Hilton traffic will spill onto public property

Hilton Hawaiian Village wants permission to stack buildings on top of each other, abut buildings and reroute all Ala Moana boulevard traffic, causing permanent traffic jams for all those going to and from Waikiki.

They will move their tour buses from Hilton property to Hobron Lane, Holomanoa Street and Dewey Lane.

Ocean views will be permanently blocked for thousands of taxpaying citizens. Surrounding property values will be decreased by 50 percent.

What's next? When is the Hilton take-over going to stop? Does Hilton have the city Department of Planning and Permitting, et. al., in its back pocket?

What Hilton does with its own property is its business, but when it takes over public streets it's the citizens' business and it's not fair.

Max H. Watson

Overuse of DDT made it ineffective

The column by Thomas Sowell, "Environmentalists rarely consider the consequences of their actions" (Star-Bulletin, June 8) is seriously misleading.

Sowell claims that Rachel Carson, who started the move to ban DDT, caused more deaths than any "mass murder executed in the past half century," "with deaths rising into the millions" from malaria. Carson was a scientist and an honest woman; Sowell is an economist who feels safe attacking a dead woman who isn't around to rebut him.

But the fact is DDT was banned because it became ineffective. Instead of being used just for public health, such as suppressing malaria and typhus, it was used on crops, on playgrounds, suburbs, swamps, orchards -- you name it. If there were bugs, there was DDT. Most mosquitoes died, but a few were immune and had baby mosquitoes that multiplied. All the DDT in the world couldn't kill them. More expensive pesticides had to be used and poorer countries could not afford them. Malaria came back after being almost wiped out 30 years ago. It might still be rare had we sprayed DDT only when needed.

DDT was also banned because it accumulates in the fat of warm-blooded animals. You eat a fish, its DDT stays in you. The level of DDT might be low in any one fish, but after eating lots of fish, it can become abundant enough to cause reproductive failure and even death. Smart folks rightly wondered if we wanted the same thing happening to us.

DDT also accumulates in human fatty disease, and when women nurse their babies, they use that contaminated fat to form their milk. Sowell doesn't worry about that; mothers did and some still have to.

DDT and related chemicals also may affect our hormones, preventing their normal functioning. The science is inconclusive and I hope it is wrong, but some scientists are worried that human reproduction and even human sexual identity may be damaged.

Sowell claims environmentalists rarely consider the consequences of their actions. Poisoned mother's milk? Sterile sons and daughters? Continuing to use a useless pesticide? Americans considered the consequences very well. Sowell just doesn't want us to know that.

David Duffy
Professor of botany University of Hawaii

[QUOTABLES] "This is the most beautiful venue to see a film that I have ever been to." Eva Gardos, film director of "American Rhapsody," premiering at the Maui Film Festival. "Here we get along. In the Philippines they cannot get along." Ben Sanchez Jr., Makiki resident, discussing the latest kidnappings by Muslims in Mindanao.

Contract freezes pay of substitute teachers

One of the greatest hoaxes the Hawaii State Teachers Association (HSTA) has perpetuated on the citizens of Hawaii was when HSTA in its recent pay raise negotiations stated pay raises for teachers were badly needed to attract more teachers to replace substitute teachers now in the classrooms of Hawaii.

I don't care if regular teachers made a million dollars a year in pay, long- and short-term substitute teachers will always be needed due to the regular teacher's illness, family emergency, participation in workshops, etc. However, in order to get their 19.5 percent raise, something had to be sacrificed -- repairs to 50 school playgrounds will be delayed (Star-Bulletin, June 7) and graduations were canceled (Hawaii Tribune-Herald, June 7).

Guess who is another fall guy in the "I'm ok, Jack" power grab? It's the substitute teachers themselves. In the last two years, and the upcoming school years, substitute teachers' pay has been frozen. Now if you desperately need substitute teachers, do you freeze their pay for three years? Is there anyone out there awake and thinking?

Roy H. Todoroki
Laupahoehoe, Hawaii

State retirees' health benefits are at risk

I read in a Hawaii Government Employees Association Retirees publication that the state Legislature recently passed and Gov. Ben Cayetano signed a law that may affect retired and future retirees' public health benefits and their costs.

I reluctantly moved from Hawaii because I could not afford to live there as a retiree. Thousands of Hawaii people have moved to Las Vegas for much the same reason. This new law will be yet another reason why more people may be leaving Hawaii.

I suggest legislators start enacting laws that would encourage people to stay in Hawaii, not cause them to move away, let alone penalize those who worked a lifetime in government only to have the carpet pulled out from under them.

It's a shame to see how many locals are caused to leave the beautiful state of Hawaii for economic reasons.

Frank Furcini
Handerson, Nev.

Hike cigarette tax to combat litter

I would like to propose an additional 20-cent general use tax on each package of cigarettes. Smokers no longer want to contain their use of tobacco to their personal environment.

Many drive around our beautiful state with their vehicle windows open blowing smoke out into the open, flicking their ashes loosely allowing them to fly in the face of others, and then tossing their cigarette butts out the car window to litter our roadways.

Also many pedestrians behave in the same manner. This tax could go toward the clean-up of our tobacco-abused environment. Its kind of pay as you sow, so shall you reap the cost.

Robert Zimmer

Owners of pit bulls are source of problem

Pit bulls are attacking our children. According to the pit bull experts, the dogs are not the problem; it's the owners. If the experts are right, we must focus on the pit bull owners to correct the problem.

So, why not tailor the licensing fees and restraining laws to those who choose to own dangerous canine pets. License fees for breeds with a history of attacks on humans should include a hefty surcharge, say $300 to $500 annually.

All dog attacks on humans should be treated as assault by the dog's owner, leaving it to the courts to decide whether the offense is a misdemeanor or a felony. Assaults that cause significant emotional or physical trauma should be punishable by jail time and monetary compensation to the victims.

Vicious dogs should be destroyed.

J.C. Gilbert

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