Possession is nine-tenths of the law. Doris Duke is dead. The owners of her estate want to make Cromwell’s artificially constructed “wall” safer for the ocean-going public (“Land Board again rejects plan to modify Cromwell’s sea wall,” Star-Advertiser, May 26).
Why do emotions from people who have no ownership in this property carry such weight with the Board of Land and Natural Resources? What is the definition of “historic” to the Hawaiian Islands?
Three cases of paraplegia resulting from public access to the current wall are not romantic, do not reflect a “jewel” for our state and are absolutely indicative of the danger of this artificial setup.
The quote from Leigh-Wai Doo, “Don’t be kolohe, and be safe,” should be directed to the BLNR and not the youth who need to be “educated.”
Carol Pierpont
Hawaii Kai
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There’s more news than the volcano
I realize the volcano is an important story, but it’s not front-page material every day. It’s been going on for weeks. The Saturday paper gave this story more than four pages.
Give Pele her own section if you want. I’d read it. We’d all read it. There is plenty of news, hard news to be covered.
Granted the Star-Advertiser isn’t trying to be The New York Times, but it is a newspaper.
Joseph Althouse
Kakaako
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Press creates stigma that hurts tourism
Your editorial, “Lava aside, it’s business as usual” (Star-Advertiser, Our View, May 26), took me back to the “Stigma Disaster” of 2006.
Starting in April 2006, Hawaii had 45 days of solid rain followed by a 48-million-gallon sewage dump into the Ala Wai Canal near Seaside Avenue, followed by the Stigma Disaster.
We could not stop the rain or the sewage dump, but the long Stigma Disaster, lasting more than 90 days, could have been shortened if we had the press on our side.
I saw the Stigma Disaster as one of the most destructive events. There was constant news of death and disease, with “man-eating bacteria” thriving in the Ala Wai, in Waikiki waters and in the beach sand.
Even after the waters and the beach sand were proven to be clean, there was no way to make that case to the press.
The Stigma started in May and lasted throughout the summer of 2006. During that period we saw many small businesses go broke.
Please kokua.
Bob Hampton
Chairman, Waikiki Beach Activities
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Let’s study mysteries of the universe
Some writers have said that the volcanic eruption on the island of Hawaii is Madame Pele’s anger at the plan to build the Thirty Meter Telescope on her summit (“Mother Nature will restore balance,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, May 20).
I think it’s Madame Pele’s anger at those obstructing the building of the TMT.
I am not a worshipper of Madame Pele. I belong to a larger group we all belong to called humankind. Let us all go forward together and sail across the sea of stars to explore the mysteries of the universe.
Stephen A. Ugelow
Hawaii Kai
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Trump undermines our democracy
President Donald Trump is the most serious threat to American democracy in decades. More than Islamic terrorists. More than a corrupt financial system. More than a deteriorating national health care. More than any other serious socio-political-environmental crisis we face today.
Trump, in his blind, narcissistic, selfish panic to save his own skin, is consciously or unconsciously tearing down all the time-honored institutions and values that make America truly an exceptional nation. He is hell-bent on undermining the trust in our law enforcement and legal system, pitting his 40 percent base against the FBI, the Justice Department and the judiciary, not to mention the Mueller investigation authorized by his own appointees and necessitated by his effort to obstruct the FBI investigation of his and his campaign’s alleged collusion with Russian agents.
A spineless, abetting Congress has, to date, utterly failed its constitutional duty. Condoning his dangerous behavior enables him to endanger American democracy and bequeaths to our children and grandchildren lives under autocratic rule. It is time to wake up.
Francis M. Nakamoto
Moanalua Valley
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Bulky-item pickup encourages dumping
Somewhere in urban Honolulu, it is that time of the month when we slough off the inner lining of our homes and dump our unwanted items alongside the roadside for bulky pickup.
Efforts to strengthen the law with fines have failed to address the problem, because the law is flawed. It is based on a false assumption that the piles of trash in front of residences belong to the residents.
The law also fails to recognize that liberating us from the chore of driving to the dump ourselves does not improve civic life. It encourages a throwaway, consumerist society, while absolving us of personal responsibility to dispose of our stuff in an environmentally caring manner. This makes us less civically minded.
Finally, it invites those outside our neighborhoods to drive up and down our streets looking for opportune locations to make our urban landscape an open dumpster. We can do better.
Sharon Rowe
Makiki
