Caves are bad places to preserve artifacts

Regarding the Dec. 9 "Gathering Place" column by Herb Kawainui Kane: Ancient cultures sought to protect their most precious objects by placing them in caves or vaults in the ground. Modern society developed climate-controlled rooms for protection, allowing accessibility and study. The terra-cotta soldiers of Xian, China, the treasures of Tutankhamen and the Dead Sea Scrolls tour the world to cultural acclaim because of this protection. It is tragic that here in Hawaii there is a law and funding (Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act) that allows our mea makamae (precious objects) to be returned to these ancient caves, never to be seen again.

Knowledge of culture often misrepresented

The piece by Herb Kawainui Kane ("Cave artifacts wrongly deemed 'sacred,'" Gathering Place, Dec. 9) was, without a doubt, the best piece of information that everyone should read and heed concerning our priceless Hawaiian artifacts. What Kane points out is that "'ike," or "knowledge," is all too important when things of the past are concerned. Since the inception of the Hawaiian renaissance, there has been a furious flooding of "mana'o" or "opinion" when it comes to anything having to do with Hawaiian culture. Anyone and everyone can have mana'o but not many have 'ike. 'Ike takes a long time to acquire; therefore, few persons have pursued this path. The result is that what we have today is a lot of people passing off a lot of things as "Hawaiian" when in reality, they are not. It makes for a good story and could almost be believable because it is romanticized, almost tailor-made for most people's tastes and because it suits our palates, we want to accept it as the truth.

I would love to see the Forbes Cave items brought back to Bishop Museum so that all visitors to the museum, Hawaiians and non-Hawaiians alike, could see and learn of our proud past. Everyone has to stop being so naive about what is being passed off as the "Hawaiian cultural truth" and to recognize that 'ike is not the same as mana'o. When we begin to do so, then we may begin to see a rightful return of what belongs where and a more real hula, hear honest Hawaiian music and engage in other true-to-form cultural endeavors that are not sensationalized for monetary pursuits, popularity or power struggles. When are we going to learn that self-serving purposes are hurting all of us?

U.S. has no power to 'create' tribes

The Star-Bulletin's Dec. 12 editorial about the artifact law is self-contradictory when it refers to the Akaka bill. It says Hawaiians might soon have "a governing body similar to Indian tribes." But it also highlights the facts that prevent Congress from lawfully recognizing Hawaiians as a tribe.

The federal government may "acknowledge" or "recognize" groups of Indians that have existed as tribes (i.e., autonomous quasi-sovereign entities) continuously from historic times to the present. This power derives from Art. I-Sec. 8 of the Constitution, which gives Congress power to regulate commerce with foreign nations, among the several states and with the Indian tribes. But the Constitution gives the federal government no power to create Indian tribes where none now exist. One D.O.J. attorney put it succinctly, "We don't create tribes out of thin air."

The Star-Bulletin editorial accurately notes that Hawaiians lack a governing body similar to Indian tribes. Our friends, aunties, uncles, nieces, nephews, calabash cousins, spouses and loved ones of Hawaiian ancestry are governed by the same federal, state and local governments as the rest of us. Congress therefore cannot create a new governing entity exclusively for them.

The Akaka bill is not only beyond the power of Congress, it would divide the most beautifully assimilated, intermarried and racially blended state in the nation. To those who, like us, want Hawaii to remain one state, undivided, with the security, equal justice and aloha for all that comes with being citizens of the United States, please spread the word, especially to our political leaders.

Road workers handled Haleiwa crowds well

I want to offer a big "mahalo" to the officers of the Honolulu Police Department, the Civil Defense workers and volunteers, and the state and county highway crews for their outstanding efforts in keeping the roads on the North Shore passable on Wednesday during the giant surf. I had to run the full gauntlet in the drive from my home at Kawailoa Beach, around Waimea Bay and along the North Shore to my job in Kualoa. The crowd gathering for the Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau surfing event at Waimea Bay in the pre-dawn and early morning hours was undoubtedly the biggest in North Shore history, and the police and other public safety workers were more than up to the task.

I want to make sure that these often-unthanked public servants know how much we appreciate all the hard work they accomplish for us. The fact that they kept traffic moving in the face of overwhelming hardship and extreme numbers of people in the area and vehicles on the road is simply outstanding.

Gambling would take money from business

When I start seeing letters to the editor like that from Justin Tanoue (Dec. 13) urging gambling in Hawaii, I am sure the gambling industry has started planning another batch of gambling legislation. Proponents make gambling sound like an endless stream of revenue for the state. Other states have a different story to tell.

Once started, it will be impossible to contain, say casinos, to one hotel. Imagine Waikiki with hotels offering casinos. We would start attracting gamblers, not family tourists. And all the money spent on gambling by visitors would not be going into the local businesses. And could you limit gambling to one kind of gambling, say a lottery? Every store and 7-11 would be offering tickets and the poor, as usual, would be the first to buy the most, dreaming of the big win. Even slot machines, the worst type of gambling, could be in every store you could imagine. And the money spent there would be drained off from all other businesses in Hawaii. What a great aloha state we would have!

Hawaii is becoming more for the rich

Lately I have been reading about land being sold off in Koloa-Poipu area to make more high-class housing and golf courses for the rich. My only question is, when is it all going to stop? The only answer is, not until it's all gone. The state and counties don't care if everything is gone, the people don't even try to stop it, either, they just go with the flow. It's not a Hawaiian thing anymore but everybody's thing now. If the people of Hawaii don't put a stop to it then there isn't going to be a Hawaii anymore.

The people we have put in office are selling Hawaii off without a care for the Hawaiians or local people. There is no rent control, land price control, no gas control. How the gas prices can be so different between the islands is just plain wrong. The state and counties are in a way throwing the Hawaiians and local people out of Hawaii by allowing this. When is it going to stop? Never, until the people stop it.

What about returning damaged containers?

What happens to the deposit fee when I attempt to return damaged cans and bottles that litter the streets? The announced redemption policy says that the redemption centers will accept only clean and non-smashed cans and bottles.

Does the redemption policy mean that "litter" (damaged cans and bottles) will remain on the beaches and streets because there will be no incentive to collect them?