor climbed into the pit and rescued them. They were thirsty and hungry, but otherwise rather calm about the whole thing.

In the course of our ordeal, we discovered something truly beautiful. People cared. There was not one person we talked to (and we met over 700 strangers this weekend) who was anything but kind and thoughtful.

Only one person who e-mailed us was a stinker and that person taught me a lesson. Never again will I let that one person in 700 try to convince me that the world is cold and uncaring. We are truly blessed to live in this community.

Janice P. Kim
David A. Feller

Tapa

Reexamine policy of showing dead bodies

I agree with Robin Makapagal (Letters, July 21) about the graphic photo you ran showing the uncovered body of Edwin Iwata. You showed gross insensitivity and lack of regard for his memory and those who knew this gentle man.

Do the facts that he evidently had no family, was no JFK Jr. and that the photo was titillating justify poor taste? Maybe you should rethink your newspaper's policy so this does not happen again.

Diane D. Ackerson


Quotables

"She is not one of my
favorite people. She is part of the
one-party Democrat machine."

Linda Lingle
STATE REPUBLICAN PARTY CHAIRWOMAN
Accusing former Attorney General Margery Bronster
of abusing her authority in an attempt to derail Lingle's
unsuccessful 1998 gubernatorial campaign

Tapa

"My goal is to build
the whole project. (But) I can't
build the whole project now
because of this lawsuit."

Mayor Jeremy Harris
Testifying in court that he still wants
full restoration of the Waikiki War Memorial Natatorium
despite a lawsuit filed by the Kaimana
Beach Coalition


Judiciary shouldn't be evaluated by attorneys

I beg to differ with Diane Chang's July 16 column, "Evaluating our esteemed black robes." There is nothing esteemed about arrogance and incompetence sashaying under black robes and thinking their words are gold.

Chief Justice Ronald Moon's rejection of a public evaluation of judges because of "judicial independence" is the perfect reason to relieve him of his duties. And the suggestion that attorneys should evaluate judges is equivalent to the fox guarding the hen house.

Robert A. Hiatt

Judges must rise above politics of community

It was painful to review the Massie case again, but Chief Justice Ronald Moon chose a good example to show that the courts must stay above the frailties of political power (Insight, July 24).

The review reminded me of Judge Albert Cristy and the court battles between the low-profile Koreans in Hawaii and the party of Syngman Rhee, first president of Korea. In 1931, Judge Cristy adjudicated against the popular, powerful Rhee and his party, in the matter of the confiscation of properties and documents of Kuk Min Hur, the Korean National Association of Hawaii.

Rhee had powerful Caucasian supporters. The case was a turning point for local Koreans, who called it "People's Victory Day."

There are many other things that point to Judge Cristy as an extraordinary person. Someone should write an in-depth history on him and, in fact, on many of the judges of the past who were profiles of courage.

Roberta W.S. Chang

Hawaii is expensive place for military to live

Why is it that the military always seems to get the short end of the stick in comparison to other federal workers? What a huge injustice, especially when most federal workers choose to live in Hawaii while military personnel are sent here on orders.

How can a cost-of-living-allowance decrease for the military and an increase for other federal employees be justified?

The individuals making these decisions really don't understand how difficult it is for lower-ranking military members to make ends meet, especially in Hawaii.

Andrew J. Gorrell
Ewa Beach
Via the Internet

Once gambling comes, it must be encouraged

In his July 5 column, John Ellis stated a view that is not often emphasized: the attraction of our lawmakers to gambling revenues as a "cure" for our recession.

Lawmakers are tempted to take this measure rather than bite the bullet and solve the cause of our difficulties. Lurking in the halls of government are the pimps of the gambling industry, spreading money around like candy to help finance lawmakers' campaigns.

One more interesting point mentioned by Ellis is how the state, once involved in gambling, then must advertise and promote it to continue the flow of revenues from this source. This is similar to the problem that Japan now has with cigarette smoking.

The Japanese government has a monopoly on the production and sale of tobacco, so it promotes its sale. Only recently, with medical costs catching up with income from taxes from cigarette sales, is Japan's government now backtracking.

Grace Furukawa
President
League of Women Voters of Honolulu
Via the Internet

Tapa

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