Letters
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Saturday, January 1, 2000

Time has come to rid islands of hazard

Is there any state senator, representative or City Council member who has not heard or seen the daily illegal fireworks since early December? The police get 1,000 complaints daily, but most people, like me, don't even bother to call because we know the police are overwhelmed by more urgent matters.

I was born and raised on Oahu. I grew up with fireworks. I also grew up when it was legal to smoke on city buses, spearfish in Hanauma Bay, and drive a car without using (or having) seatbelts. Those three things were changed to protect our health, environment and safety.

The failure of our local officials to ban the import, sale, and use of fireworks, except for licensed cultural events and public displays, has now come home to roost.

Peter Chisteckoff
Mililani
Via the Internet

Fireworks must be banned by Legislature

There needs to be an outcry to forever ban fireworks.

A teen-ager may lose the sight in one eye, a house almost burned down and you don't know if your next-door neighbor has enough fireworks in their house or garage to explode your house and your family with it! It's time to pass the law!

Roger A. Hutchings
Via the Internet

Trask, sovereignty movement are racist

Mililani Trask's recent comments are blatantly racist. Such discrimination and prejudice are no less egregious when practiced by a member of an ethnic minority than when perpetrated by the Ku Klus Klan. Her actions also bring focus to the whole Hawaiian sovereignty movement, which I believe to be equally racist.

Standing on the threshold of the 21st century, the leaders of the Hawaiian sovereignty movement would take the citizens of Hawaii back to the 19th century. They would create a government in which only people of the "correct" ethnicity could vote or hold office.

If successful, this would create a fragmented, divisive social order where one's worth as a citizen is measured by blood quantum rather then contributions to society.

This is not only anti-American but morally wrong. No wonder the majority of Hawaiians choose not to support these efforts.

George Theis
Waipahu
Via the Internet

Other nations have achieved 'impossible'

Two hundred years ago a minority of farmers and small businessmen revolted against the most powerful empire in the world over taxes put on stamps and tea. They won.

Thirty years ago, Israel was granted to the Jews, concluding a journey to their promised land that was begun thousands of years ago by Moses himself.

Ireland nows sits on the cusp of independence with a newly appointed Protestant-Catholic governing body that will lead it into the next millennium.

If all of these people can win their independence, why can't Hawaii be returned to its rightful owners? Why is it so inconceivable that the people of Hawaii cannot do the same?

Hawaiian sovereignty is rooted in the depths of justice, not in race or semantics of majority. The islands were annexed illegally and therefore the debate ends. There are periods of uneasiness in any transition but to think that justice will be sacrificed because of a fear of change is nothing less than "unAmerican."

Sovereignty is not a revolution; it's a return.

Mauna Kea Higuera-Trask
Via the Internet

If Wong was defamed, he should sue

If former Bishop Estate trustee Richard "Dickie" Wong has been systematically maligned in the Honolulu media, as his ex-mother-in-law claimed in her Dec. 11 letter to the editor, he can look forward to a secure financial future.

All he has to do is hire a good lawyer and sue the press for libel and conspiracy to defame him.

But Wong is not the exception. Hawaii is full of stories of other paid and/or elected officials who have abused their offices.

It's become part of the island lifestyle.

Peter L. Nelson
Keaau, Hawaii
Via the Internet

Holt has nobody to blame but himself

Once again, the "wisdom" of Henry Peters graces our media. The former Bishop Estate trustee is quoted as saying that Milton Holt's problems can be blamed on others. Newsflash, Mr. Peters: It is all about choices.

Ordinary people are faced with vicious attacks throughout their lives, and how they choose to deal with them determines who they are, what they become and where they go in life. You choose to take a drug. You choose to become a thief. You choose to abuse power.

We shape our own destiny. Henry Peters should accept that and move on.

Jerelyn Makanui-Yoshida
Keaau, Hawaii
Via the Internet

Bishop Estate Archive

For the last time, millennium is next year

Please be advised that the 21st century commences on Jan. 1, 200l, together with the third millennium.

There is a lot of hogwash on all the major networks and magazines regarding this matter.

News should be accurate and not made up in order to secure interest in what you are telling your readers.

Remember there are 100 years in a century, and the last day of the 100th year is Dec. 31, 2000.

Please report the facts and base your articles on the same facts, and not on what sounds good.

I have recently lost a lot of faith in the accuracy of the news media over this matter.

Harry A. Fanning
Kaneohe
Via the Internet

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I can't stand it any more; I have to vent about this millennium garbage!

When a baby is born it is referred to as newborn; then it becomes X days old; then X weeks old; then X months old; then, finally, 1 year old.

So, although they call the current year 1999, only 1,998 years have passed. At the end of the year called 2000, 1,999 years will have passed. Therefore, the millennium won't arrive until Jan. 1, 2001!

Get it?

Spread the word! Please!

Caroline Dunn
Via the Internet

Quotables "I'm so used to standing up, I forget to sit when I eat at home. This is my resting spot. Where (am) I going to rest now?" Katherine Nakamura 86-YEAR-OLD BARBER Retiring and closing her Liliha Street shop after cutting hair for six decades "We're going nuts around here. The millennium is a rare and unusual occurrence, once every thousand years. Linking two hearts in matrimony, making a divine commitment, is also something very rare, if done purely." The Rev. "Howie" Welfeld MINISTER WITH ABOVE HEAVEN'S GATE Slated to perform 12 island marriages on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day

Coach Shoji deserves praise, not criticism

Isn't it enough that the University of Hawaii women's volleyball team has over 700 wins, four national titles and annual NCAA tournament appearances? Or that its coach has an illustrious 25-year career of taking a small college program and turning it into one of the winningest, respected and feared teams in the country?

Shame on anyone who criticizes Dave Shoji. He is responsible for the experience that these young women gained from being a part of this tremendously successful program. He has given them memories and friendships that will last a lifetime, and given the fans their money's worth year after year, win or lose on the court.

Barney Robinson
Via the Internet

Shoji is to blame for UH team's loss to Texas A&M

Fans of the UH Wahine volleyball team were invited to a "party" but the host, Coach Dave Shoji, didn't show up at the festivities. Since we had been given the impression that UH would make it to Final Four, 10,000-plus fans "accepted" Shoji's invitation to this gala occasion.

Yet it seems the UH coaching staff was not well prepared to challenge Texas A&M. Here's just one example: The color analyst on TV said at one point that a Texas A&M player had just made the team's 7th dump shot. Just multiply the variety of hits made by other players, and you get the picture: UH badly needed help from its coaching staff.

It's apparent that, while the Texas coaching staff studied the strength and weakness of UH and capitalized on them, Shoji was responsible for the failure of Hawaii to make it to the finals.

No excuses, such as a weak WAC schedule, are acceptable.

Tom Oshiro

Rain brings renewal of beauty of Hawaii

The local media should expose how beautiful the land is right now due to the rain's blessings at the dawn of the new millennium. This would help us as a tourist destination.

There is no reason we cannot return to the heydays of the late 1970s and early '80s when Hawaii was happening. The sun shines bright on our state. Just look around at the healthy green plants.

The rain is a sign that we can wash everything clean. Like residents, our tourist guests want to see a beautiful and safe Hawaii. In every instance of the visitor's experience -- from food service to taxi rides to asking for information -- we should rededicate ourselves to making the extra effort with a good attitude and providing the very best service.

Our aloha is like the rain held back in the clouds. Open up and see how beautifully healthy relationships and prosperity can become.

Michael Akin
Haleiwa
Via the Internet

Oahu's mountains must be preserved

I moved away from Hawaii because of the neverending defacing of the islands. Business interests and politicians are still insistent on paving and scarring every square inch of Hawaii, in the state's "best interests,"of course.

What a shame. I'd spent 50 or so days hiking and camping in the mountains where the Hawaiian Electric Co. power lines are to be run. You can still find the real Hawaii up there.

If the citizens of this state can stop the mutilation of those mountains, only then will they see progress.

Daniel Reeder
Gaithersburg, Md.
Via the Internet

Legislature Directory
Hawaii Revised Statutes

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