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Unions will never allow civil service reform

It is wishful thinking to expect that public worker unions will loosen their grip on the state economy and allow the state to legislate civil service reforms (Star-Bulletin, March 24).

The public unions will not accept any legislation that would undo years of collective bargaining gains.

The way to go is to repeal Section 2 of Article XIII of the state Constitution, which gives public employees the right to organize for the purpose of collective bargaining. This provision should never have been a part of the Constitution as it gives public unions the power to dictate policy matters affecting expenditure of public funds and takes away from the state, particularly the Legislature, the sovereign power to decide such matters.

The salaries and benefits of public employees should be decided by the state on policy considerations rather than out of fear of reprisal from the unions. That may never happen for as long as the constitutional provision is in effect. The threat faced by pro-reform legislators is unmistakable in AFL-CIO Hawaii President Thad Tomei's reply to whether labor would target pro-reform legislators in the upcoming election: "I think it's best to say we'll support our friends."

Angel Bustamante
Ewa Beach

Constitution requires a head count only

Amid the storm of "civic duty" rhetoric about the census, it is important to remember that our government is authorized to collect a single fact from each household. That fact is a number, and a number only.

The Constitution directs that congressional representatives be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers (populations), and that the actual enumeration be made every 10 years.

This is the sum of federal authority to survey the people. It is not a license to evaluate plumbing, internet access, or the effects of ancestry on job opportunity.

I urge Hawaii residents of all races and backgrounds to tell the Census Bureau exactly how many people live in each house. If you want to say more, go for it, but first read the Constitution.

Lawrence Knight Duquesne
Kamuela, Hawaii

Quotables "Those responsible will incur the rage of future generations of Hawaiians who have been dispossessed of access to the treasures of their past." Herb Kane Big Island artist and historian On the disappearance of dozens of Hawaiian artifacts from the Bishop Museum, which turned the treasures over to Edward Ayau of Hui Malama under the federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act "I don't want to go into too much detail because I think it will become gory." Jiro Sumada Big Island Public Works Deputy engineer Explaining how Hawaii County public workers will use a large excavator to remove a 30-ton whale carcass from shallow water at Wailea Bay

Need for ag lands eludes the mayor

Agriculture serves many purposes. It puts food on the table, generates revenues, helps diversify the economy and supports the visitor industry. It supplies the goods that put the "Hawaii" into Hawaii regional cuisine, and keeps the islands green.

Yet the city administration, through its highly touted visioning process, is seeking to convert productive farmland in Waimanalo to a horse-riding center.

Why would the mayor and his pet visioning team suggest that vital crop-producing land be turned into a recreational facility? If this is the mayor's vision of community planning, I want no part of it.

Fred Humphrey
President
Waimanalo Ag Association

Anyone should be able to run for OHA board

Racial restrictions for Office of Hawaiian Affairs candidates? Let me get this straight: As a black man from Mississippi and a current Hawaii resident, I have just been given the right to vote in the OHA elections. Yet I cannot run for or hold office?

Something is wrong here.

L. Donald Machado
Kailua

OHA Special

Rice vs. Cayetano arguments

Rice vs. Cayetano decision

Holo I Mua: Sovereignty Roundtable

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Rally goers expressed support of kanaka maoli

The Star-Bulletin's March 11 story, "OHA looks to remake itself," was confusing.

First was a report of efforts by politicians to, it appears to many of us, take away the initiative from kanaka maoli to determine their own destiny and keep it in the hands of the the state and/or the federal government.

Interspersed with that story was information about a rally of non-Hawaiian supporters of the struggle for justice by kanaka maoli held on March 10 at the statue of Queen Liliuokalani.

That rally had nothing to do with the actions of the congressional delegation or the bill being pushed in the Legislature about the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. Yet that was the impression given, as my words from the rally were quoted in the middle of the story about these political efforts.

The rally was simply a public stand by many groups and individuals expressing outrage over the Rice vs. Cayetano decision and broad support for the efforts of kanaka maoli for self-determination.

I would like to reiterate my words: "The rest of us in the community who are also concerned with justice for kanaka maoli will stand with them in lokahi (unity), and together we will continue on in order that the wrongs may be righted and things may once again be made pono."

Larry Jones

Community deserves answers about artifacts

If 21 members of Bishop Museum's staff disagree with director Donald Duckworth's procedural decisions on its artifacts, the situation becomes a matter of concern to the kanaka maoli, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and other groups with a vested interest in preservation of Hawaiian art and culture.

Honolulu Magazine (March 2000) provides a revealing profile of Bishop Museum and its problems of the past decade and a half. The article should be required reading not only for Hawaiians but all citizens of our state.

Tom Okimoto

starbulletin.com is a valuable resource

A hearty congratulations to Star-Bulletin webmasters Blaine Fergerstrom and Ken Andrade on the fourth anniversary of the online paper, starbulletin.com. I like the breaking-news feature very much, and find the back issues through 1996 an invaluable research tool. I am a Star-Bulletin home subscriber as well.

My friends from Hawaii who reside outside Hawaii tell me how much they, too, enjoy keeping in touch with the online Star-Bulletin. Congratulations again!

Susan Jaworowski

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