An anti-rail group announced yesterday that it will finally give up its legal battles attempting to stop the city's proposed $4 billion rail transit system.

Earle Partington, the attorney for Stop Rail Now, said the group will be quitting its efforts in the courts, including a request to the Hawaii Supreme Court to intervene, to create a Nov. 4 ballot question asking voters to prohibit the city from continuing to build the rail system.

“;We are abandoning the courts and going to the education part of our campaign,”; Partington said. “;It's obvious that the courts aren't sympathizing with us.”;

Through mostly staged news events beginning in April, Stop Rail Now's efforts have garnered much attention. But its most recent brochure, which includes statements from Hawaii's public officials, angered U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, who issued a news release yesterday.

“;I am writing to express my extreme dismay with Stop Rail Now's misleading use of a statement I made about the City and County of Honolulu's waste-water system, and then inferring that as a result, I am somehow opposed to rail transit,”; Inouye wrote in an Oct. 7 letter to the group.

Inouye said the group had taken his comments out of context when he talked about pending mandatory upgrades for the city's two waste-water treatment plants that would cost $1.2 billion.

In a March 2007 letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Inouye wrote, which the group used as a quote, “;Such an action by the EPA would bankrupt the City, and would - as a defensive posture - force the city to court.”;

Cliff Slater, Stop Rail Now organizer, said he has not decided if the group would abide by Inouye's request to remove his photo and statement.

“;He did say $1.2 billion spent on sewer upgrades would bankrupt the city,”; Slater said. “;What does he think a $5 or $6 billion system will do?”;

The city's sewer and transit funds come from two funding sources, and Mayor Mufi Hannemann has made it a point to not dip into the funds for other reasons.

“;It all comes out of taxpayers' pockets,”; Slater said.

The mayor's office also released yesterday a list of “;misinformation”; put out by Stop Rail Now, mayoral opponent City Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi and former opponent Panos Prevedouros.

Among the points included many statements city officials had already publicly stated, such as that property taxes won't be raised to pay for the rail system and that anti-rail forces are using that as a “;scare tactic.”;