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OHA visitor fees may discourage tourists
Regarding the Office of Hawaiian Affair's proposal to charge "head fees" to visitors: Isn't this biting the hand that is feeding everyone who works in the tourist industry?When the word gets out to prospective visitors, it might cause the number of tourists to go down, with a domino effect reducing the number jobs, etc.
I shudder to think of the long-range impact this could have on all of us who live and work here.
Hazel Yamada
Wahiawa
Raising age of consent is unfair to young people
Statutory rape laws were put on the books years ago in order to protect young girls' virginity. Today, when women have the right to decide when and with whom their first and continuing sexual encounters will be, these laws still exist under the pretense that they are intended for both genders.I doubt that this fools anyone. Raising the legal age of consent to 16 would not only make a freshman-senior high school sexual relationship illegal, but it could also be used as a tactic by parents to coerce daughters and sons into not being with or not engaging sexually with a partner of their choice, (i.e. "If you want to see (so-and-so), then he'll/she'll have to hear about it in court.")
This presents a number of issues concerning the misuse of this law by parents or school authorities when no threat is being made to the safety or health of the children. People engaging in sexual activity, especially young people, should be made to feel LESS threatened about their sexual status, rather than more so.
Being a young woman myself, now 19, I feel I accurately represent many of the fears of Hawaii's young people who cannot voice their opinions in the voting booth.
Although the threat of older men preying on younger girls is a real one, this law, masquerading as being applied equally to both sexes, is not the answer.
Many thanks and much respect to Gov. Ben Cayetano, who is taking due caution and time with this particular issue.
Krista Steinfeld
Quotables
"A lot of kids end up with a lifelong fear of clowns, maybe because they were traumatized...to see one of these painted adults. Then there are those stupid clown horror movies." Confetti the Clown
ISLAND ENTERTAINER
Warning parents not to force their keiki into face-to-face encounters with clowns
"There'll be a day when no one will even care for my autograph. It's the privilege of being in this game. " Rich Gannon
OAKLAND RAIDERS QUARTERBACK IN HAWAII FOR THE PRO BOWL
On why he is happy to give autographs
Nurses are qualified to give anesthesia care
I am responding to your Jan. 26 article on supervised and unsupervised anesthesia care by nurse anesthetists.As a nurse anesthetist who has practiced in a multitude of situations -- supervised, partially supervised and unsupervised -- I see no reason for the necessity of supervision other than that being driven by monetary involvement by anesthesiologists. This drives up the cost of providing anesthesia services to the consumer.
In over 30 years of practice, I have never had a lawsuit or claim filed against me, which is not a claim that all anesthesiologists can make.
May I remind you that the practice of nurse anesthesia existed way before physicians decided to enter the field, and that the first physicians to enter the field were trained by nurse anesthetists.
It is a fallacy that a patient is subjected to substandard care if an anesthesiologist is not involved in the delivery of anesthesia to each patient, either directly or in a supervisory capacity.
Dale T. Hedberg
Nurse Anesthetist
Mississippi has been hurt badly by gambling
If you don't think gambling will affect Hawaii society and family lifestyles, then you need to visit the Mississippi Gulf Coast. More fathers and mothers are leaving their home responsibilities because of gambling addictions. Child neglect and abuse are rising in major numbers in our schools. Come and take a look.Phillip Wong
Gulfport, Miss.
Don't spoil Big Island with gambling casino
Perhaps the outer islands are mythical places that exist only when we need a place to dump all of our problems.Since we stopped bombing Kahoolawe, why not appease the gambling public by dumping an ugly casino on the world's most beautiful coast? We would never OK such a thing in our backyard (Waikiki), but why not Kona? Nothing is there anyway, just lava rocks, a rare and diverse ecosystem, amazing marine life, impressive astronomical viewing technologies and deeply rooted Hawaiian history.
Besides, it will stimulate the economy. Yeah, maybe Clayton Hee can be the CEO of this new Kona paradise and hopefully he can appoint some of his Waimea friends like Larry Mehau to come and regulate the flow of money.
Get a clue. Leave the Big Island alone.
Isaiah Walker
Renewed Kakaako will sparkle
As a small-business owner in Kakaako, I reacted negatively to some of the changes in our neighborhood after they were made. We didn't see the changes coming and resented being surprised.But now we are part of the early vision for Kakaako. A community-based planning group called "Eye on Makai" is focused on the makai area of Kakaako as our last great waterfront on Oahu's south shore.
This group has members from the building industry, environmentalist groups, businesses, construction unions, planners, engineers, our association, the Kakaako Neighborhood Board, local residents and others. As the coordinator, I have attempted on my own to reach all who should have input into our area.
With such diversity, one would expect conflicting visions, but that has not been the case. We agreed that we must maintain access to the ocean and parks for all users, and that we need an integrated plan unifying the makai area with the overall vision for Kakaako.
With standards requiring extensive open space, landscaping, setbacks and height controls to produce a campus-like setting, Eye on Makai supports proposals before the Legislature for construction of a science and technology museum, ocean science center and new University of Hawaii Medical School.
We further envision commercial activities along Kewalo Basin. We also see a museum walkway presenting our various histories in Kakaako as an added opportunity for education for residents and visitors.
It takes money to generate money. We encourage our Legislature and the administration to spend the money it will take.
We have a splendid rough diamond on our hands. It has to be cut and polished expertly and boldly if it is to become the new symbol for the Hawaii of a new millennium.
Bev Harbin
President, Kakaako Improvement Association
Cayetano's scholarship idea is off base
It seems like the liberal Democrats never learn that their good intentions too often result in unintended bad consequences for society.Governor Cayetano's idea of granting scholarships -- free freshman-year tuition at University of Hawaii campuses for our high school graduates with a B average -- amounts to STEALING from all the people who are paying hurricane relief fund insurance premiums.
Any excess or unneeded premiums should be returned (or used to reduce future years' premiums) to those who paid the premiums. This money must not be confiscated for any other use.
Moreover, the Cayetano scholarships will result in an unbearable dumbing down of our local educational effort. Our high school teachers will be under pressure to give Bs rather than grades that are truly reflective of student achievement.
Awarding free tuition for one's first year on campus (rather than, say, in one's senior year) will make freshman year at UH like a fifth year of high school. Our UH professors already moan that more and more first-year students aren't adequately prepared for college studies.
School counselors are convinced, I'm sure, that some students just aren't college material and shouldn't waste a year by trying to "find" themselves as college freshmen. Besides, society needs good workers without college degrees, too.
Alan T. Matsuda
Hawaii Kai
Powerful officials refuse to give up their authority
Your Jan. 29 editorial, "State, city should get their roles straight," touched on the underlying problem behind much of what is wrong with government in Hawaii.When you referenced state "interference with city prerogatives," you provided excellent examples of what has been a continuing system of maintaining governmental power at the highest levels within the state.
Due to this centralization of authority, state officials routinely make one-size-fits-all decisions (collective bargaining, fireworks, etc.) for everyone regardless of the vast differences between the many communities that make up our state.
The reason for this is simple: It's how our elected officials maintain their power over the rest of us. If local communities were to govern themselves, the power of officials at higher levels would be diminished.
State government is not the only one that does this. The county does the same thing to our communities. What little in the way of self-determination the state does not preempt the county withholds from the diverse communities that make up Oahu. The reason is the same.
Even though we have been allowed to have token self-determination through neighborhood boards and "vision teams" (which diminish what little impact the elected neighborhood boards have), their impact on the communities they represent goes only as far as those with the real power in the state and county allow it to go.
Until this system of centralization is modified, we will continue to have the inefficiency that plagues too much of our current government.
Doug Thomas
Mililani
Members of both parties have behaved immorally
After reading Jay Bauckman's Jan. 24 letter, I feel that I should reply.Yes, Democrats like Ted Kennedy, Bill Clinton and Jesse Jackson have made mistakes in their personal lives. But during the impeachment hearings we also heard from Republican moralists like Dan Burton, who fathered a child out of wedlock, Bob Livingston and Henry Hyde, who both had extramarital affairs, along with the greatest leader of morality, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
My, do we humans have tunnel vision? Do we want to get into George W. Bush's history, which may have been expunged by his father? I think not.
John Muski
Bush should reverse order on abortion
President Bush has declared a war on women worldwide with his first executive order.He is reinstating the gag rule on international family planning groups that receive U.S. federal aid from using separate, private monies for abortion services and even counseling. Tens of thousands of women in developing nations will die each year as a result of Bush's decision.
Abortion counseling and services are greatly needed throughout the world. The United Nations Population Fund estimates that 150 million women worldwide lack access to reliable information about family planning and reproductive health.
Out of 585,000 maternal deaths each year, 200,000 are attributable to lack of contraceptive access or contraceptive failure, and 50,000-100,000 result from complications of unsafe abortions.
With no other options, young women in developing nations will again be forced to turn to illegal abortions, too many of them dying as a result of serious infections. In many countries, young and unmarried women who have no access to contraception or to even illegal abortion face the cruel consequences of an unwanted pregnancy: acid burnings, beatings and even death.
I urge the president to rescind this decision and continue funds for family planning both in this country and throughout the world.
Bob Farrell
Makakilo
Constitutional law program was enlightening
The American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii treated Honolulu to a truly magnificent event last Saturday: two first-rate intellects addressing a number of constitutional issues.The occasion was the Davis Levin First Amendment Conference, and the discussants were U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and the ACLU's national president, Professor Nadine Strossen of New York Law School.
It was billed as a "conversation" on the First Amendment and that's just what it was -- not a debate, although the two discussants certainly differed on a number of matters.
What a real treat to watch and listen to two brilliant people take questions and positions apart, and all in good-humored, totally civil fashion. Each is blessed with a tremendous sense of humor, so it was funny as well as enlightening.
The event proved an extraordinary way to spend a Saturday morning, and each of the 1,000 people who attended owe a vote of thanks to the ACLU and the Rees Trust that made it possible. They enriched our community.
Mary Anne Raywid
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