Brainstorm! Challenge

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Making a profit isn't illegal or immoral

Is anyone else dismayed as I am at the constant misuse in the press of the word "profit"? Profit, for your edification, is roughly what is left over after an enterprise subtracts its expenses from its income. A business is doing well if this amounts to 4 percent.

The Star-Bulletin, in its Dec. 21 article on fraudulent credit repair, labels the schemers as "charlatans looking to make a profit." In so doing, the newspaper feeds a long-held, grass-roots, anti-business attitude in our community, hurting companies that are the lifeblood of our economy.

The credit-repair ripoffs are crimes. The people who perpetrate them do not make a profit, pay taxes or strengthen our community. A healthy business, one making a profit, employs people, pays government levies, provides health care and gives people the satisfaction of earning their living and carrying their weight in this world. No government giveaway accomplishes that.

To undermine business by constantly denigrating the incentive that keeps enterprises alive is a serious mistake that deserves immediate correction.

Michael Palcic
Honolulu

Council must act with care on sewage plant

I wish to clarify your Dec. 7 editorial "Weight of indecision, petty politics sink Council." A decision on Synagro's proposed sludge facility at Sand Island was deferred by the Council three times for the following reasons:

>> July 22: Synagro did not present this project to neighborhood boards and affected businesses, which is typically done, despite signing a $34 million contract in March 2002.

>> Sept. 24: Class A pellet fertilizer in a Bronx silo exploded.

>> Dec. 3: The Council deferred approval to allow testing of Synagro's product to verify that it is pathogen-free, has no regrowth, is odorless and safe.

A Georgia jury ruled in June that sludge killed 300 cows, and ordered the city of Augusta to pay the owners $550,000.

The city may be held liable, just like the city of Augusta, should any ill health effects arise from Synagro's product. Based on the city's contract with Synagro, 2,000 tons of pelletized fertilizer will be given to the city annually for use at parks and playgrounds, in addition to more than 6,000 tons sold statewide. The possibility of pathogen regrowth may put the entire state at risk.

The Council neither bowed to NIMBY pressure nor was it stuck in a morass of indecision as alleged in your editorial. Furthermore, there was nothing shameful about the decision to defer this project, to test Synagro's product and to protect the health and welfare of our residents.

Romy M. Cachola
Honolulu City Councilman
District 7 (Kalihi-Moanalua)

People should pick up after their pooches

After a morning's walk around our neighborhood with my dog, I just have to share a thought: Anyone big enough to own a pup should be big enough to pick up its poop. The doggie "calling cards" I see on people's lawns speak volumes about disrespect and laziness in what is supposed to be one of Honolulu's better neighborhoods. Hey, it's not the dogs' fault! They're just doing what comes naturally -- wherever their owners let them do it.

Shame on those who leave their messes for others to clean up. They truly have no class.

Joel Kennedy
Honolulu

Why shouldn't parent have choice, too?

I favor decentralization of our public school bureaucracy and school vouchers. I think it is really sad when the state of Hawaii can pay plenty of deadwood administrators but cannot find the money to purchase textbooks for the students. Also, something quite sad is the state accusing Big Oil of antitrust when it has a monopoly on the minds of our children.

Competition creates jobs. Look at our television when we had three main networks, to wit, CBS, ABC and NBC. Now look at all the jobs created for news anchors, actors, actresses, film producers and techies with the advent of cable television.

Our American system is based on competition and choices. The Department of Education has a market-share monopoly on education in this state. Wouldn't it be nice if parents had a choice as to where they sent their children for their schooling? Or is the state government going to aggressively force a particular curriculum upon them?

I favor school vouchers for parents who are tired of the hogwash and want to send their children to private or parochial schools at not much additional cost.

Phil Robertson
Honolulu

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[ BRAINSTORM! ] What should the city do with the elegant old sewage pump station? It's empty and fading, and now it's taking a beating from all the construction going on around it. The O.G. Traphagen-designed sewage pump station on Ala Moana Boulevard, more than a century old, is a monument to the glory days of municipal architecture, when city fathers took such pride in their community that even a humble sewage station became a landmark structure. Millions of tourists drive by it every year, and it's an embarrassing reminder of how poorly Honolulu treats its historic landmarks. Over the years, dozens of uses and excuses and blue-sky speculations have been suggested for the striking structure. Now we're asking you, Mr. and Mrs. Kimo Q. Publique, what should the city do with the elegant old pump building? Send your ideas and solutions by Jan. 15 to: brainstorm@starbulletin.com Or mail them to: Brainstorm! c/o Nancy Christenson Star-Bulletin 500 Ala Moana 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210 Honolulu, Hawaii 96813 Fax: Brainstorm! c/o Nancy Christenson 529-4750