Brainstorm! Challenge

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9/11 film holds special warning for Hawaii

I hope everyone goes to see Michael Moore's movie, "Fahrenheit 9/11." Those who doubt its veracity are welcomed by Moore to investigate; he affirms he has checked all his facts meticulously.

But in Hawaii there is a critical subtext in the film for us to pay attention to. Several frightening minutes focus on a powerful multinational corporation, the Carlyle Group. Please be aware (and beware!) that this corporation is the owner-to-be of Verizon Hawaii, unless the Federal Communications Commission and/or the Public Utilities Commission block the sale. Community opposition can influence these decisions.

Nancy Aleck
Honolulu

Flaws caused the veto of campaign reform bill

Janice Hahn was way off base in her letter about Gov. Linda Lingle's veto of SB 459 related to campaign spending ("Campaign reform would hurt Lingle most," July 4).

The governor was elected in 2002 in part because of her pledge to restore integrity and trust in state politics. She has made significant strides in that direction and certainly does favor campaign-spending reform.

The bill, however, was a seriously flawed document that was not clear in its application, well thought out or fair. It also had significant technical errors that would have made the state vulnerable to costly and time-consuming lawsuits.

One of those technical errors was the apparently unintentional omission of the word "not," which completely reversed the Legislature's intentions. If the governor had signed the bill, it would have barred nearly all contributions from political action committees supported by Hawaii residents. No such restrictions would have been placed on committees supported by donors from out of state.

This bill should never have been approved in its current form, and the governor acted properly by exercising her veto power. Let's hope legislators try again in 2005 and give the governor a bill that will truly improve our electoral process.

Lenny Klompus
Senior adviser, Communications
Office of the Governor

Djou fights urban sprawl in Hawaii Kai

Hawaii Kai is so lucky to have City Councilman Charles Djou because he has vision beyond the year 2005, when the "East Honolulu Sustainable Communities Plan" will come up for review by the City Council. This plan formalized a vision for preservation, conservation and enhancement of East Honolulu until the year 2020. It preserves the urban growth boundary by confining "the spread of urban development."

In Hawaii Kai, that means preserving the agricultural zoning and use of Kamilonui Valley and lands adjacent to Kaiser High, at least until 2020. This is what the Hawaii Kai community wants.

However, this is not what residential developers want. They want to move the urban boundary into the Kamilonui Valley so that they can replace the 23 farms whose zoning is preserved until 2020 with more of their tacky houses. Djou has taken a stand against these developers.

On June 29, he submitted a resolution in support of retaining the current urban boundary until at least 2020. Djou has shown his cards of support for the community against the interests of the big landowners and developers.

Bob Hampton
Hawaii Kai

Kurds, Native Americans got similar treatment

Paul Mossman's July 7 letter claimed that Saddam Hussein was a "terrorist" for killing and torturing thousands of the ethnic Kurds. What did our own forefathers do to the Native American Indians? People who live in glass houses really shouldn't throw stones!

Karyn Herrmann
Honolulu

'Local boy' Bainum has served people well

I feel compelled to let people know of my experience with Duke Bainum. Four years ago, my wife and I learned that a widowed lady friend of ours was cited by the city Building Department for a damaged sidewalk adjacent to her property. It caused her much worry. The cost of repairing the sidewalk would be costly for her. I checked the sidewalk and found no evidence that she was responsible for the damage.

We called the Building Department but did not get any favorable answer. So I wrote a letter to our councilman, Duke Bainum, about it. I thought he would just assign it to an aide. To my surprise, a few days later I received a personal contact from him. He was interested and concerned about the problem affecting the lady. We met the next day at the location and he conducted his investigation. After that, he arranged an on-site meeting with the building director's office.

An investigation revealed that the inspector had made a mistake when he cited the lady who owned the property. They rescinded the citation. She was very relieved and happy. We were impressed with Bainum, who never asked for anything in return. He just said he was happy that justice was served.

To those who say that Duke Bainum is not local and who refer to him as an outsider, you are wrong. He has resided in Hawaii for more than 20 years and is married to a local girl. He loves our city and state. He served six years as a state representative and eight years as a Honolulu City Councilman. He has served on numerous community projects. He has always put the people first.

This island of Oahu is our home, too, and Duke Bainum is "our mayor."

Henry Kim
Retired fire department captain
Honolulu

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[ BRAINSTORM! ] The city owns a large, underground facility at Fort Barrette in Kapolei that is sitting empty. What could it be used for? Some sort of archive? A place to stash gigantic holiday decorations? A temporary storage site for Evan Dobelle’s ego? Send your ideas -- include your name, address and phone number -- by July 16 to: brainstorm@starbulletin.com Or by mail: Brainstorm! c/o Nancy Christenson Star-Bulletin 500 Ala Moana 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210 Honolulu, Hawaii 96813 Or by fax: Brainstorm! c/o Nancy Christenson 529-4750