Lingle needs to soften stance

It's time for Gov. Linda Lingle to take off the brass knuckles when dealing with our state employees, or some of her fellow Republicans—like Sam Slom and James “;Duke”; Aiona, who are already on thin ice—can kiss goodbye to any chance they might have had in the next election.

Walter Mahr
Mililani

Stop bickering over budget

Stop. Stop. STOP.

Richard Borreca reports that Hawaii's latest tax collections fell 5 percent in July and August, a drop greater than predicted for the full fiscal year (”;Tax revenue decline takes a sharper turn,”; Star-Bulletin, Sept. 11).

Senate President Colleen Hanabusa says, “;If we are at a minus 5 percent, we are making the move up from a (year to date forecast of) minus 9.5 percent. It shows you that we are trending up.”; The good senator is not stupid and she must surely realize there is nothing about Hawaii's economy that is trending up, except the loss of jobs and tax revenues in her district.

Quit this immature partisan bickering with the governor and try something new, anything. Show us some deserved leadership instead of middle-school politics. You want us to send you to Washington, right?

Jim Cone
Honolulu

Let's have real town meetings

John Priolo's letter (”;Kudos to Hirono for participating,”; Star-Bulletin, Sept. 4) responding to my letter requires my reply.

First, thank you for correcting me that Rep. Mazie Hirono was actually in Honolulu for the AARP-sponsored call-in. I thought the recorded message said that she and Rep. Neil Abercrombie were in Washington. I apologize for my error.

My point, however, remains. Our representatives are ducking face-to-face dialogue with the public. In this case, hiding behind the AARP-screened call-in. Further to my point, the fact that Mr. Priolo's organization, NARFE (which appears to be a public-employee organization) had a special meeting with Rep. Hirono simply confirms that some people and organizations have better access to our representatives, while the general public is being left out. How about a few town meetings to foster some real dialogue with the general public?

Nick Nagel
Nuuanu

HC&S needs water to survive

This year marks Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co.'s 127th birthday. There are many reasons for HC&S' longevity. Often cited are its physical attributes—its size, lands with good sunlight, good soil and access to affordable water. But just as important are its human attributes, its employees—thousands of Maui residents who, over the years, have contributed their hard work, skills, expertise and knowledge to achieve the continued success of this farming operation.

From the outside, HC&S looks pretty much as it did a century ago, but much has changed. We are significantly more efficient and high-tech, with continuous efforts and investments made to improve our farming and milling processes, develop new sugar-based products to respond to changing markets, increase energy production from renewable resources, make operations more environmentally conscious—with efficient water use and reduced impacts from field and factory operations.

Today, HC&S' future is challenged as never before. I work at HC&S and all around me I see how hard everyone is working, trying.

No matter what we do to improve ourselves, the one thing we can't control is water. Without enough water at a reasonable cost to produce enough sugar in the fields, no amount of investment or effort will enable HC&S to keep Central Maui green.

Rodney J. Chin
Wailuku