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Don't credit Cayetano with helping professors

In his Oct.11 column, Richard Borreca quotes Governor Cayetano as stating that he "agreed to give University of Hawaii faculty the most generous intellectual property rights division in the nation." What Cayetano failed to point out is that:

The 1995-1999 contract simply codified and updated an intellectual property rights policy which went into effect in 1968.

He "gave" us that contract language in exchange for our agreement to no increase in our salary in both 1995 and 1996.

I was one of the bargaining team members who wrote that agreement; the governor gave us no gifts.

David R. Miller
Director, University of Hawaii Professional Assembly
UH-Hilo

Hirono's renegade act is all political

Shades of the Waihee administration. The players have changed but the act is still the same.

First, it was Lt. Gov. Ben Cayetano going against Gov. John Waihee's decisions; now it's Hirono going against Cayetano. It would be nice if she were sincere.

But I smell something in the air. The governor's election is coming two years from now, so stay tuned to the same old story. If Hirono gets elected, we will hear, once again: "Sorry, but I cannot give you pay raises. There is no money."

Adrienne L. Wilson-Yamasaki
Wahiawa

Cayetano is acting like a dictator

Governor Cayetano's announcement that he will veto pay raises for Hawaii Government Employees Association members is another illustration of his inability to be fair with public workers.

Since his initial election, Cayetano has scapegoated public employees for a crisis they did not create. This crisis was caused by the periodic failure of politicians and their corporate scheme of making Hawaii a tourism bonanza.

Now Cayetano seeks, unilaterally, to change state employees' work schedules, no matter what the impact on their lives or families. Yet the state's own personnel department currently allows its workers a flexible choice of schedules, including a four-day work week and flexible start and end times.

Cayetano could easily have applied this formula to all departments, consulted with the unions involved and arrived at a win-win situation -- a lessening of traffic at peak times and a happier workforce. Instead, he's tried to be a dictator.

His threatened veto and stance toward pay raises for teachers, professors and blue-collar workers are a great disservice to over 40,000 employees and their families. If he cannot abide by the law and the rules of collective bargaining, he should resign or be removed.

John Witeck

Quotables "It's got her aura. She'd be stoked to see everyone wearing her shirt." Randy Rarick EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE WOMEN'S 2000 VANS TRIPLE CROWN OF SURFING On a design drawn by Dana Ambrose, killed in a two-car crash on Pali Highway on Oct. 7, which will be used as the official logo for the surfing competition "They are not criminals. They are patients. We have to protect their civil rights." Janice Okubo STATE HEALTH DEPARTMENT SPOKESWOMAN On the shortage of details surrounding the escape of Benjamin Andrion from the Hawaii State Hospital, who was committed for the stabbing death of his mother. Andrion turned himself in last night.

Only Rangers earned right to wear berets

I'm quite sure the Army's chief of staff, Gen. Eric Shinseki, earned that title as well as the uniform that goes with it. I am just as sure that each of the Rangers earned the title and uniform afforded this elite group of soldiers, distinguished by their right to wear the black beret.

I wonder, then, what the general really had in mind when he issued the blanket order that the black beret will now be worn by all Army personnel as part of the uniform (Star-Bulletin, Oct. 19). Perhaps the Rangers will now have to tattoo themselves in order to keep their distinction.

Edna P. Crehan

Does HPD have an abuse problem?

"Courtesies" afforded to Clyde S. Arakawa by fellow Honolulu Police Department officers may mean the difference between a possible one-year sentence versus a 20-year sentence for him.

HPD did administer a breath test to determine if Arakawa was sober enough to give a statement to officers; reportedly, he blew a 0.06 blood alcohol level. But that was apparently at 5 a.m. -- five hours after the midnight accident. This could well project back to a .17 blood alcohol level at the time of the Pali Highway/School Street accident at midnight.

If the accident had occurred on Maui, where DUI laws are more thoroughly enforced, Arakawa probably would have had a blood sample taken forcibly sometime after midnight. A 0.08 blood alcohol test result, the legal limit, puts the question of driver negligence in the category of certainty, not so open to argument, and could allow a guilty verdict to result in up to a 20-year prison term.

Arakawa had previously telegraphed his personal problems with alcohol, including one incident that led to a conviction, yet HPD chose to ignore the signs. Are other officers struggling with alcohol problems that also could result in DUI offenses equally as tragic?

David Williamson
Pearl City

Palestinians are waiting for apology

Israel owes the Palestinian people a formal apology. The occupation of Arab land in 1948, with U.S. and European support, gave the Israelis a false sense of entitlement. Israeli inability to separate church from state has created third-class citizenship for the Palestinian people.

The 1982 massacre of Palestinian refugees at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Lebanon, as Ariel Sharon stood guard, certainly rivals Nazi atrocities. America needs to reevaluate its annual $3 billion funding of the Israeli war machine.

Stephen Haus

Those who pay student loans deserve applause

We all complain about the bad news in the daily newspapers, so it was a joy to read about Heidie Abrazado on your Oct. 5 front page. The Kaala Elementary teacher owes $20,000 on her student loan and repays $400 per month.

Regarding her salary, and despite having an 8-year-old daughter to care for, she said, "I don't complain when I write out that check." What a lady! Heidie, mail me your address and I will gladly send some money to help you out. I hope others will follow.

R. Milici

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