Big oil won't win in battle over gas prices

Chevron's disingenuous attempt to deflect public attention from the core issue of the State of Hawaii's lawsuit against Chevron and the other oil companies will not work. Those of us who have been paying through the nose at the pumps for years, at prices far and away above mainland prices, do not accept the ruse of Chevron's lawyers.

In California, Sen. Barbara Boxer had the Federal Trade Commission investigate excessively high prices at the pumps in San Francisco and Los Angeles. It might be a good idea for Hawaii to follow her lead.

I, and others I know, would boycott gas stations charging excessively high prices for gasoline, but we can't. Gas is a vital life requirement, not a luxury.

The people of Hawaii should back Governor Cayetano in his courageous fight against big oil.

Jim Corcoran
Kailua
Via the Internet

No need to 'get real' at UH football games

Now that canned music has replaced the University of Hawaii band at UH football games, we should show previous victories by the team on the Aloha Stadium Jumbotron instead of having real-live games. Then think of how easy it will be to find parking on game days.

Matt Alexander
Via the Internet

Both newspapers are the same, anyway

What is all the hullabaloo about closing one of Honolulu's two newspapers?

I read both and prefer the Star-Bulletin over the Advertiser. But all this shaking of the rattles about losing an editorial voice is some kind of frivolous joke, isn't it?

What different editorial voice? There are different writers but the same government- and corporate-sanctioned voice in both. Same news!

I'll save 50 cents.

Robert A. Hiatt

Will Honolulu follow lead of Nashville?

Our afternoon newspaper, the Nashville Banner, was closed last year by Gannett Co. after years of a joint marketing agreement that virtually guaranteed its eventual demise. Since its closing, the remaining paper, The Tennessean, has:

Cut the number of pages in each issue.

Shrunk the physical size of the paper.

Gone to a seven-column format that requires me to use reading glasses for the first time in my life.

Filled the paper with news that was on the Internet two or three days before.

Run entertainment stories that were on the Internet two weeks ago.

We also are now saddled with a liberal paper in a conservative town.

When the Banner was closed, Gannett took the ad revenues and left the principles and traditions of the paper to die. I hope this isn't repeated in Honolulu.

Nick Archer
Nashville, Tenn.
Via the Internet

Quotables "My name is so long that I sign one autograph in the time it takes the others to sign five. I never thought I'd be signing autographs. It's so different being on the other side of it." Margaret Vakasausau FRESHMAN SETTER FOR UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII WAHINE VOLLEYBALL Who has made the transition from playing for the junior Bows at UH Lab School to the No. 2-ranked team in the country "We were amazed how many people from Hawaii gave. The story is not the amount of money raised, but the number of people who donated." Cherry Tsutsumida EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL JAPANESE AMERICAN MEMORIAL FOUNDATION On how nearly 2,000 island residents -- representing 13 percent of the 15,000 donors thus far -- have chipped in almost $700,000 toward building a memorial in Washington, D.C., to honor the contributions of Americans of Japanese ancestry during World War II

It pays to be related to Hayashida

How can I go about getting adopted by state Department of Transportation Director Kazu Hayashida? It seems that being connected to one of his family members puts you at the top of the list for access to scarce state funds. And you often don't have to go through that tedious and inconvenient competitive bidding process.

Or, better yet, I would like to apply for the position of state DOT director. (I assume that with a few more revelations of this type, the position will soon be vacant).

I could then personally come up with new and innovative ways for eminently qualified members of my own family to receive non-bid contracts.

Hayashida claims to be unaware of applicable ethics rules, and even any possible appearance of a conflict of interest. I would like to invite Hayashida to one of the many ethics seminars that we low-level state employees are expected to attend.

David Rezachek
Via the Internet

Thalia Massie wasn't worthy of honor

I have been reading with interest your recognition of the "100 Who Made a Difference" series. However, I was very disappointed with your Oct. 15 selection of Thalia Massie as one of the honorees.

Here is a liar who knowingly made false accusations and whose family was convicted of kidnapping and murdering one of the original defendants.

How can you recognize such a person on the same page as Soichi Sakamoto, the great swimming coach, and Jean Charlot, the great artist?

If you were recognizing the "100 Who Made a Difference in the World," would you have selected Adolf Hitler and Gen. Hideki Tojo? I sincerely hope not.

Earl E. Tokumura
Via the Internet

Princess did not want trustees to get rich

Where in the will of Bernice Pauahi Bishop does it say that the princess' personal wealth was to go to the Bishop Estate trustees? Do Palani Vaughan (Letters, Oct. 2) and Henry Peters know something the rest of us don't?

The will that I've read doesn't say anything about full-time, highly paid trustees, much less each of them being CEOs! Maybe there's another will to which only a few are privy. The rest of us have to be satisfied with the one that we've read and studied since the day we first joined the Kamehameha ohana.

Robin Williams Makapagal
Kamehameha School for Girls
Class of 1968
Kaneohe
Via the Internet

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Ka Leo O Hawaii - UH student news

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