HEADS of leading law-enforcement agencies in Hawaii have warned that anthrax hoaxes will be prosecuted to the harshest extent, but they have yet to follow through on the threat. Most such hoaxes are difficult if not impossible to solve. The only case pending is still under police investigation nearly three weeks after the arrest, although the suspect reportedly confessed. Actual prosecution of such a case may be needed to quell what Honolulu Prosecutor Peter Carlisle calls these "incredibly stupid" practical jokes. Local anthrax cases
run into troubleThe issue: Law-enforcement
agencies have yet to bring charges
against anthrax pranksters.The Honolulu Fire Department has received more than 330 calls regarding suspicious powder or mailings since Oct. 11. In most cases, these result from people taking precautions after noticing something they regard as unusual but are later found to be innocent. Few cases result from pranks.
In a television public service announcement, Carlisle, Acting U.S. Attorney Elliot Enoki and Honolulu Police Chief Lee Donohue warn that anthrax hoaxes are "not funny" and are felonies. Such hoaxes are federal crimes and will be prosecuted as such, they suggest. But that is not so easy.
First, the culprit must be caught. That is very difficult in the case of envelopes sent through the mail, as federal investigators have learned following actual anthrax cases in Congress, media offices, post offices and other locations. The East-West Center received a postal threat in the past week, although the mailed powder was not anthrax. It came in an envelope with a Virginia postmark and also contained a note saying, "Allah is great."
An anthrax hoax was perpetrated Oct. 17 at Coral Creek Golf Course in Ewa, where a threatening note and white powder -- not anthrax -- were found in an envelope in the maintenance office. Like the East-West Center case, that crime remains unsolved.
The next day, a Pearl City High School student was arrested reportedly after being accused by two other students and then confessing to spreading baking powder and powdered sugar in a classroom doorway and stairwell. Carlisle suggested that perpetrators of anthrax hoaxes will be charged with terroristic threatening, a felony punishable in state court by up to five years in prison.
The Pearl City youth, if charged, may be referred to the kinder and gentler juvenile court. The realities of the judicial system are bound to temper the fierce prosecution promised by state and federal prosecutors.
Hawaii's economy emerged from the special session of the state Legislature with almost as dismal an outlook as when it went in. Instead of building for the future, lawmakers reacted by plugging holes in the dikes. Instead of spreading what scant wealth the state has across the economic landscape, they threw most of the money into the same sinkholes. State’s fiscal crisis
still looms largeThe issue: The Legislature's
emergency session did little to
heal Hawaii's economic wounds.Governor Cayetano rightly criticized the Legislature for not taking bold action to prevent further wounds to the economy. Lawmakers countered that they could to little in a two-week emergency session to stanch the bleeding. Rep. Joe Souki of Maui argued that the session should not even have been called because all it would accomplish would be to "raise the hopes of the public," and that 76 legislators could not be expected to "solve all the problems of the economy."
No one was looking for solutions to all of the state's economic difficulties. After all, Hawaii's financial stability had been shaky even before the terrorist attacks set off a global downturn. However, the inability of political leaders to seek inventive ways to stimulate a diversification of the economy has always been the source of instability. Even after the Gulf War rocked the tourism industry, state leaders -- while acknowledging that diversification was necessary -- failed to take action.
With the current crisis, it came as no surprise then that much of the attention and dollars went to prop up tourism and its accompanying industries. Hotels got a 10-percent tax credit to renovate and build new projects, tourism promotion won $10 million for marketing. Tourism-dependent airport sales operations will likely win financial deferrals in contracts with the state under the emergency powers granted to the governor.
Meanwhile, small businesses have been left to limp along. One of the few measures from which they may benefit will be an increase of tax-filing thresholds that will delay some payments and increase their cash flows somewhat.
Lawmakers did little to get money in the hands of consumers, whose spending keeps the economy afloat. The $100 million allotted for construction projects will trickle down eventually, but that will take some time and the economy needs a boost now.
Before the regular session convenes in January, legislators should explore economic options, identify ones likely to succeed and create a business atmosphere that will kindle a larger base of income production for the state. The message of the current crisis is loud and clear: Hawaii cannot lean so heavily on tourism.
Published by Oahu Publications Inc., a subsidiary of Black Press.Don Kendall, Publisher
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