Audubon is the right choice for Waimea

The Harris administration did the right thing by choosing the National Audubon Society to manage Waimea Falls Park. Mayor Harris took a bold and visionary step that supports the North Shore community and the community master plan for Waimea Falls Park.

The National Audubon Society has established itself as a leader in environmental education and in the protection and conservation of wildlife and habitat since 1905.

The Audubon will work with the community and experts on helping Waimea reach its full potential as a resource for the public. Therefore, the City Council should approve the mayor's selection by passing Resolution 03-112 which will authorize the long-term lease to Audubon.

Audubon's first priority with respect to Waimea Valley is the protection and preservation of important cultural, botanical and ecological resources. The second priority would be education and interpretation of those resources. This is important for the future of Hawaii.

Thank you to Mayor Harris and the City Council for putting this opportunity in motion.

Blake D. McElheny
Haleiwa

Legislature should ban smoking from schools

A Senate and House Conference Committee will meet today to vote once again on HB 248. The bill prohibits smoking on public school campuses by everyone, including employees. Currently, United Public Workers union employees may smoke in some school buildings and on school campuses. The Department of Education and UPW have previously been given an opportunity to resolve the problem of UPW employees smoking on campus, and they have failed.

The community has shown enormous support for HB 248, which offers protection of school children and co-workers on school campuses from the unhealthy effects of exposure to smoking. In addition, HB 248 will correct the problem of Hawaii currently breaking Federal Law (1994 Pro-Children's Act) by its allowance of smoking inside school buildings and is thus being subject to enormous fines.

For the good of our children, and the union workers, I encourage the Senate and House to pass this legislation through their conference committee and send it on to the full Legislature for action.

The health of Hawaii's children should be protected, and that protection needs to come this legislative session.

Frank Deam
Mililani

'Hostile' bank takeover lacks aloha spirit

I don't know about anyone else, but if Central Pacific Bank continues to throw its mainland attitude around, it will not have me as a loyal customer.

Enough with the "hostile takeover" tactics. Enough with the big stick. Enough mud-slinging. I chose City Bank because of it's warm, welcome island attitude!

Margaret A. Bradford
Kaneohe

Local-centric remarks were unnecessary

Walter Dods' comments, as quoted in your newspaper, show a narrow-minded attitude ("First Hawaiian CEO irate over slight," Star-Bulletin, April 18).

I agree that Clint Arnoldus, CEO of Central Pacific Bank, may have made some questionable comments regarding First Hawaiian Bank's French owner; but Dods' comments about being a "local boy" were worse. For those of us who have lived in Hawaii for decades, but who remember getting off the proverbial boat and learning the shaka sign, his comments smacked of insensitivity.

If his company prides itself on being so "local," why did it agree to sell out to the French company in the first place?

Gary W. Hibbard

A bit of pique from bank that says 'Oui'

Is it not très tragique zat Monsieur Arnoldus has said zat First Hawaiian Bank, ze bank zat says "Oui," is truly française?

BNP Paribas? Mon dieu, Monsieur Dods! Tsk, tsk.

Don Neill
Kailua

Long-term care proposal isn't a tax

The plan for long-term care for all Hawaii citizens has been wrongly treated as if it were just another tax proposal.

However, under any rational view, the monthly charge for the program is an insurance premium, not a tax. It will provide every citizen who participates with direct contractual benefits by way of daily payments for long-term care for one year.

Indeed, dictionaries define a premium as "the consideration paid for a contract of insurance" or "the amount usually paid in installments by a policyholder for coverage under a contract."

Yes, except for retirees on pensions, the premiums will be mandatory, but so are premiums for auto insurance for cars owners in Hawaii. The distinctive feature of the long-term care proposal is that the premiums have been determined actuarially, just as with any other kind of insurance.

Let's not defeat an excellent long-term care proposal because the payments are mislabeled as taxes rather than premiums.

If we fail to pass the long-term care plan, then we will continually be taxed, just as we are today, to pay for long-term nursing-home care for those who cannot afford to buy the necessary insurance, but who rid themselves of all their assets in order to qualify for the tax-supported program called Medicaid.

R. Miller
Kailua

Air, land and sea forces delivered victory

In her analysis of Gulf War II, how could Lisa Hoffman of Scripps Howard News Service say that the Navy and Air Force lost to U.S. troops on the ground (Star-Bulletin, April 16)?

It took air power to soften up the desert and Iraqi troops before the grunts got there; and I'm not taking away any glory from the Army and Marines because this was truly a team effort. As far as I'm concerned, all the military branches were winners. And let's not forget about the Special Ops forces; they played a vital role also.

Fred Cavaiuolo
Waikiki