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Editorials
Thursday, April 27, 2000Return tiki expelled
from Waianae schoolREMOVAL of a 10-foot-tall tiki of Kanaloa, a god in Hawaiian mythology, from Waianae High School was an overreaction to agitation for a rigid separation of church and state. The absence of Kanaloa from any altar of worship in the Hawaii of 2000 makes the removal especially absurd. The tiki should be returned to school grounds.The issue: The Leeward Oahu schools superintendent has ordered the removal of a wood carving of a Hawaiian god from the Waianae High School grounds.
Along with Ku, Kane and Lono, Kanaloa was one of the four gods in Hawaiian mythology. They remain an important part of Hawaiian culture -- but not religion.
The art club students at Waianae High should be commended for their months of work on the wood-carving project. Instead, Hazel Sumile, superintendent of the Leeward Oahu school district, regarded the tiki as a religious symbol and ordered its removal.
Sumile took the action after receiving a telephone call from Jeff Yamashita, pastor of the Waianae Assembly of God in Makaha. Yamashita says he told Sumile that he and members of his congregation objected to the tiki's placement on the school grounds because it represents a Hawaiian god.
Even the American Civil Liberties Union, which has led the agitation for banning religious symbols from public property, has called the tiki's removal improper. ACLU Executive Director Vanessa Chong points out that the tiki is regarded as purely cultural.
Kanaloa is no more a religious icon in Hawaii today than Apollo is an object of worship in modern Greece. Both are important figures from ancient mythology and remain culturally significant. Sumile and Yamashita failed to grasp what the high school students were able to clearly recognize.
In some cases, a fine line separates culture and religion in interpreting the religious establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment. In this case, the line is about as bold as it gets.
Nuclear waste
problem requires
action soonUnless enough votes can be rounded up for an override, a veto by President Clinton of a nuclear waste disposal bill will result in further postponement of action on a problem that urgently requires a solution.
The measure would require the shipping of waste from nuclear power plants throughout the country to the Yucca Mountain underground waste repository 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas as early as 2007. The dispute involves 40,000 tons of highly radioactive waste that has piled up at commercial nuclear reactors in 31 states.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is expected to decide as early as 2006 whether the Yucca Mountain repository should be licensed. Still under scientific review after 20 years of study, the site is proposed for opening in 2010.
Proponents of the shipment measure argue persuasively that the issue has been debated too long and that the waste would be safer if kept at a central location rather than scattered at sites across the country.
The program has been blocked for years by attempts of members of Congress to prevent the location of repositories in their districts -- a classic case of "not in my back yard." Not surprisingly, the Nevada senators, Harry Reid and Richard Bryan, are leading the opposition. Reid, the assistant minority whip, claims he has the votes to block an override.
Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, chairman of the Senate Energy and Resources Committee, blasted the president for leaving unresolved where the country will permanently store the waste. "It is irresponsible to let this situation continue; it is a crime against our future," Murkowski said.
Neither the House nor Senate approved the measure by the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto. The House approved it 252-167 and the Senate 64-34.
Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, said if the override efforts failed federal officials would have to work with states to decide how to store the accumulating waste from the nuclear plants, which generate 21 percent of the country's electrical power.
Energy Secretary Bill Richardson deflected questions about where the administration would store the waste without a central repository.
No wonder. This is an issue that the administration is trying hard to avoid.
In 1983 President Reagan signed into law a bill adopting a national plan for the disposal of nuclear waste. It set a timetable for establishing a permanent repository by the mid-1990s -- a deadline long past.
Yet Clinton wants still more delay. The nation may have to wait for a new administration to get a president willing to deal with this problem.
Published by Liberty Newspapers Limited PartnershipRupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor
