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60 Minutes
Henry Peters regrets not buying "the only thing we
couldn't control" in this screen shot from Sunday's
"60 Minutes" broadcast on KGMB-9 (CBS).

Ousted trustees get
‘60 Minutes’ of fame

Remember senators who ousted Bronster

Having watched the "60 Minutes" story on our favorite dysfunctional institution, the Bishop Estate, it's sad to note that Hawaii's embarrassment has now been revealed to the nation.

I hope reporter Steve Kroft's parting note on the state Senate's refusal to return Margery Bronster to the position of attorney general stings our legislators as it should. And I hope that the voters remember when election time comes around.

As for Henry Peters and his statement that the estate should have bought the Star-Bulletin, that maneuver was tried once before, when the Soviet Union published Pravda. Hopefully, we too would recognize propaganda when we read it, but given the electorate's propensity for re-electing the estate's Democratic puppets, uh, politicians, I'm not hopeful.

James Ko

Former trustees should get jail time

My hat is off to the Star-Bulletin for publishing the Bishop Estate expose "Broken Trust," as documented Sunday on "60 Minutes." Those so-called "trustees" ought to go to jail for what they did.

My wife and I were married in Honolulu in 1968 and come back to the islands often. We love it there.

Hangin' loose is one thing, but letting criminals steal money intended to educate children is not the kind of hangin' loose that Hawaii residents should do.

John Jaeger
Irvine, Calif.

Trustees would have buried the truth

After watching "60 Minutes" and listening to former Bishop Estate trustee Henry Peters, I am very grateful for the Star-Bulletin and its coverage of the trustees' fiasco.

Can you imagine what would have happened if the trustees had managed to purchase the Star-Bulletin back then?

Thank goodness for the trustees' ineptness. Had they bought the paper, the truth would never have surfaced.

Mahalo, Star-Bulletin, for the wherewithal you exercise to report the news.

Nancy Jeffs

Bishop Estate Archive

Quotables "The importance of performing at Merrie Monarch is in the journey, not in any awards. You are only on stage for seven minutes so the lessons you learn about yourself and your culture come from the preparation." Sonny Ching KUMU HULA OF HALAU NA MAMO O PU`UANAHULA Whose halau won three first-place awards at the Merrie Monarch Festival on the Big Island "We're not against building homes. But we were here before them." Katsumi Higa 73-YEAR-OLD VEGETABLE FARMER Lamenting a housing development that threatens the livelihoods of those in the Kamilonui Farmers Cooperative

City is stacking deck on Hanauma project

As one of the petitioners in the two contested case hearings pending with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), I have sent letters dated Feb. 9 and March 14 to the city.

We are requesting a meeting to discuss viable alternatives to the city's current plans for the Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve. There has been no response.

Now city officials have received a 90-day extension to the application for a Conservation District Use Permit for the Hanauma project. They can write a letter for an extension but won't even reply to citizen concerns? And why the delay until July 12, after all the rush until now?

I believe the city is trying to "plug up the holes" that it failed to consider in the planning of the two buildings at a cost of $9.3 million along the upper rim of the park. This was done without inviting any Hawaiian or environmental groups to provide input.

Had these groups been part of the planning, you can bet they would not have approved these buildings in the conservation district, nor would they have agreed to disguise them behind 18- to 25-foot-high earthen berms surrounded by 6-foot metal fencing.

I invite Hawaiian groups to participate in the planning process, because it is our sacred duty to protect the aina as well as our culture in this historic one-of-a-kind nature preserve. Without this, I fear the continuation of a stacked city deck.

Beverly J. Palenapa

Federal officials behaved like thugs

I agree that a child is usually best off with his natural parents and all that happy stuff Janet Reno is spewing, but how do we know this father of Elian's is fit? By Fidel Castro's recommendation? Surely, there was a better way to handle this mess.

The use of this child by Castro to stir up anti-U.S. sentiment in Cuba has been greatly aided by our inept attorney general. This sick woman ordered the ugly deed just because she could, claiming that the Miami relatives had "run out of time." Whose time? Is there a time limit precluding decency?

I deplore the day our great nation would jackboot down a door, hold a family (including children) at gunpoint, and grab a 6-year-old from someone he trusts. This horrendous action was done simply because someone in a powerful position could.

Bob Butler
Hanalei, Kauai

GOP should be ashamed of its stance

I applaud the federal government's actions to rescue Elian Gonzalez to preserve the ultimate sanctity of the parent-child relationship. As tragic as Elian's case is, we must protect the right of a parent to love and raise a child.

Elian's mother endangered her son's life by illegally escaping Cuba in pursuit of her own personal freedom. She had total disregard for her son's safety.

Elian's Miami relatives further endangered his mental well-being and safety every minute he remained in that house by using him as a pawn for their own cause.

Furthermore, as a Republican, I am appalled by the GOP's response and subsequent hearings on this matter.

Unless they are fully prepared to address and investigate every federal search and seizure conducted each day in the United States, they should not use this case as a guise to turn this non-political issue into a political one.

Gregory S. Van Cantfort

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