Wal-Mart opponents should see bright side

On the front page of the Feb. 16 Star-Bulletin appeared a stunning and educational photo of the Wal-Mart site on Keeaumoku Street, showing a vista reaching past Pearl Harbor. The article accompanying the photo quoted a few neighbors who dislike the Wal-Mart project.

The massive open space provided in the Wal-Mart site plan (with the buildings being four stories high) will allow the neighbors to keep their fabulous views. They would have lost these views if the site had been filled in with six 40-story condo towers or five massive Pan Am buildings, all of which would have been allowed in the zoning for the area. Those structures also would have generated as much traffic and exhaust as Wal-Mart will.

The need now is for neighbors to press Wal-Mart and the city for landscaping around the store's new sidewalks, parking areas, buildings and loading areas to screen them and to bring a tropical feeling into the area. Before the site was cleared several years ago, it had long been dilapidated in appearance with liquor stores, strip joints and vehicle repair shops.

At this stage, Wal-Mart might also be talked into putting a children's play park on one corner of the property, a glaring lack in this mixed-use zoned neighborhood.

Robert Rodman

State's elderly need long-term insurance

I support the state-sponsored affordable long-term care insurance program because of the need to provide a partial solution to a problem as the people of Hawaii grow older and live longer. How much more emergency legislation will the state Legislature have to pass to provide funding for the Medicaid beneficiaries?

Why not control costs, secure the trust fund for the future and manage the money well so that everyone is assured of the care they need? Isn't it time we become proactive instead of being reactive?

I'm willing to pay a $10 tax for this insurance.

Jack Katahira

Logic is lacking anti-protest comments

Comments from a passerby during the peace demonstration Wednesday at University and King:

"If there's a war, we'll all be dead, so why protest?"

"Some countries' citizens don't have the right to protest, so Americans shouldn't do it in their own country."

Logical?

Tom Huff

Wild claims unfairly undermine cruelty bill

We were surprised that Rep. Blake Oshiro stated last week that HB 165, if passed, would "make pig hunting" and "owning a rooster domestically" a felony and that "roasting a kalua pig or even roping a calf" would become illegal. This is not true. This bill takes certain acts of cruelty that are currently misdemeanors and elevates them to felonies.

HB 165 is an animal-protection bill that would make extreme acts of cruelty a felony, acts such as intentionally burning two horses alive in a barn (as is suspected of happening in November 2001), clubbing a dog to death (January 2003) or cockfighting, which despite all arguments to the contrary is an extremely cruel form of gambling. That is why HB 165 should be passed.

This bill not only protects animals, HB 165 promotes a safer community for all of us.

Pamela Burns
President and CEO
Hawaiian Humane Society

Scare headline caused unjustified fear

Your headline "Pearl Harbor threat reported" on March 3 was one of the more blatant instances of irresponsible journalism I have seen in some time.

Reported? Yeah, by the Washington Times, which is by no means a stellar newspaper. Further, according to your own story, the original "threat" came, according to a government official, from "an unverified, unreliable source." With so many fearmongers -- some in the government -- running about shouting that the sky is falling, folks running our newspapers in Hawaii should keep their wits about them.

R.C. Johnson

Hospice Hawaii can help those who grieve

Once again our collective human community is faced with untimely death and suffering. Most of us have gone out to enjoy our favorite music, to relax, to have a good time. When stories of the terrible fire at the Station in Rhode Island came out on the heels of a nightclub tragedy in Chicago, we could see ourselves there.

Theories and folklore that describe how people grieve are sometimes helpful, but they can oversimplify the complex nature of our relationships. We see how disbelief in those waiting for relatives to show up gradually turns to sadness as the reality of the loss sinks in. What happens after that can vary from no grief to prolonged, intense mourning.

We all grieve at some points throughout life. Most of us find a way to continue our lives with support from family and friends. For some, however, grief is so difficult that help is needed, especially if death is due to a traumatic event like the recent Station fire.

Each day hospice programs throughout the United States help grieving people to come to terms with their suffering. If help is needed following a death, contact Hospice Hawaii at 924-9255.

Kenneth L. Zeri
President and CPO
Hospice Hawaii, Inc.

Don Schumacher
President and CEO
National Hospice & Palliative Care Org.
Alexandria, Va.

Segways don't belong on public sidewalks

The Senate Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs Committee erred in approving the bill to allow Segway scooters to operate on our public sidewalks. Segways should be allowed to operate only on private property.

If our legislators and governor allow these machines to operate on sidewalks, most of which are narrow, they will cause a confrontation between their operators and the walkers. Pedestrians will have to start carrying long-shaft umbrellas or canes to be used as a defense from being struck and knocked down by these machines. Injuries or even death, either to the pedestrians or to the Segway operators, will result from the conflict.

Wilbert W.W. Wong
Kaneohe

Down with Democrats for killing Lingle's bills

By killing off 40 percent of Governor Lingle's bills, it is evident that the Democratic-dominated House and Senate have not forgiven her for soundly defeating their candidate. Don't they realize that she won because their constituents believed in her platform for change?

Come the next election, surely we will remember those who opposed the progress she is trying to implement in our stagnant state. We will definitely vote them out of office because they have forgotten whose interests they are supposed to represent.

Lorinda Waltz

Partisanship spoils governor's efforts

Legislators should be ashamed for cutting the already small budget for the governor's and lieutenant governor's offices. The people of Hawaii have strongly voiced their recognition of a need for a change in the leadership of Hawaii. Governor Lingle represents the people. Do they?

Partisanship in the halls of the Legislature cannot be eliminated. However, it should not take precedence over the needs of the people of Hawaii. The way to recover the image of the Democratic Party is to reflect a sincere effort in support of good government through common sense, which Governor Lingle is trying to promote. Democratic proposals for increased taxes (4.5 percent excise tax) support of archaic laws (animal quarantine law) and a host of other nonsensical actions have destroyed the party's credibility.

If our representatives continue to place partisan politics above the needs of their constituents, I am sure our free elections will continue to correct that matter.

Jerry Allen

Hiring freeze puts libraries in a bind

The Star-Bulletin has been doing a good job telling the plight of the public library and forthcoming reduction of hours, but you have missed an important side issue. Many valuable public services are delivered on the backs of the modestly paid civil service workers. In recent times, reduction in benefits, lack of opportunity for promotion and increased workloads have made it increasingly difficult to hire.

Liliha Library is the state's second-busiest library per employee. Last March, a young man resigned to work elsewhere. We have since interviewed and selected applicants three times, but were rejected each time. That position is still filled by a temporary employee.

There are many temporary employees throughout the library system who want permanent jobs. Libraries were getting ready to hire when the job freeze hit. As of March 31, all these valuable workers will be let go. The public library has no choice but to regroup and reschedule.

We had an identical situation with a hiring freeze in 1994-'95. We reverted to a five-day schedule. Instead of fewer visitors, people came in larger numbers on the days we were open. Circulation soared, and the staff suffered. Clearly, this is no way to run an efficient business. It is no way to serve the people either. Within 10 years, a high percentage of state employees will retire. If things continue as they are, I doubt if there will be enough quality workers willing to fill those empty shoes.

Solve the personnel problems now or pay later.

Sylvia C. Mitchell
Branch manager, Liliha Library

Lawmakers don't 'get' libraries or librarians

The beating that state librarian Virginia Lowell has taken from Governor Lingle and the state Legislature reminds me of why I left the islands more than a year ago ("Complaints grow against state librarian," Star-Bulletin, March 5).

I was born and raised in Hawaii, and I'm a librarian. As a keiki, I remember my mom taking me and my three siblings to Manoa Library on the weekends. We'd always leave with loads of books in hand. That memory was one of the reasons I pursued my graduate degree in library and information science.

As I was working on that degree at the University of Hawaii, it became painfully clear that our legislators have no idea how libraries operate. Two weeks after receiving my degree, I left for San Diego and a wonderful position as science librarian at California State University at San Marcos.

Libraries are not organizations that exist without funding. Significant and consistent funding is needed not only for appropriate materials, but also for the expert assistance of a professional librarian. Libraries provide access to a wealth of information, but not without the money. Donations alone do not make a library.

That said, kudos to Lowell for standing firm against a Legislature that seems to think that public libraries can exist on good intentions alone. How can public libraries continue to maintain services and hours with half a million dollars slashed from their budget?

Lingle's comment about Lowell behaving unprofessionally is insulting to anyone who understands libraries and librarianships.

The governor and legislators' uninformed attacks against her will continue to show Hawaii in a negative light across the nation.

Yvonne Nalani Meulemans
Carlsbad, Calif.

Sign pledge petition to protect freedoms

If readers are fed up with the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision to declare the phrase "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional, they should go to the Web site wepledge.com and sign the petition to express their freedom of speech, freedom of religion and their contempt for these attacks against all things American.

More than one million signatures have been collected; let's make it 10 million.

Bud Ebel
Makaha

Recite old pledge to avoid controversy

In view of the federal court rulings about the reference to God in the wording of the Pledge of Allegiance, why don't we revert to the original text of the pledge? I understand the phrase "under God" was added back in 1954.

Herbert Minakami

Renovation created eyesore for neighbors

A Feb. 21 Star-Bulletin feature on a renovation project on Wilhelmina Rise left out much of the story.

While renovation and upgrading is to be commended, so are good relations with neighbors. Did the couple featured in the article ever meet the neighbors and tell them before they started construction? The article described their use of friends instead of paid professionals, but that meant construction after 9 p.m. weeknights and on Sundays at 7 a.m.

Did they realize that parking trucks on the sidewalk for months at a time is against the law? Did they realize that they needed a building permit before, not after, they started construction? Of course, they miraculously got one after an inquiry was made.

Did they take into account that their $50,000-$65,000 addition would take away more than $200,000 in appraised value from their nearest neighbor's property as they obliterated the ocean view by adding on with no concern for sight channels?

I am one of the neighbors and have seen my property value plummet. Not only did the noise and dirt from the construction disrupt my life, but I also lost refinancing opportunities and had the unanticipated expense of putting up shutters and an awning to protect my property from the glare of a work crew that stared into my windows at eye level as they added the second story to the neighboring house.

Elissa Josephsohn

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