Raising Cane
By Rob Perez
Wednesday, June 13, 2001
No one said writing a metro column would be easy, especially one that questions the actions of powerful people or institutions. Even my family
is mad at meWhen the topic is close to home, the job is particularly tough.
I've been at this not even three months and already my teen-age son is questioning my sanity and my wife is wondering whether I'm a closet Republican. I can't even get a break at church.
I went to Mass on Sunday and the priest, in a good-natured fashion, told the Makakilo congregation he had been interviewed by the Star-Bulletin about the controversy surrounding his church's outdoor cross. He described the resulting write-up as sensationalistic.
I was the one who interviewed him. The day after the Star-Bulletin published my front-page column about the controversy, including plans by two men to erect a Satanism symbol and a male homosexuality symbol, respectively, outside their homes, the cross came down.
In his brief reference to the controversy, the priest actually was able to joke about it. Others haven't been as kind.
Writing about controversial topics invariably upsets readers, especially when I advocate positions -- something a columnist is supposed to do.
When I questioned the actions of former Supreme Court Associate Justice Robert Klein, one of his colleagues accused me of lacking journalistic ethics.
When I questioned the campaign spending practices of City Council Chairman Jon Yoshimura, he took me to task as well.
I've been accused of being uncaring, vengeful, hateful. I'm none of the above. But that doesn't stop readers from making the accusations.
Some of the harshest criticism came after I wrote a column last month on Chai Chaowasaree, the popular chef who may be deported to Thailand for trying to defraud the U.S. government years ago. I wrote that the law should apply to everyone equally, including successful chefs.
Many readers disagreed. One called me a "callused bully" and prayed I would spend 44 days in the bowels of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, subjected to various horrors.
Another said the column was vicious and mean and wondered why I wasn't "less biased" having a last name of Perez.
Even my wife and son, who both think highly of Chaowasaree, had some choice words for me.
Not everyone, though, has been critical. Some readers applauded the column for countering mostly sympathetic coverage of the chef.
"Chef Chaowasaree seems to have thumbed his nose at the INS and through them at the public," one reader wrote. "Thank you for balancing the reporting."
And thank you for balancing the criticism.
Star-Bulletin columnist Rob Perez writes on issues
and events affecting Hawaii. Fax 529-4750, or write to
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu 96813. He can also be reached
by e-mail at: rperez@starbulletin.com.
