Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.

Letters
to the Editor

Write a Letter to the Editor

Saturday, August 12, 2000

Uyesugi and others like him deserve execution

In listening to the court testimony of the Xerox victims' family members Tuesday, I was struck by the unrelenting pain they felt and their desire to express it with the hope that it would be relieved a little. None of us can understand pain that deep unless we experienced it personally.

If we were to ask the families if Hawaii should have the death penalty, I bet the majority would say yes, if not all.

The sentencing of evil murderers to life in prison does not give closure to the families. There is always the lingering doubt that the system may let them out one day. Who knows what will happen in 10 or 15 years?

We pay for their housing and food with our hard-earned money. Why? They will never contribute to society in any way.

Liberals are trying to demonize George W. Bush because Texas executes those who are convicted. This very effort is despicable and proves that Democrats will say or do anything to keep power.

The majority of Americans support the death penalty, but we are being brainwashed by liberal media and self-serving politicians.

Michael Otte
Mililani

Uyesugi must stay behind bars forever

Byran Uyesugi's lack of emotion for the death of seven co-workers, and his comments made to psychologists, as well as testimony to mental health workers demonstrate his mental illness. This was not something he planned after his murder of seven co-workers; he really is sick.

The argument of where he belongs can go on forever, but the bottom line is this: He doesn't belong in the public -- but in prison or in a mental asylum. He should never be let out.

Charles W. Santiago Jr.
Wahiawa

Quotables "The idea is to extend the park experience as far as possible, to incorporate Kuhio Beach and Sans Souci and the zoo into Kapiolani Park." Ben Lee CITY MANAGING DIRECTOR On city plans for improvements to Kapiolani Park and adjacent areas "The reputation of the Pacific as a peaceful and stable region has been tarnished with negative impacts on tourism, trade and investment flow to the region as a whole...Our integrity as the (South Pacific) Forum is also at stake." Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi SAMOAN PRIME MINISTER On the political turmoil in Fiji and the Solomon Islands

WWII-era radar station located at eco-camp site

I enjoyed your July 24 article, "Turning point," concerning the North Shore's Pua'ena Eco-camp controversy. Perhaps I can add to the military history of this area.

For the last few years, I have been researching a small and little known U.S. Army Signal Corps unit called Signal Company Aircraft Warning Hawaii (SCAWH) that was established in August 1940 at Schofield Barracks, Territory of Hawaii.

SCAWH's mission was the operation of the SCR-270B mobile radar units on Oahu beginning in August 1941. These mobile radar units were the first application and operational use of air defense radar for the Territory of Hawaii.

Six sites were established on Oahu: at Kawailoa, Waianae, Koko Head, Kaaawa, Fort Shafter and the famous Opana Point with its two operators, Joseph Lockard and George Elliott.

In 1941 the present Papailoa Road area was undeveloped and part of the Haleiwa Airfield. After research and correspondence with a few veterans of Kawailoa's mobile radar unit, I was informed that the mobile radar unit was located approximately on or near the present Department of Parks and Recreation's Papailoa Beach right-of-way.

The base camp for its radar personnel and that of the Opana unit was also in the general area among the ironwood trees lined along the coast.

According to documentation Kawailoa mobile radar unit plotted elements of the Japanese attacking aircraft on the morning of Dec. 7, 1941.

Wray Taylor II

Star-Bulletin exposes scandals

Once again I am struck with the importance of preserving an independent Star-Bulletin. First was the Bishop Estate "Broken Trust," then the city's Ewa Villages embezzlement scandal and now the investigative reporting on the gasoline gouging scandal. It frightens me to think the people of Hawaii might lose this critical source to inform.

Though Hawaii has had a historical passivity to such corruption, perhaps times are changing and your readers are starting to recognize that these are not isolated incidents but indicative of a mind-set of the powerful in Hawaii that must be changed.

How many other industries and companies share the thinking of the ex-Bishop trustees, state and city and county officers and oil company executives to ripoff Hawaii's people for their own greed and self-interest?

We use the word ohana so casually today, corporately, politically and personally. But who would treat true ohana in such a despicable manner?

Dave Miho

New speeding initiative should target Kalakaua

It would be interesting to have a police officer with a radar gun pointing it down Kalakaua Avenue at the Kuhio-Kalakaua Triangle.

Vehicles speeding up to make the light on Kalakaua in front of the Waikiki Terrace Hotel and the next light at Olohana/Kalakaua are very dangerous.

If a driver makes these lights he or she speeds down Kalakaua trying to make all the other lights. The mayor keeps stressing the "pedestrian friendly" experience in Waikiki, but this speeding and disregard for pedestrians in crosswalks are accidents waiting to happen.

Pedestrian rights in crossing the streets in Waikiki always seem to depend on the goodwill of drivers and not on the law.

Duke Sturgeon

Bush accomplished his mission at convention

In spite of the various opinions expressed by columnists for the New York Times regarding the Republican Convention, George W. Bush managed to accomplish exactly what he wanted.

He has followed through on his maxim to not let adversaries define who you are. In the recent past, Democrats and a compliant media have portrayed proposals such as slowing the growth of Social Security or school lunch programs as "starving children" or "throwing old people out in the street."

Nothing, of course, could be further from the truth. Nor are Republicans mean-spirited any more than Democrats are made of sugar and spice. But such exaggerations can take on a life of their own if repeated long and loud enough.

A convention free from rancor and presenting a positive vision of conservative answers for the future of the nation has gone a long way in dispelling old myths. The election therefore will be a confrontation of actual governing styles and verifiable records of accomplishments. This is good news for Bush and the electorate.

Paul Mossman
Kailua

Someone needs to act to fix police radio system

I just don't get it. The Honolulu Police Department is suffering from a less than reliable communications system and nobody is willing to do anything but spout rhetoric and council resolutions. Do we have to react to some accident or fatality before the city is held liable?

If the new system consisted solely of replacing analog with digital equipment without regard to re-engineering the previous dead spots under the analog system, you're going to get the same problems: low signal strength, fading signals and, apparently, interference. This calls for a re-engineering study by a third party, if necessary, and additional funding, rather than more finger pointing. But I nearly forgot: This is an election year.

Leonard Chun

Rice ruling invalidated law creating OHA

Former Hawaii Supreme Court Associate Justice Robert G. Klein is mistaken when he says, "The issue of OHA's constitutionality is unrelated to this case," referring to OHA vs. Cayetano (Star-Bulletin, July 7). He had apparently not read our motion or current law as established by the U.S. Supreme Court.

In the Rice case, the U.S. Supreme Court found that the State of Hawaii, in enacting the Office of Hawaiian Affairs laws, "has used ancestry as a racial definition and for a racial purpose."

In the Shaw and Adarand cases, the high court held that a racial classification by any government "is presumptively invalid and can be upheld only upon an extraordinary justification."

In OHA vs. Cayetano, Klein is asking the Hawaii Supreme Court to interpret and enforce laws that the U.S. Supreme Court found to be based on racial classifications and, under the highest law of the land, are presumed to be invalid.

The multi-ethnic group of 21 Hawaii citizens I represent is asking the Hawaii court not to enforce these invalid laws.

H. William Burgess

Improvements have ruined Manoa Falls trail

In recent years, the state Department of Land and Natural Resources has approved many improvement projects that have degraded the natural state of trails, like the one at Manoa Falls.

The "improvements" replaced the most difficult areas of the trail with walkways, made of gravel and lumber; and curbs and steps, made of plastic.

Because the trail is easier to hike, it has become a popular ecological attraction. Hundreds of people, including many tour groups, use the trail daily. The greatly increased usage has added to long-standing problems.

Since there are no restroom facilities at the beginning of or any place along the trail, the forest areas adjacent to the trail are used as restrooms. Some hikers wade and swim in the pool area -- even though the water is contaminated with leptospirosis bacteria. There also is a risk of falling rocks in the pool area.

Occasionally, injured hikers must be rescued by the Honolulu Fire Department -- at taxpayers' expense. Although the narrow road leading to the trail is posted "No Parking -- Fire Lane," some hikers park their vehicles on the road.

More "improvement" projects are planned to eliminate even more of the natural state of the trail. These improvements will further increase the degradation and overuse of the trail.

Say goodbye to another bit of old Hawaii.

Robert Thomas

Indonesia's president will not be impeached

Thank you for the heads-up editorial ("Indonesian President Wahid losing support," Star-Bulletin, July 24) though it made the president look in worse shape than he really is.

The uproar in parliament about his refusal to testify and answer questions before them should be seen more as a test of the "presidential system," than the president himself. Some feel he's answerable to the parliament like a prime minister, while others, (including himself), think he's just a president, and not subject to such questioning.

Indonesia is an infant democracy, (albeit the third largest democracy in the world), and is still trying to codify its freedoms and especially what it's new leaders can and cannot do. All this will take time.

In the meantime, and contrary to the picture your editorial painted, rest assured that President Wahid will not be impeached by the People's Consultative Assembly during its annual session this month.

Gene Ward
Political Consultant to Indonesia's
Provincial Legislatures
Former Member, Hawaii House of
Representatives

---

Write a
Letter to the Editor

Want to write a letter to the editor? Let all Star-Bulletin readers know what you think. Please keep your letter to about 200 words. You can send it by e-mail to letters@starbulletin.com or you can fill in the online form for a faster response. Or print it and mail it to: Letters to the Editor, P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, Hawaii 96802. Or fax it to: 523-8509. Always be sure to include your daytime phone number.