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Letters
to the Editor

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Saturday, March 4, 2000

Farrington High is in dire straits

I am responding to your Feb. 19 article that referred to Farrington High's facilities as "just scary." I agree that the school needs to be fixed.

Look at the restrooms. Many students want to use them, but they are unsanitary. Many of the toilets don't even work, or some stalls don't have doors. Sometimes there are no paper towels or toilet paper. There's graffiti all over.

Then there are the water fountains. Since the day is long and students get thirsty, we need water fountains to drink from. Clean ones. Would you like to drink from a dirty water fountain?

The desks we use are probably older than we are. Our books have writing or markings all over and some have torn pages. We also need classroom supplies, such as new projectors.

These are just some of the things that need funding. The swimming pool isn't really that necessary to many students. What's more important: a child's education or a swimming pool?

Jennelyn Tabios
9th Grader
Farrington High School

TV special was blast from the past

Some things never change. They are merely given different names -- as per "Who Wants to Marry a Mult-Millionaire?" vs. the early 20th century's picture brides.

Ecne Rolf

A vote for McCain is vote to abolish IRS

John McCain has stated that, if elected, he will abolish the 44,000-page tax code and eliminate the Internal Revenue Service.

I'm all for McCain and hope that he wins. However, he is going to have a tough battle against all those tax attorneys and accountants who depend on complex tax laws and the people's ignorance.

As I now struggle with my own tax return, I keep thinking: Wouldn't it be nice if all those dollars and hours we waste on our monstrous tax system could be used for something more useful, like adequately funding education or programs to feed and house the poor?

Ed Cesar
Kahaluu

Bank program already helps Hawaiians

The planned Native Hawaiian Bank wants to help Hawaiians own their homes, a laudable goal. We wish them well. Hawaiians should also learn more about existing programs already making home ownership more affordable on Hawaiian Home Lands.

In 1993, First Hawaiian Bank, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) and state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) crafted a program to offer loans for down payments and home improvements to complement long-term mortgages offered by First Hawaiian to Hawaiian Home Lands lessees.

The program was expanded in 1997 to offer 3 percent financing for down payments (often a significant obstacle), home improvements, construction financing and self-help construction. Down-payment loans are leveraged through a special mortgage program called FHA 247.

More than $21 million in mortgage loans have been made to Hawaiian Home Lands residents as a result of the partnership between the bank, OHA and DHHL.

Another key is education: helping Hawaiians understand what's available and how to apply. First Hawaiian conducts mortgage workshops on the topic of Hawaiian homesteads on several islands, and helped create the Nanakuli Neighborhood Housing's Hawaii Home Ownership Center, which holds homebuyer training for new Hawaiian Home Lands lessees.

Corbett Kalama
Senior Vice President
First Hawaiian Bank

Hawaiians want special treatment, public money

This is the only state where discrimination is allowed. Public tax dollars are used for Hawaiians only. Grants from the University of Hawaii --for Hawaiians only. And on and on.

I watch all the Hawaiian activist groups and what's the one thing I see? Fighting as to who is going to be chief and who are going to be subjects.

To these people, the fight is not for the land but for power and money, nothing else. When you strip away all the rhetoric, what you have is a demand for money and lots of it.

Daniel Munn

Racist group is attacking minorities

Harold "Freddy" Rice was the vehicle through which the white, elitist and racist group called Campaign for a Color-Blind America (CCBA) began its legal challenge to Hawaiian rights and entitlements.

The Rice case was not about the 15th Amendment. It was about race and the privileges afforded to a native people.

CCBA has successfully overturned at least 10 cases in the U.S. Supreme Court that had to do with minorities and Native Americans. It has begun writing briefs in anticipation of its next opportunity to attack and destroy other Hawaiian trusts.

This organization believes that, by the year 2020, minorities will be in control of America and whites will no longer be the controlling class. This is CCBA's motivation for attacking American natives, other minority groups and now, sadly, Hawaiians.

Within hours of the Rice decision being handed down, CCBA's Marc Levin announced that the organization would now pursue the elimination of other Hawaiian trusts and entitlements.

This should be a wake-up call, not just for Hawaiians but for all races residing in our multicultural society. Rise up, unify and stomp out these kinds of racist groups.

Rowena M.N. Akana
Trustee,
Office of Hawaiian Affairs

Trask deserves pity for unrelenting hatred

I am not Hawaiian. I am, however, a third-generation Scotsman, my ancestors having come to the islands in the late 1800s to work at the Hakalau Plantation on the Big Island.

I was raised in Kohala and Waimea, an idyllic venue for a child to become one with the land. I knew nothing of the wrongs perpetrated on the Hawaiian people. I lived a childhood fraught with good local people, and believed that I was one of them.

Now OHA Trustee Mililani Trask, in her continuing blind hate for anyone other than the Hawaiians, is flying in the very face of those attempting to help.

I feel sorry for her. She must be an unhappy spirit from the past, unable to accept the evolution of society, warts and all.

Kent McLean "Sean" Ross

Quotables "At the risk of being called a suck-up, (congratulations) for what you've done. You delivered the bacon." A. Frenchy DeSoto OFFICE OF HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS TRUSTEE Lauding Clayton Hee, OHA board chairman, for securing a deal with the governor to not remove the trustees immediately but to seek guidance from the Hawaii Supreme Court "There is no way that this is going to control criminals. The only thing it does is allow government to develop a master list of people with guns." Sam Slom REPUBLICAN STATE SENATOR Voting against a bill that would require Hawaii gun owners to re-register their guns every five years

State won't give up on water fluoridation

We applaud the Star-Bulletin for its excellent Feb. 28 editorial on water fluoridation. It correctly points out that no other solution even comes close to being as safe, cost-efficient or effective as fluoridating community water to fight tooth decay.

It's difficult to believe that such a basic, preventable public health problem such as tooth decay is so rampant in our advanced and health-conscious state. Hawaii's tooth decay rates are the highest in the country; our kids have twice as many cavities as other kids.

The real tragedy is that this can be prevented. Fluoridating water is a proven public health practice that's been used successfully in the United States for more than 55 years. Every leading health organization, including the American Dental Association and American Medical Association, strongly supports fluoridation.

Hawaii needs fluoridated water now. If we are not successful in moving out a bill this legislative session, we will redouble our efforts next year to ensure that all residents have access to good dental health via fluoridated water.

Bruce Anderson
Director
State Department of Health

Headline on crash report was misleading

Your Feb. 24 headline, "Maui motocyclist stable after police chase, crash," was misleading. It almost implied that the police were at fault, which after reading the article was incorrect. The correct headline should have been, "Motorcyclist crashes into a van while trying to evade police."

Your headline suggested that we should feel sorry for this person, when he really caused his own problems. Thank goodness an innocent bystander wasn't injured due to his negligence.

The media have always had control over how things are portrayed. They must look at the overall picture, not just the need to sell papers.

Annette Witte
Mililani

It's a myth that Hawaii is a tax hell

According to state rankings, Hawaii's 16 cents-a-gallon tax on gasoline is far below the national average. Its 1999 ranking was 42nd of the 50 states for its gas tax.

Still, the American Petroleum Institute was quoted in the Star-Bulletin's Feb. 29 issue as claiming Hawaii has "the highest tax burden of any state in the country." This is just another example of the Hawaii "tax hell" myth.

Jerome G. Manis

All aglow about locally made film

On behalf of the 75-plus local cast and crewmembers who played a role in bringing "Moonglow" to the big screen, we'd like to thank all who turned out to enjoy the movie, and to people like Richard Kindelon and Jimmy Borges, who took the time to express their kind words in letters to the editor on Feb. 11 and 12, respectively.

"Moonglow's" four-week run in Oahu theatres came to a close on Feb. 2, but it is gratifying that moviegoers found it to be a heartwarming, inspiring and uplifting film. We expect to know in the coming weeks just how widely it will be distributed nationally and worldwide.

We're proud to have made this, our second independent feature, right here in Hawaii.

Joe Moore Dennis Christianson
Latitude 20 Pictures Inc.

Competition improves theater experience

Remember when Consolidated Theatres was the only game in town, when you were forced to watch a scratched print and listen to bad sound through lousy speakers while sitting in a broken seat with no cup holder and eating stale, warmed-over popcorn that had been in a storage closet in a big plastic bag?

Then along came Signature Theatres with its new and comfortable, stadium-style seating with reclining arm rests and cup holders.

Out of the speakers came the latest technologically perfect sound reproduction. Fresh popcorn got popped and served right before your eyes.

Clean and well-kept restrooms became the norm. Special low rates prevailed until 6 p.m. Finally, the movie experience was fun and affordable again.

We all need to thank Signature for coming to town and offering an alternative to the Consolidated chain and those extremely small, cardboard-like rooms that Wallace offers at Restaurant Row.

Now if we could only get Costco Dogs or those Pink's hot dogs in every movie theater in town, that would be heaven.

Douglas Olivares

Legislature Directory
Hawaii Revised Statutes

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