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City officials must answer for Ewa fiasco

I was struck by the fact that, in the past, City Council members have been rebuffed by the city administration when it came to requests for details on the Ewa Villages matter. Council members (and even the general public) should have a right to know the details of how the city is spending taxpayer money.

Additionally, for the corporation counsel to defend city administrators by saying that that they had not fully reviewed or understood what they were signing suggests a lax attitude toward their responsibilities, and provides a faulty and unjustifiable defense.

The city and its people in authority should be held accountable for not paying enough attention to what is going on. It certainly does not show much integrity on the part of the administration.

I look forward to a better explanation for their easy dismissal of oversight responsibility in this matter -- before election day!

Bob Farrell
Makakilo

Mirikitani's remarks were outrageous

An investigation has found that City Councilman Andy Mirikitani did not violate any city harassment policies (Star-Bulletin, June 30). Yet Mirikitani referred to one of the men as "a fat little rice ball" and the other as looking like a "Jewish concentration camp survivor."

These are the kind of leaders we have put in office! It's a disgrace.

What kind of policies does the City and County of Honolulu have if it can tolerate this type of outrageous behavior from a government official? Can the standards be that low?

In the private sector, Mirikitani would be gone, yet we tolerate this from a public servant and elected politician. How sad for us.

Bill Kozlovichz

Ruling may confuse young people

I agree with Mike Henrietta's June 28 letter, and am particularly opposed to the wording of the school board's proposed rule to include "sexual orientation" along with race and gender in its harassment policy.

This is dangerous. It implies that sexual orientation is a permanent label. Many recovered homosexuals have gone on to lead healthy heterosexual lives.

In the turbulent times of adolescence, some kids may feel confused about their sexuality. Therefore, to label them as "homosexual" at this tender age is not in their best interest.

It would only encourage students who may simply have a homosexual thought or feeling to think, "Oh, I must be gay!" Then, instead of growing out of it, they are more likely to dive into a lifestyle that we know is dangerous, immoral and spiritually dead.

Sadly, this may be exactly why this rule is being proposed -- to lead youngsters into accepting the deadly homosexual lifestyle.

Mark Lee

Quotables "I am a successful spiritual guy. I was a practicing Hindu monk for nine years. The lifestyle was wonderful but what they learned in 30 years we can now learn in a matter of minutes." John Gray "MARS AND VENUS" AUTHOR Sharing his knowledge with a local audience at a recent talk at Unity Church "It's open and friendly looking. The Waianae station looks like a fort." Robert Fujiwara MAKAHA RESIDENT Comparing the Waianae Police Station to the new $13.5-million Kapolei Regional Police Station, which opened last month but which will hold its public dedication ceremony on Saturday along with tours, entertainment and free hot dogs

Opinions differ in dispute
between PBN, governor

Cayetano is trying to bully reporter

My compliments for your June 30 editorial, "Retaliating against Cayetano's critics."

I'm relieved that at least one media outlet in Hawaii is not blind to the abuse of government power leveled against a single reporter who, it appears, had hit too close to the mark for the governor's comfort.

Why else would Cayetano be so responsive and vigilant? Certainly not to serve the taxpayers in any meaningful way.

Rather, his modus operandi makes it appear as if he is doing something meaningful by taxing and spending our money, and by silencing his critics who happen to discover his methods to be less than noble.

How else does one describe a government official's use of the highest office in the state to intimidate a newspaper, ignore the First Amendment and weed out a reporter?

Guy Monahan
Aiea

Governor's behavior was direct, honest

After reading your editorial on Sam Slom's complaint, I read the July issue of his Small Business Hawaii Newsletter online.

The lead article is headlined, "Governor's conspiracy to silence critics turns uglier." Frankly, I fail to see anything conspiratorial about PBN's firing of reporter Malia Zimmerman.

Cayetano acted above board and honorably when he brought the situation to the attention of the Honolulu Community-Media Council. In this way, Zimmerman's media peers and our community can make the call on whether her behavior was proper. Besides, Cayetano wasn't asking that she be fired, only that she be given ethics training.

The bottom line is that PBN chose to fire her.

R. Harding Teves

Firing of writer is disturbing

Congratulations! The Star-Bulletin is the first publication to talk about the real issue involving the governor and former Pacific Business News reporter Malia Zimmerman: the constitutionally guaranteed rights of freedom of speech and the press.

As this entire incident is a severe threat to all journalists, I applaud your gutsy June 30 editorial for taking a stand.

Several months ago, attorney Jeff Portnoy gave a Society of Professional Journalists talk in which he indicated that the Honolulu Community-Media Council was not willing to support Zimmerman, and that this was something all journalists should be very concerned about. Maybe SPJ should set up a panel discussion to further discuss the situation.

Lucy Jokiel

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