[QUOTABLES]

"This is agreeing to cutting items
we don't even know are going to be funded
in the first place."

Donna Ikeda,
Hawaii school board member, reacting to the governor's request that the Board of Education itemize cuts to the public schools budget in order to help pay for public workers' raises. Instead, the board agreed to a lump-sum cut between $5 million and $10 million.

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"We won't hang around and
enjoy the weather."

Capt. Bob Whitman,
United Airlines pilot who will fly the carrier's' first New York-to-Hong Kong flight tomorrow. The 8,439-mile trip, the longest commercial nonstop flight in the world, will take 15 hours and pass close enough to the North Pole "to see the elves."

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"There's a mass exodus out of California."

James A. Stephens,
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints official in Utah, explaining why the number of Mormon missionaries assigned in Utah, the church's home state, is at an all-time high.

Navy shouldn't have handled inquiry

The inquiry held at Pearl Harbor on the sinking of the Ehime Maru appeared to minimize direct Department of the Navy responsibility. It should not be the submarine commander who is responsible for providing major safety rules, regulations and procedures. It should be the commander's duty to enforce them.

This terrible tragedy would not have happened had there been a Navy requirement that a military surface vessel be in attendance to coordinate practice emergency blows.

Additionally, Navy regulations should specifically prohibit practice blows when vital onboard systems are out of order. Clearly the Department of the Navy did not and still does not have adequate safety procedures for peace-time practice of emergency blows.

Since the Navy cannot be expected to find its own operational policies at fault, the inquiry should have been conducted by another government agency.

David Simon
Kealakekua, Hawaii

Gambling conflicts with spirit of isles

Perpetuating the land in righteousness is not the goal of those who promote gambling in Hawaii.

Art Simpson

Gaming promoters are out in full force

If anyone thinks that the gambling issue is dead, read on! There are at least two well-funded organizations courting our legislators with slick brochures and faulty statistics, encouraging them to legalize gambling in Hawaii. Perhaps you have been confronted by an attractive young woman bearing petitions seeking signatures to support casinos in Hawaii. She and others are making the rounds of beaches, shopping areas, public buses, Shirokiya, even the symphony during intermission!

These efforts are not being promoted by your friendly neighborhood community center or even your legislator. They take careful planning, good organization and big bucks. High-stakes gaming outfits import people like this, pay them well and present their findings to friendly legislators who are then urged to slip a clause into a pending bill or resolution that would make gambling legal in Hawaii.

Is this what you want? Are you ready for the economic and social consequences: Cannibalizing of small businesses, divorce, child abuse, even more bankruptcies, gambling addicts recovery groups, crime? I hope not. Now is the time to call your legislators and tell them no legalized gambling.

Judy A. Rantala
Hawaii Coalition Against Legalized Gambling

Reducing tip credit will increase prices

Hawaii is too expensive! This is the perception of our islands in the visitor market. How can restaurants and nightclubs hold down prices when the minimum wage is to increase and the tip credit for tipped employees is removed or reduced?

Remember, employers also must pay medical insurance for any employee who works more than 20 hours per week. For my business this is more than $120 per employee, per month.

Let's raise the minimum wage for the person who is not making tips. But if the employee is making (and declaring to the IRS) tips, then this must be counted as part of the worker's wage. To do otherwise isn't fair to the non-tipped employee and will have to be passed on to the customer.

Jack Law
Wave Waikiki and Hula's Bar & Lei Stand

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