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SHOPO should endorse Hannemann

The credibility of police union SHOPO's Oahu board under the leadership of Alexander Garcia is highly suspect (Star-Bulletin, Aug. 18). He readily admits that the 54 percent survey participation is the highest turnout for a poll or voting process in the union's history. Yet it's not good enough to designate Mufi Hannemann the winner.

Hannemann had Jeremy Harris outpolled almost 2-1. Garcia should realize that the rank and file have made their choice and officially declare SHOPO's endorsement of Hannemann.

Now the SHOPO plan is to repoll after the primary election, but the end result will remain the same. The numbers don't lie. This is a case of the tail trying to wag the dog.

Steven T.K. Burke
Honolulu Police Officer (Retired)
Pearl City

Forgiveness is worth the risk

The process of reconciliation is a risky business because there is no promise, much less a guarantee, that forgiveness will work. It is entirely possible that your enemy will simply take your reconciling actions as a sign of weakness and attack you even harder.

But we have to take that risk. Why? Because the inner attitude, that which really motivates us, is as important as the outer act, perhaps even more so.

Maybe this is why the widow of the man that Tom Foley killed felt the sense of reconciliation towards him. Maybe this is why Governor Cayetano pardoned Foley.

There is no act -- even an act of worship -- that is more important than seeking to be reconciled with our friends and families and, yes, even our enemies.

Rep. Lei Ahu Isa
D-27th District, Alewa Heights, Kapalama Heights

Quotables "The movie industry got hold of (belly dancing) and made it look cheap. In the Middle East...it is part of everyday life, much like hula is to the Hawaiians." Rachael Thanem LOCAL BELLY DANCER Whose family boasts three generations of belly-dancing enthusiasts, including a 4-year-old cousin on the Big Island "The dad's heart is broken. He is blaming the world." Sophorn Vong CLOSE FRIEND OF THE PHONGSAVATH FAMILY FROM KALIHI Describing the grief of the father of Nancy Phongsavath, 12, killed when the driver of a van lost control of his vehicle, veered onto the sidewalk on Kamehameha IV Road near Kalihi housing, and hit three girls walking home from school

Buchanan won Reform nomination fairly

After reading your Aug. 22 editorial about the Reform Party and what you think happened in Long Beach, I must respond and set the record straight. I was there.

The Hawaii delegation was represented by five members at the Reform Party national convention. The so-called rump convention held for John Hagelin had about 20 delegates. The real Reform Party had 140 national committee members present, with about 500 delegates present.

When Reform Party Secretary Jim Mangia (a Hagelin supporter) realized that things weren't going his way, he declared an illegal meeting. Mangia started screaming to the press and making all kinds of accusations. The media ate it up.

The Reform Party constitution doesn't give the secretary that kind of power. It was sour grapes. Mangia was just trying to stop the nomination of Pat Buchanan by whatever means necessary. It didn't work.

Buchanan got the nomination fairly. He won all five Hawaii votes and the majority of Reform votes from the rest of the country. Buchanan and his running mate, Ezola Foster, offer a real change for the betterment of all Americans.

As far as the party being Ross Perot's, he hasn't done anything for it since 1996.

Johnny Jackson
Chairman,
Reform Party of Hawaii

Will Inouye apologize for being wrong?

According to Hawaii's senior statesman, Sen. Daniel Inouye, George W. Bush and the Republicans "must be worried" about Al Gore because of the news leak that the special prosecutor is considering indicting President Clinton for lying about the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

"If they didn't think he was a threat, they wouldn't have done it. This is just outrageous!" said the recent Medal of Honor winner.

Now that a federal appeals court judge -- a Democratic appointee -- has apologized for inadvertently leaking the news to a reporter, let us see if Inouye still has the courage and guts that won him his medal and is man enough to apologize for his false accusations.

Or will he prove the proverb: "A fool finds no pleasure in understanding but delights in airing his own opinions"?

Ronald Boyer

Is Conklin a viable trustee candidate?

The announcement of Ken Conklin's decision to run for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs is no surprise (Star-Bulletin, Aug. 16). In fact, it was inevitable after the Rice vs. Cayetano ruling in the U.S. Supreme Court.

While I applaud Conklin's achievements in his study of the Hawaiian culture, language and sovereignty issues, do they really make him a viable candidate for a seat on the OHA board?

Will he bring a fresh change of attitude or will his possible arrival create more division among board members who are already at odds with each other?

Erick Leong
Waipahu

Non-Hawaiians aren't qualified to run OHA

I oppose any person who has the gall to run for a trustee's seat on the Office of Hawaiian Affairs without having the aboriginal Hawaiian genes.

Learning our language and reading our history (written by foreign authors, of course) does NOT qualify non-Hawaiians for a seat on the board. Do these people know what is happening to the Hawaiian race? It is being slaughtered toward extinction.

Our ancestors sailed around the globe without instruments and some of us are continuing to sail this way today. We come from an ancient set of rules with only two commandments:

Do not hurt another.
Malama pono i ka honua (Take great care of the Earth, its waters, creatures and atmosphere).

Can non-Hawaiians conceive this thought?

Being Hawaiian is being a part of everything that is alive and breathing. We are a part of our creator and not separate. Therefore, we have no need of invasion from persons who come from a young nation that is destroying itself from within.

Settle the crimes committed by your ancestors in your own homeland first, before you try to steal what belongs to the kanaka maoli. In conclusion, I leave you with this parable to ponder, "Before you jump into our fire, be certain that you can walk in it."

Ululani Po'ohina

Too much road work is fault of Harris

In my almost 50 years of living on Oahu, this is the worst year I have ever experienced on the road. I view this as a blatant disregard for the residents of Honolulu.

The orange road work signs are everywhere, causing jammed up highways, intersections, main arteries as well as residential streets. If this weren't enough, there are broken water mains on Kapiolani, near the Hawaii Convention Center, and in Kapahulu, near Waikiki.

The Police Department would do well to look into this and lobby for safer streets. Road rage is definitely a result of this madness.

The bottom line is that this is a symptom of the current city administration's ineptitude. We deserve to be better treated in the year 2000. I will vote for Mufi Hannemann if he can promise not to cause gridlock this election year.

Wilfred Nagao

Cost unknown for future out-of-state incarceration

Your Aug. 22 article, "State: Pay raises may create deficit," said the cost to house Hawaii prisoners on the mainland is expected to rise from $42 to $52 per inmate per day. This is not accurate.

We have been in contact with several prison jurisdictions that will be available to us after our current contracts expire next summer. However, as we have not entered into negotiations with anyone, it would be premature to speculate on the price of a new contract.

Ted Sakai
Director
State Department of Public Safety

Feds are bullying doctors about medical marijuana

Your Aug. 7 editorial, "Medical marijuana use under feds' challenge," continues the Star-Bulletin's history of trying to scare Hawaii physicians and others about our recently enacted legislation before it's even up and running.

In Conant vs. McCaffery, a group of California doctors, patients and nonprofits sued the feds alleging that the government was violating their free speech rights. To date, federal judges have agreed and issued two orders barring the feds from punishing doctors for discussing cannabis with their patients. They opined that a discussion between a doctor and patient constitutes an important form of free speech.

The only thing new is that, in the most recent hearing, the feds became more strident in their threats. They warned that doctors who suggest the use of marijuana may risk their right to participate in federal programs including Medicaid, Medicare and the ability to write prescriptions. This would threaten their very livelihoods.

While your editorial correctly states that the case is not yet decided, the government offered no new arguments, and the decision (due within the month) is expected to again uphold physicians' free speech rights.

Eight states including Hawaii have now removed criminal penalties for medical use of marijuana. When will the feds acknowledge that this is something the American people want, and back off on their threats of reprisal?

Pamela Lichty
Vice President
Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii

Higher prices don't spell better economy

Your Aug. 16 story, "Isle inflation rate up 1.9 percent as economy strengthens," was a joke. How in the world do rampant increases in prices improve the economy?

What type of mathematical formulas do our economists use to baffle the public with their buffalo chips? As a retired individual on a fixed income, I find the constant increase in prices devastating. No relief is in sight. How many of Hawaii's retirees are in the same dire straits?

We can't blame the governor or mayor for these increases. Can't these politicians shake up the federal government to do something?

I wish that I could write myself a pay increase every time prices at the supermarket and the gas pump go up. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

Curtis R. Rodrigues
Kaneohe

Star-Bulletin's Web site is link to home state

Thank you to Diane Chang for sharing her perspective last Saturday on what topics generated the most letters to the editor. I sent one in about the Bishop Estate mess, but the attempt to close your newspaper took my breath away. I was so dumbfounded, I couldn't write a letter. It's unthinkable!

The Star-Bulletin, through its Web site, has become my daily means to revisit, remember and relive my childhood memories. Take it away and my link to Hawaii, today and yesterday, is severed.

Nick Wilson
Springfield, Mo.

Makaha farming program is filled with aloha

I spent eight months in Hawaii working as a chaplain at The Queen's Medical Center and as a volunteer at Hoa Aina O Makaha, the farm that teaches students at Makaha Elementary and other Oahu schools (Star-Bulletin, Aug. 5). I grew to love the aina and the people of Hawaii very much. Luigi Cocquio and his team at at the farm are doing a very important and wonderful job. They have turned an intangible ethnic aloha into a reality.

Jochen Strack
Schwerin, Germany

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