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Museum is rightful caretaker of artifacts

Auwe to those groups claiming Hawaiian artifacts from Bishop Museum under the 1990 Native Antiquities Act. If anything, it should be Bishop Museum, as the inheritor of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop and premiere preserver of ancient Hawaiian culture, that should be reclaiming Hawaiian artifacts for study and preservation for future generations.

The 1990 act was intended to correct a problem with the often irreverent treatment of Native American artifacts. Can Hui Malama or any other group truly make a credible claim Bishop Museum is not treating Hawaiian artifacts with all due reverence?

Derek Ho
Fairfax, Va.

Unity must be priority for Hawaiians

Is the Rice vs. Cayetano decision being used to stampede Hawaiians into actions that will be ultimately detrimental? Should Office of Hawaiian Affairs be saved and morphed into a corporation? Would the OHA corporation be plundered as the Alaska native corporations were?

Before any changes are made, shouldn't the weaknesses in OHA be corrected? Shouldn't the shareholders of the new corporation (who must be only the native Hawaiians, as the assets of OHA belong to them alone) set up tight controls on their money? Is the OHA trust in danger, or is the danger to the seats of only the current trustees?

Where should our priorities be? Should we focus our energies on putting aside private agendas and moving together as one to push for political autonomy?

Until the hearts, minds and souls of ka po'e Hawaii think, breathe and work toward the re-establishment of the Hawaiian nation, and until that is our top priority, our rights and lands will continue to be eroded as we chase 50 different brush fires that dissipate our energies.

Lela M. Hubbard
Aiea

OHA Special

Rice vs. Cayetano arguments

Rice vs. Cayetano decision

Holo I Mua: Sovereignty Roundtable

Quotables "She must have lost her memory, and just doesn't know I'm here." Elian Gonzalez 6-year-old Cuban refugee and subject of a custody battle between his father in Cuba and miami relatives Explaining in a TV interview that he believes his mother is alive and unable to find him. Elian's mother and 10 others fleeing Cuba drowned when their boat sank last November. "He was so happy because he was going to be with his buddies and Yama." Mary Sakamoto Widow of 442nd Regimental Combat Team veteran Thomas Sakamoto On her husband's mood before he and his best friend Eiro Yamada were killed after being hit by a car driven by another 442nd combat veteran following a reunion of the unit

Medical marijuana brings relief to suffering

David Shapiro's March 11 diatribe against medical marijuana, and his implication that Big Island marijuana growers are behind the medical marijuana bills at the Legislature, is insulting.

In June 1998, I went through surgery for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of my spine, then almost six months of chemotherapy. I tried prescription remedies for nausea and loss of appetite, but they didn't work.

Then I told (not asked) my doctor that I would try marijuana. This was frightening for me because, as an attorney, I knew my use of the illegal substance could jeopardize my license to practice law. I used minute amounts of marijuana and found it not only relieved my nausea and loss of appetite within seconds, but alleviated my anxiety as well.

I kept taking small amounts of marijuana, even when I wasn't nauseous. It kept me calm through a scary and difficult time. When I was cured, I stopped taking the herb without any withdrawal symptoms. I haven't used it since.

Shapiro has the right to think whatever he wants about allowing medical use of marijuana, and if he chooses not to try it for his own multiple sclerosis symptoms, that's his call. But if others with MS or other debilitating conditions find relief from marijuana, why deny them?

Six other states have approved medical marijuana and the sky hasn't fallen. Give sick people in Hawaii this option.

Cynthia Linet
Hilo, Hawaii

Police were there to protect protesters

University of Hawaii student and native Hawaiian leaders have criticized the UH administration about the positioning of police units for crowd control during a protest at a recent Board of Regents' meeting. The protesters claim that their intentions was for a peaceful protest.

Utilizing tactics practiced by the civil rights and anti-Vietnam War movement of the 1960s, today's activists may be a bit naive about human tempers.

Those police units were not there to suppress them, but to protect them.

During the late 1960s, after prominent liberal political figures were assassinated, peaceful demonstrations turned violent. Rioting occurred in major American cities for years. It can happen at the University of Hawaii, too.

Mike G. H. Chun
Seattle, Wash.
UH alumnus

Ranch branches into tree-growing business

Parker Ranch, with its history of economic perceptivity and a solid reputation for philanthropy, has decided to diversify its assets by pursuing one of the Big Island's most promising crops: trees.

Congratulations to the Parker Ranch trustees for their choice of Prudential Timber Investments as a new lessee. Timber, veneer logs and hardwoods for construction, flooring and furniture will result from this lease, and will be a major component of the island's expanding forest industry.

More great news: The state Department of Land and Natural Resources and Tradewinds Forest Products are moving ahead with their harvesting contract for some non-native hardwoods in the Waiakea Timber Management Area.

This harvest will initiate new sawmill operations and, in a few years, a veneer mill and plywood plant. Woodworkers, builders and local mill operators will have access to the harvested logs, so the benefits will be spread throughout our existing forest industry.

Andrea T. Gill
Executive Director
Hawaii Forest Industry Association
Hilo, Hawaii

Cayetano tries to broaden job base

I think that it is realistic for the governor to bring high-tech industries to Hawaii. However, the headline on your March 14 story, "Firm brings 'Silicon Valley to isles,' " only played on the fears of many people who are afraid of change. No one wants Oahu to become another Orange County. Just tell it like it is. We need jobs for our young people and Cayetano is trying to get them.

Ed Harper
Makaha

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