IRS ruling on Bishop Estate is puzzling

Circuit Judge Kevin Chang's decision to approve a settlement between Bishop Estate and the IRS raises troubling questions:

Does the IRS have authority to prevent certain people from being trustees in a private trust? Where in the legislation that created the IRS is that power granted?

Did the Bishop Estate actually owe $65 million in back taxes? If so, and it now has to pay only $9 million, can the rest of us expect such favorable treatment if we contest our taxes?

Does Bishop Estate qualify for tax exemption? If not, shouldn't it be taxed regardless of who the trustees are?

With all this wheeling and dealing, isn't there a huge potential for abuse and corruption?

Isn't it time to allow the former trustees appellate relief from Judge Chang's obsequious pro-state rulings? Is not justice delayed, justice denied?

Tom Hanson
Lahaina, Maui

Bishop Estate Archive

Lay board is ruining Marianist school

We are seeing a Catholic school founded by the Marianist Society become the victim of a secular poll majority. Will the Marianist Society continue to survive on its traditional moral and educational standards, guided by its "noble aim" as in the alma mater hymn, in spite of the strong emphasis on its football program?

The daily prayers which were part of the students' daily regimen at St. Louis in years past, and which were the motivation of the teaching brothers' zeal, have already been cast aside. Now, will traditional values be secondary?

The Marianists were doing their job without a lay board of trustees. The teaching brothers had the respect of the students. Their football program still produced quality teams.

That is the big difference of St. Louis past and St. Louis today.

Damien W.H. Ching

Heco spokesman wields double standard

I was amused by the comments of Chuck Freedman, vice president of corporate relations for Hawaiian Electric Co. (Heco), in your Dec. 3 article, "Marchers decry Heco's Waahila Ridge plan."

He said, "If people want to have an effect, they should read the first volume of the draft environmental impact statement and submit their comments by Dec. 7. That's the formal way to participate."

How interesting, since there were presentations on Heco's proposed 138,000-volt power line at the Dec. 1 Kaimuki Neighborhood Board meeting. The chairperson timed all presentations on the EIS process, with arguments for and against, and then allocated time for questions and answers.

However, after a motion was made and seconded not to support the EIS, and the board was going into discussion, Freedman ran from the back of the room. He interrupted the parliamentary process and said, in part, "I implore the board not to comment...You will have many more opportunities to comment. This project will go before the Board of Land and Natural Resources, the city and Public Utilities Commission."

How disingenuous, Mr. Freedman. Are you choosing who can comment and who can't? Auwe!

Kat Brady
Life of the Land

Quotables "Why would I step down? You never step down if you have a task to do." Henry Peters OUSTED BISHOP ESTATE TRUSTEE Who says he has given no thought to resigning from the 115-year-old trust, unlike three other former trustees "Your drug addiction cost you your freedom, your wife and a promising career in government. The only way to turn your life around is participate in drug treatment." Alan Kay U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE Sentencing former state Sen. Milton Holt to 12 months in federal prison for mail fraud and urging him to enter a drug treatment program

Bullies need to see consequences of acts

I do not agree with Kalama Intermediate's decision to extend the suspension for the three students involved in the beating of one of their classmates.

While the parents of the 13-year-old boy who was injured may find it unacceptable to allow these three young boys to return to school before their own child could, a mere extension of their suspension is not an effective way to teach them or other children that the act was wrong.

Instead, these children should be taken to the hospital by their parents and the school principal to see the injured boy and to apologize to him. They should also be made to do community service for at least three to six months.

They need to be sensitized about the pain they caused by their senseless act.

Anny Wong
Former Hawaii resident
Arlington, Va.
Via the Internet

Look at the source of controversial concept

The "Da Pidgin Coup" group (Star-Bulletin, Nov. 30) that proclaimed there is nothing wrong with pidgin English in the schools consisted of "language experts, graduate students, a civil rights lawyer, a Hawaiian language educator, a public school teacher, and pidgin and non-pidgin speakers."

Do you suppose a group composed of business executives from the world of commerce might have had a different perspective?

Raymond Pendleton
Waikiki
Via the Internet

Switching from pidgin to English is an art

It's great that many education specialists in Hawaii agree that the use of pidgin English should be acceptable in the schools. I, of course, grew up speaking pidgin as well as regular English, so I believe that the art of changing from one to another should be taught.

That's not hard to do. If the education specialists want to know how, I'll be happy to help.

Ken Anama
Via the Internet

Arizona will be happy to house isle inmates

I fully support the state's plan to build a prison in the Arizona desert ("Arizona split on isle prison plan," Nov. 1). I favor any concept that will end the overcrowding of Hawaii prisons.

Obviously, most people in this state don't want a prison built in their communities, as demonstrated by protests on the Big Island. There has been no major opposition to sending prisoners to the mainland, however, especially since the price to maintain them there will be the equal or less than keeping them in Hawaii.

Since a new prison would pump about $2 million annually into the host city's economy and create 400 jobs, Arizona residents would welcome the enterprise.

Kaina Lingaton

Ruling discriminates against isle longliners

The ruling by District Judge David Ezra to close down fishing areas in the North Pacific is a bad call. It discriminates against the Hawaii longline fleet while allowing foreign and mainland longliners to continue fishing.

If Judge Ezra could not decide on a ruling that applied to all longliners, he should have elevated the filing to a higher court that could rule fairly.

His ruling, the involvement of environmental groups such as the Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund (the same group that placed a full page ad on shark finning in the newspaper), and the amount of time it will take to accomplish the studies bring back memories of "Stop H-3" efforts.

Richard Shiroma
Kaneohe

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