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Union endorsement is like kiss of death

I've always liked Mufi Hannemann, the former city councilman and now candidate for mayor, because of his assertiveness and won't-go-with-the-flow attitude. But his recent endorsement by the Hawaii Government Employees Association gives him the kiss of death, in this voter's opinion.

I'm not against unions or public workers. My stepdad was a union man all his working life, and my experience with most government employees has been positive. However, I don't vote for the HGEA so it can have so much power and control over city business; I vote for a mayor and City Council members.

No matter what you think of our present mayor, he did try to reduce the size of city government. He tried to make it more efficient, attempting to bring some of the union benefits in line with reality and what taxpayers can afford. Yes, he could have tried harder, but at least he made the effort.

The HGEA doesn't care a bit about other families trying to survive on Oahu. The union's goal is to grab more and more, and it's done a darn good job in past years.

With HGEA's guaranteed votes and cash going to Hannemann, how can he not be in its back pocket? Will we ever see meaningful government reform in Hawaii?

Art Todd
Kaneohe

Events show disrespect of Bishop name

I find it an irritant that the name Bishop (Bernice Pauahi and Charles Reed, that is) should be in a Catch-22 because of what I believe to be the cavalier behavior of Bishop Museum officials and the interim trustees of Kamehameha Schools.

The museum permitted itself to be bamboozled into surrendering -- and, in the case of the ka'ai, sennit casket, the theft of -- cultural items that have always been the rightful responsibility of the museum.

Precious bones, artifacts, specimens, documents, recordings, etc., are all quite properly at home in the museum.

It is to this noble institution we should go to study and/or view them in the public exhibition galleries. The museum should be the final arbiter of its collections, its acquisitions, loans, exchanges and access.

Although an advisory council might be helpful and, indeed, should be tried, it is not vital. The museum is the museum of the citizens of Hawaii. It should continue as the resting place for what it has and will have, to serve and accommodate the residents of these islands and interested friends from around the world.

That the Kamehameha Schools' interim trustees should buckle under the pressures of the brouhaha of recent years by changing the name of Bernice Pauahi Bishop's trust was silly and disrespectful.

The Bishop name, shared by two of our island's revered and beloved benefactors, is imbued with aloha and mana (unseen knowing). The name has never been a part of the problem.

Bishop Estate and Kamehameha Schools are separate albeit symbiotic. Should Bernice Pauahi Bishop's trust be called Bishop Estate? Of course it should! Will the estate and the schools honor all of Hawaii's people? Of course it will.

James Kaupena Wong, Jr.
Waianae

Quotables "This is a really fun series that is well-run, with a lot of local swimmers involved. The swims are really beautiful, and I think I've seen a turtle during every race this year." Jodi Jackson SWIMMER On the Eyecatcher North Shore Swim Series 2000 "It very well may be that folks who traditionally fish for swordfish will start fishing for tuna." Sean Martin PRESIDENT OF THE HAWAII LONGLINE ASSOCIATION On the effect of a ruling by U.S. District Judge David Ezra that sharply limits swordfish longlining but opens up waters for tuna fishing as a compromise on the issue of protecting endangered sea turtles

Justice Kennedy was wrong in Rice decision

I was astounded by the wrongness of your July 27 editorial on Office of Hawaiian Affairs candidates and voting. You quoted Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, who was simply and completely wrong in his opinion that everyone who lives here is "Hawaiian." We are NOT.

Well-to-do haole men Rice, Burgess, Twigg-Smith and anti-affirmative action attorney Goemans have their mean-spirited sights on OHA. It is extremely strange that a fair-minded local newspaper would join them in their assaults on the Hawaiian people, who have suffered many injustices from just such arrogant white men over centuries. Might does not make right, and the Supreme Court is just as wrong as it was in Plessy vs. Ferguson.

To add insult to injury, Rice and Goemans want us, the taxpayers, to pay the millions of dollars that they squandered in their nasty attack on OHA and the Hawaiian people. No way!

Nancy Bey Little

Don't remanticize longline ocean polluters

In your biased attempt to cover the longline issue, you have neglected to make note of a few things:

See the photo of that plastic bag holding the mackerel bait? Those go overboard, along with the four-foot plastic ties that contain the boxes.

That bottle of joy soap? That's used to clean up their hydraulic leaks and other filth before they come into port so they don't get fined by the Coast Guard. When the bottle's done, it goes overboard.

That spool of monofilament line? In the 35-50 miles of line per set, there's usually a daily tangle, which gets cut and tossed overboard.

Plastic dishes and utensils are used to avoid doing dishes, all of which go overboard.

And the claims disputing observer data? I hear this all the time. One fishermen told me they haven't seen a bird on their lines for over a year and didn't know what all the fuss was. The very next set they got six.

In 1993 longliners claimed 67 birds for the entire year by the entire fleet (over 1000 trips). In three trips in 1994, I counted 37.

Quit your darn whining, everyone, and stop romanticizing this fishery.

Elizabeth Mitchell
Eugene, Ore.

Video explains what happened in Hawaii

In light of the Rice vs. Cayetano decision, local television stations should broadcast a video titled, "An Act of War." It clearly explains what happened during the 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom and everything leading up to our beloved aina's annexation by the United States in 1898.

This would be educational for the entire population to watch, as these islands are populated by a diversity of people with different ethnic origins.

Thomas T. Shirai Jr.
Mililani

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