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Little girl died because of terrible laws

I am an expatriate of Hawaii, graduating from the University of Hawaii in 1974 and living in California since then. I was in law enforcement for almost 10 years, so I must apologize for my conservative views.

I was appalled to learn that Xiana Fairchild, formerly of Hawaii, was born in a Colorado prison and that she lasted only six months with her biological mother before being kidnapped and murdered.

I know that California laws favor a biological parent's custody of a child. This state's laws would (and probably did) allow Xiana's mother to gain custody of her.

It is unacceptable that California's child protective and social services systems, both state and county, are broken and weren't effective enough to save Xiana.

Elton Isao Meneses
Sacramento, Calif.

Low workers' comp fees are hurting doctors

Would you sell milk for $3 a gallon when your costs were $3.70 a gallon? Well, this is similar to what the state Legislature demands doctors do when caring for workers injured on the job.

Since 1995, the fee schedule paid to doctors has been capped at roughly 82 percent of the actual cost of providing care. Not surprisingly, one out of six orthopedic surgeons in Hawaii has left for the mainland or retired early rather than continue to lose money. Most who have remained have quit treating workers' compensation patients.

A legislative report in 1998 found that there was a crisis situation with access of injured workers to specialists being compromised, but the Legislature has not acted to fix the problem.

If I have learned anything from the power crisis in California, it's that ignoring the fundamental laws of supply and demand will eventually result in economic meltdown.

California's crisis was caused by not building new power plants; Hawaii's crisis is being caused by driving doctors out of the state. Do you want to wait until disaster strikes?

Linda J. Rasmussen, M.D.
President
Hawaii Orthopedic Association
Kailua

Only gambling industry will get rich

Our organization is opposed to the State of Hawaii legalizing any form of gambling.

Research has shown that those who can least afford it get poorer with the legalization of gambling. Furthermore, bankruptcies, domestic abuse, crime, addiction (especially among teen-agers) and corruption increase.

We further oppose any linkage between gambling and the funding of educational and social services.

We know that the gambling industry and its supporters are pressuring lawmakers to let them get a foot in the door via shipbard and resort casinos, lottery, parimutuel, etc. If this happens, the gambling industry will siphon off most of the money, and what remains will need to be spent on resulting rehabilitation, court trials and incarceration costs.

Life in Hawaii and the aloha spirit as we know it will suffer.

Marjorie L. Cox
Clerk, Honolulu Friends Meeting

Quotables "Filipinos are very good in recycling problems into assets." Imelda Marcos FORMER FIRST LADY OF THE PHILIPPINES AND NOTORIOUS SHOE COLLECTOR Complimenting the opening of the new visitor attraction, the Marikina City Footwear Museum in Manila. It is dedicated to showcasing footwear and includes 200 of her 3,000 pairs of shoes. "I don't believe you wanted to kill her but to make her suffer. She never said anything bad about you." Kevin Glick FORMER EMPLOYER OF MIU LAN ESPOSO-AGUIAR Addressing Gregory Aguiar, sentenced to life with parole for pouring gasoline on his wife and fatally setting her on fire at their home in Eleele, Kauai, on March 12

Waikiki Natatorium is worth fighting for

I grew up swimming at the Waikiki Natatorium. My young daughter remembers it and playing around the huge banyan tree -- the same tree my brothers, sister and I played around after a day's swim and picnic during our younger days.

It's a true treasure. Save this national memorial for those who fought and died for Hawaii and the United States.

Don Souza
Belton, Texas

Makua Valley is too beautiful to bomb

There is no place in the world like Hawaii: a perfect climate, land that grows coconuts, taro, papaya and pineapple, and grassland for cattle. No wonder Hawaiians were friendly and hospitable.

They never struggled for food but cast a net into the ocean to catch dinner. We know our military must keep up its proficiency, but to destroy this land for future use is shortsighted.

Our troops need to be here, but they could be flown to a designated desert area on the mainland not fit for human habitation where they could have gunnery and bombing training, then return.

The population in Hawaii is rising, more and more people want to come here, but housing is sky high. One island in the chain is still unusable because of possible buried live ammo and bombs. Don't add Makua Valley to that.

Mary Balian

Sexism divides winners of Academy Awards

It disturbs me to no end that the Academy of Arts & Sciences, which just announced this year's awards, continues to maintain separate categories for male and female actors.

I can understand why certain sports must necessarily make distinctions on the basis of sex since men are generally stronger and faster than women. But last I checked, there's no correlation between strength or speed and a person's acting ability.

Why the need for separate categories at the Oscars? Maybe it's because the roles men and women play are so different that the academy can't compare the two.

No, that can't be right. After all, the academy considers itself perfectly capable of comparing Russell Crowe's portrayal of a Roman gladiator in "Gladiator" and Tom Hanks' portrayal of a shipwreck victim in "Castaway."

Maybe it's because Hollywood offers so few parts to women that require more than a pulse and a Wonderbra. But that can't be right. If so, there would be a category for best African-American actor since Hollywood offers African-American men fewer meaty roles than it does Caucasian women, and even fewer to African-American women.

Do you remember the Academy Awards show a few years back when all those actresses triumphantly got up on stage and proclaimed it to be year of the woman? I remember thinking, "How incredibly ironic. They're not even allowed to come out and play with the boys yet."

Jonathan R. Peterson

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