If 'Dans' defect, GOP will be back on top

Think of the possibilities! Dan and Dan (Akaka and Inouye) switch to the Republican Party. The balance of power in the Senate is reversed again. President Bush will be forever in their debt. Anything they want will be granted and the pork will roll in at a gallop. Then when Linda Lingle takes over as governor. they will be on the winning side again! Whatta country!

Bud Ebel
Makaha

Tax refund donation can help fix schools

Although state maintenance chiefs estimate 10 years to remedy the backlog of repairs to Hawaii's public schools, one pending legislative measure easing minor repairs demands a second look.

Senate Bill 1211 allows Hawaii taxpayers to donate $2 from refunds due them next tax season. This innovative approach could lend considerable financial support to taking care of minor repairs in our schools on a timely basis.

While we cannot expect the laws emerging from the 2001 Legislature to immediately fix every item on the repair and maintenance to-do list, we can thank Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono for authoring this useful legislation that will get repairing our school facilities off to a very good start.

Wendy Coen
Communications Director
Lieutenant Governor's Office

There's no need for a Makua EIS

The Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii strongly supports the decision of the Army to resume training at Makua Valley. The Army has taken extensive action to insure that training will cause no significant environmental impact and has endeavored to listen to the concerns of the people of the Waianae Coast.

The Army based its decision on a comprehensive Environmental Assessment and is taking measures to protect the environment to increase access to cultural sites.

The Army is required to be prepared for any conflict. The only location in Hawaii available for the training required to maintain readiness is Makua. The consequences of any erosion of readiness are unacceptable. We are not willing to have American soldiers go into battle unprepared.

The lawsuit brought by Earthjustice and Malama Makua to compel the Army to conduct an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) should not be allowed to proceed. The Environmental Assessment is conclusive; an EIS would delay training for years, creating needless risks for soldiers.

The Chamber of Commerce encourages concerned citizens to support the Armed Forces who safeguard our freedom and to support of the Army's decision to resume training in Makua.

Jack R. Carreiro
Executive Vice President
The Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii

Mansho followed the will of the people

Yes, Rene Mansho voted against the fixed-rail project. She was the swing vote that defeated the bill,and yes, she had previously been in favor of it. It sounds a bit wishy-washy, however one must look at the chronology of her decision.

When she was in favor of building it, the majority of her constituents told her so. At the last minute plans were changed rerouting the fixed-rail away from her district so she asked her constituents again and they (the majority) voted against building this mass-transit project.

She did everything by the book by voting what her constituents told her and not what she "thought" was in the best interest of her district. That's how district representation ought to work.

Craig Watanabe

Study on behavior of gay was flawed

Those with an axe to grind about homosexuality should not be so quick to capitalize upon the results of a recent study by Dr. Robert Spitzer at Columbia University ("Doctor's history isn't anti-homosexual," Letters, May 21).

As reported in an Associated Press story in the Star-Bulletin May 11, Spitzer found that some gays can change to a heterosexual lifestyle. The reason that Spitzer has been so broadly "attacked by academics, journalists and gay activists" is because his scientific methodology was blatantly and undeniably flawed.

The first major problem with Spitzer's research was sampling bias. A basic concept in social research is to minimize bias. One does this by selecting as representative a sample as possible. Instead, Spitzer drew his sample from lists provided to him by religious organizations that were actively involved in "redeeming" homosexuals.

Second, Spitzer's determination for a subject's change from being homosexual to heterosexual was based upon subjective definitions of lifestyle changes, such as refraining from homosexual behavior over a period of time. If you'll forgive my crude analogy, if I refrain from eating meat for a month, it does not make me a vegetarian.

Spitzer made no attempt to address societal pressures against homosexuality that force many to repress their true sexual orientation. Spitzer's findings only support his own hypothesis that some homosexuals may have a "capacity to change."

His findings should not be construed to say that homosexuals necessarily can (or even should) change.

Andrew R. Ovenden
Ph.D. candidate, Sociology
University of Hawaii-Manoa

McVeigh showed no courage

Ken Chang (Letters, May 24) has already begun the beatification of Timothy McVeigh; is sainthood far behind? Praising McVeigh's vengeful stand against the U.S. government, he decries the fact that no one else "had the guts to do what he did."

What "guts" did it take, I wonder, to blow up 168 men, women and children, and injure hundreds more, who had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the actions at Waco or Ruby Ridge? This was the act of a coward, an unrepentant coward as we now know, not a patriot.

There is nothing noble about anything associated with McVeigh -- not his actions, not his motives, not his beliefs, not his flagrant disregard for human life. And despite the hopes of his supporters, there is nothing about him that should inspire us to think of him as a martyr. Absolutely nothing.

Andrew Thomas

[QUOTABLES] "The process might be quicker and more certain. There's no question in my mind as to the appropriateness of it." Beadie Kanahele Dawson, Member of the task force that helped draft the Akaka sovereignty bill, on the measure's prospects since Democrats took control of the U.S. Senate this week. The bill would grant Hawaiians the same federal recognition as Native Americans. "I'd like to see what really happened, from the other side's point of view." Tomoko Konno, Japanese 20-something, on her intention to see the new movie "Pearl Harbor," which will be released in Japan on July 14. Movie posters in Japan stress the love-story aspect of the film, not the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Insurer says one thing, but does another

The Hawaii Medical Services Association's opposition to the broader version of HB 202 this year was to "err on the side of prudence" and premium control.

Yet the day after the Legislative session ended, HMSA announced an operating cost loss (despite investment gains to offset it) and raised premiums. What gives?

Arvid T. Youngquist
Member
Equal Insurance Coalition

HPD officers are among the best

I just witnessed a situation involving Honolulu police officers that elevates my already high esteem of our fine police department.

Our high-rise apartment overlooks the rooftop parking of Straub Hospital. I witnessed a drama there that impressed me. Six police officers surrounded a man with three children. I can only guess that it was some sort of child custody violation. What impressed me is that the police appeared to be having a casual conversation with the man and were never intimidating, and never drew their weapons. Yet they were clearly in control of the situation at all times.

There was a female officer there who was comforting the children throughout the whole ordeal. She eventually walked away with them holding their hands. The event made me reflect on the evidence for excellence regarding our HPD. Unlike most large mainland cities, we have relatively little gang activity -- no drive-by shootings, few random beatings of citizens walking our streets. And I can't think of a major crime in recent years where the perpetrators were not apprehended in short order. All of my personal encounters with HPD in my 22 years of living here have left me with a very favorable impression.

In short, ours is clearly one of the best police departments in the country. The police deserve our respect and support in every possible way.

Joe Mobley
Professor of Psychology
University of Hawaii-West Oahu

Governor should not veto smart growth

One of the better things the past Legislature did was to pass the Smart Growth Bill. Maui Sens. Avery Chumbley and Kalani English supported it. Now the forces who fought against the bill are asking the governor to veto it.

The bill, SB1473, established a special adviser and smart-growth advisory council to implement growth and development strategies to reduce the public costs of growth and preserve the character, livability and economic productivity of established communities and rural areas.

Unplanned growth has a price: Natural resources are destroyed, open spaces are despoiled, agricultural land is rendered forever unproductive and people settle without regard to the enormous cost of the public facilities needed to support them.

Smart growth means:

>> Businesses and services are clustered and conveniently located near homes and jobs.

>> Housing designs and locations promote a sense of community and neighborliness.

>> Transportation systems offer many different options and communities are walkable.

>> Agricultural land is used for farming instead of being paved over.

>> Development is planned to avoid costly duplication of infrastructure by developing near existing sewer, water and power lines.

>> Development displays a sense of place by respecting local historic, cultural and natural values.

Please email or phone the governor to support Smart Growth. His e-mail address is gov@gov.state.hi.us, or call 586-0034, fax 586-0006.

Sally Raisback

Passing of Luke Field is a sad occasion

There remain only 14 airports in Hawaii for public use. Closure of Ford Island's Luke Field is a serious loss, made only slightly less hurtful by the addition of Barbers Point, sometimes called John Rogers Field or Kalaeloa.

Bellows Field has been erased from the Hawaiian Islands Sectional Aeronautical Chart to please vocal Waimanalo residents. Two WW II airfields at Kahuku on Oahu's north shore have been converted into fish farms.

No traces can be found of scores of other old airfields, including these on Kauai -- Kilauea, Kealia, Hanamalu, Puhi, Koloa, Poipu, Eleele and Kekaha; on Molokai -- Lono Harbor and Murphy's Ranch; on Maui -- Kaanapali; and on the Big Island -- Honokaa, Paau Hau, Upper Paauilo, Waipunalei, Hakalau, Pepeekeo, Mauna Kea, Kurtistown, Pahoa, Mountain View, Kapoho, Pahala, Upper Paauau, Pahala, Naalehu, Kahuku, Holomalino, Kaupulehu, Halawa and Puakea.

Many of these fields were privately owned grass or cinder strips, and required prior approval to land, usually not difficult to arrange.

Often these landing fields were only 50-feet wide and 1,500-feet long. They were, however, super highways to the rest of the world, and now they are gone.

As one of Hawaii's older pilots, and one who landed many times at Ford Island, I did so with a sense of awe that I was allowed to pause my flight on sacred soil where so many had made the supreme sacrifice. Many of my students first soloed at Ford.

I am grieved to see the developers tear up the hallowed tarmac, and will shed a tear when the last vestige of Luke Field is gone forever.

Phil Olsen

'Go For Broke' film should balance scales

With the opening of the movie "Pearl Harbor," Asian Americans have a cause for concern because most Americans cannot distinguish freedom-loving and responsible Asian Americans from those of militaristic World War II Japan, who were of a different generation.

It is true that militaristic Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, but patriotic Asian Americans had nothing to do with it.

Disney is looking to profit from the attack on Pearl Harbor as background for a fictitious story, disregarding the negative consequences to innocent Asian Americans.

I suggest that studios re-release the classic film, "Go For Broke" to show the bravery, loyalty and sacrifice of the Japanese Americans who served their country with distinction while their friends and relatives were imprisoned in concentration camps.

Chester Lau

Letter showed no aloha for actor

I was much distressed on reading the letter to the editor, "Sorry that Hawaii was afflicted with Affleck" in Thursday's Star-Bulletin.

On reviewing your "Letter guidelines" I read that "personal attacks will not be published." How else could you describe this mean attack on Ben Affleck, a visitor to our island, from a disgruntled individual from Massachusetts?

I hope that this mean, negative and hurtful spirit does not reflect the attitude of your newspaper.

Ann Kelminski
Kailua

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