The Honolulu Advertiser from Honolulu, Hawaii • 4

More Hawaii news inside: Religion A5.6 fl3 The Honolulu Advertiser Saturday, July 30, 1988 Money A7.8 Obituaries C6 a a Nuns 'dream' hospice opens doors in Nuuanu and two double-occupancy rooms, a chapel and nurses' station. At the dedication, Patrick Kahler, president of McDonald's of Hawaii and chairman of the hospice advisory committee, told 200 guests, "It was a marvelous dream, and Sister did us the honor of allowing us to participate." Sister Maureen was honored yesterday as an imaginative leader and caring person who pioneered work in the hospice movement and brought together community leaders who made possible the $2.5 million hospice. She will soon be named president of the St. Francis Health Care Foundation. "This is truly a day the Lord has made," said Sister Aileen Griffin, who succeeded Sister Maureen as chief executive officer of St.

Francis Medical Center in March. "This is a day that is a result of many hands and many hearts." While Sister Maureen was lauded by several speakers for making the hospice dream a reality, she took to the podium and said in a bold voice, "No one person can ever accomplish a project of this type. It takes many people of various gifts to bring together a dream. "Never when we started this project did I imagine it would end up like this," she said with a smile. An open house will be held noon to 4 p.m.

By Vickie Ong Advertiser Staff Writer In 1977, Sister Maureen Keleher, then chief executive officer of St. Francis Medical Center, dreamed of a hospice in Hawaii where the terminally ill could spend their last days in a setting of peace and tranquility. Yesterday, the St, Francis Hospice-the Sister Maureen Keleher Center in Nuuanu was dedicated. And it was all that Sister Maureen had envisioned, and more. "It's kind of an answer to prayer," she said in an interview.

When people are dying, she said, "they're so wounded," and they need a place of "warmth and brightness." Sitting in the hospice's comfortable living room, Sister Maureen said: "What I love about it is it doesn't look institutional. It's homelike. That's the best thing." The graceful 1920s home at 24 Puiwa Road, off Pali Highway, has been beautifully restored. The interior is done in muted pastels; the living room has a piano, easy chairs and a fireplace; the dining room has round koa tables and chairs; and a veranda and garden offer pleasant views of the one-acre estate. The new 12-bed wing features eight private I iiiiiiTiiiiiiit iliiiiiainiiiiirifniTmirnrni n'ftnrfrtritn iiiviiriiiiirMii r.i iiiijitMMia'iJiijiMJiMfiMir tr n- Advertiser photo by Charles Okamura Sister Maureen Keleher at yesterday's dedication: "It's kind of an answer to prayer." Maui, Soviet youths found common ground at camp ft I I Jhpr' -4 i Wt NT- Kr By Edwin Tanji 'Advertiser Maui County Bureau I KAHULUI Summer camp ended yesterday for two dozen teen-agers from opposite sides of the world the United States and Soviet Union.

It was like any other end-of-summer camp. There were smiles, tears, hugs and promises to write. But it was also unlike most other summer camps, with youngsters speaking of world peace and understanding and adult chaperones speaking of developing "citizen diplomacy" between two countries. It all started a year ago when a group of American teens went to Mos-tow in a program called Youth Ambassadors of America. The American iteens met with Soviet youngsters at a 'youth camp in Pereslavl and developed new friendships that led to the two-week visit to Maui by 11 Russian youths.

"It was just by chance," said Natalia JVelikhov, the Russian woman who is a jkey factor in the growing student exchange program, "and I saw a good 'thing. I really feel it is important for bur youth to know each other; they to meet and talk. "They have to work together to get know each other." It is a first step toward mutual understanding between two very differ-'ent countries. But the pathway for: further exchanges appears to be getting wider. "We're talking about how we can bring kids here on a regular basis," fsaid Billie Hopkins, the Youth Ambas-'sadors executive who was instrumen- youths arrive in Moscow, the Soviet youth camp organization takes care of them.

One difference is apparent: Soviet citizens don't hold fund-raising concerts or sell sweet bread to their neighbors. The benefit is understanding. "I expected there would be great differences when I came to America," Yana said. "I expected it was like two different worlds with two different things. On one side there would be very rich people who would have very beautiful things.

"On the other side, there would be people with drugs, who are homeless, with guns doing terrible things," she said. "When I came, I didn't find anything different when I crossed the border. I saw there are people like any other people, living normal lives. I feel we are almost the same." There will be continued exchanges between Maui and Moscow. A Maui girl, Shara Tenario, is leaving next month for a visit to Russia in another Youth Ambassadors' project.

Yesterday, Maui artists Andrea Smith and Piero Resta promised to raise the funds for up to 20 Russian youth ambassadors to come to Maui next year. "In our country, it was difficult as well," said Natalia Velikhov. "When we first planned this last year, some people called us fools. They said we would never be able to take the kids out of the country. "This year, it was easier, and next year, we hope it will be easier still.

"There are a lot of changes in our country," she added. for the program." If the philosophy is idealistic, it appears to be targeted at the right group. The American youth ambassadors say they are embarrassed by the image of Russians portrayed in Sylvester Stallone movies. The Soviet youngsters say they have learned about America first hand. "This can help both countries to cooperate in economics and in people relations," said Yana Chernukha, a 16-year-old who appeared a bit tired of being interviewed.

She is in a special school for learning English and is the best English speaker in the group of 11 Soviet youngsters, therefore is the one most frequently interviewed on this trip. But she isn't a youth ambassador because of her language skills. She said she just happened to be involved in the Pereslavl youth camp last year when the first group of American youth ambassadors arrived. It was a case of serendipity that is allowing her to travel to parts of the world she never expected to see. "I thought is was impossible for me to travel because it was impossible for me to raise so much money by myself," she said.

The Soviet youth ambassadors are partially funded by the Soviet government or government-sponsored groups such as the Foundation for Peace. Their funding paid for them to get to Washington, D.C. Youth Ambassadors of America pays for their travels through the United States. American youth ambassadors have to pay their own way to Moscow. In the exchange program, once American Advertiser photo by Edwin Tanji Soviet student Natalia Velikhov is presented a memento and a big one, at that from Maui teen-agers and residents, including Mayor Hannibal Tavares.

He made the presentation yesterday, hours before the group left the island. tal in starting up the Maui Youth who visited Moscow last year. The em-Ambassadors program. phasis will be on "citizen diplomacy." Plans include developing an interna- Hopkins said, not only when visiting tional youth camp in Kipahulu on land with youngsters from other countries donated by a family whose daughter but also "in presenting themselves to was one of seven Maui youngsters the general public to help win support Familtt Court judge retires No more decisions, please, for Vitousek O'Connor offers plan to encourage housing Campaign vrr By Rick Carroll Advertiser Staff Writer On Judge Betty Morrison Vi-tousek's desk, a sweet-scented bouquet of yellow roses, a gift from her staff, rises over a paper skyline of divorce and child abuse cases, custody battles and paternity suits. The perfume amid thorns somehow symbolizes this woman's 30-year legal career, which adjourned yesterday.

The senior judge of Family Court retired early, two years before her second decade-long term expires. "I suddenly realized I was really quite tired," Circuit Judge Vitousek said in her chambers. "It takes a toll; I mean, it's very subtle but it occurs." Judging, she said, is "tough work. You really do have to feel like Solomon because that's exactly what you're doing," making impossible decisions. And hoping for the best.

"One of the things I am not going to do after I retire is make decisions," she laughed. "I'm not even going to decide what to cook for dinner." On Oahu nearly 400 couples file for divorce each month. Half have children. "The caseload is never-ending," Vitousek said. Adoptions, she said, are the best part of Family Court.

The worst is child sex abuse. With a staff of 200, including eight judges, a psychiatrist, a psychologist, social workers, a clerk and bailiffs, Vitousek managed the often ugly calendar of family dysfunctions. tousek was born in Wenatchee, the self-proclaimed "apple capital" of the world. Her father was a businessman and her mother was on the board of trustees at the local university. A sociology major at the University of Washington, she became personal secretary to the secretary of state of Washington, Belle Reeves, who happened to be her grandmother.

On a student tour of Japan, China and Korea in the summer of 1940, she met a Stanford senior from Honolulu, Roy Vitousek. Married in 1946, they both went to Stanford Law School. They passed the Hawaii Bar in 1948 and she practiced law part-time while raising three children. In Hawaii, she served as part-time executive director of the Bar Association of Hawaii. When the children reached college age, the Vitouseks, hus-band and wife, practiced law together from 1968 to 1970, when she was appointed to the bench.

"I was appointed because I was a woman, of course," she said, although she wasn't the first women judge here. "I wasn't at all political myself, but I was at the right place at the right time. There was a need for a woman to be appointed." Now, there are four full-time women judges in Family Court. "Goodness," she said, "when I was in law school, there were two women in a class of 120. The numbers just had to catch up.

By William Kresnak Adverliter Staff Writer Dennis O'Connor broke away from the pack of Democratic mayoral hopefuls yesterday by suggesting a complete rewriting of the city real property tax laws that could force urbanization of unused agricultural lands. Speaking at a candidates' forum sponsored by the Hawaii Women Lawyers group, O'Connor said current property tax laws that provide low rates to protect agricultural land are "medieval" and "set up in a time when we were a plantation society." He proposed revamping the laws to shift the tax burden away from residential landowners, who account for more than 50 percent of the city's real property tax revenues, to others, primarily owners of unused agricultural land. "We no longer need to have the land protected which that law protects," O'Connor said. "The time has come to turn that whole social situation around mostly because the city absolutely needs the income into the future." The tax system should force owners of unused agricultural property to put the land to productive use or "turn it to development which will enhance the quality of life in Hawaii," such as housing, he said. Democratic mayoral candi- In her time, Family Court grew to a full-fledged court with a crowded calendar to meet Oa-hu's swelling population and changing social roles.

In 18 years, the Family Court has entered the computer age, instituted night court and a child support enforcement agency. It has pioneered crisis intervention and marital counseling. "It was much easier 18 or 20 years ago," she said. "It was a place that was not inundated by numbers. It was really a place where individualized attention was revered more.

We didn't have caseloads with 40 to 60 cases on them." Often outspoken, Vitousek believes Hawaii's judges should be granted sabbaticals. "I think it would be so restorative to give them a break," she said. "And of course I feel it doubly about Family Court judges because it's tougher, it's far more emotional." She also thinks Hawaii's judges should be paid more. "What a lawyer gets paid for a day as a per-diem judge doesn't come close to what they can make in private practice," she said. While her own pay was sufficient, she said, it isn't considered attractive to most may earn twice as much in private practice.

Under her "goodbye" bouquet sit unpacked desk photos of apple-cheeked youngsters, her four grandchildren. "This," she said, showing off her family portraits, "is the wonderful part of my life." dates Patsy Mink, Marilyn Bornhorst and Randall Iwase took strong positions on preserving agricultural land. "I'm fully committed to the preservation of agricultural land," said Mink, a former congresswoman and City Council member. "It is the cornerstone of our state Constitution." Bornhorst, who served more than 13 years on the Council, said, "Do not mess with the taxes to discourage keeping land in agriculture." Instead, she suggested the city should reassess the land more frequently to be sure it is taxed at its highest value. Iwase said there needs to be a plan to balance the preservation of farm land with the need for housing, and "that plan is the 'second city' concept in Ewa.

It was developed to make that balance." Non-partisan candidate Michael Mixell suggested broadening the tax base by bringing more business to the state so "we don't have to worry about increasing property taxes all the time and sustaining what I feel is too great a bureaucracy in the first place." Judge Betty Vitousek Family Court "tougher" forjudges The cases, she said, never got her down. "I've been very lucky," she said. "I've had a very stable, secure life from the moment I was born. That doesn't mean there aren't times when cases distress you terribly. "The tough parts of it, I think the judges here feel, are the custody decisions and child abuse cases," she said.

Domestic abuse, she said, used to be called "wife beating." Although relationships and roles have changed, victims haven't: 99 percent of domestic abuse victims are women. "As soon as you think you've heard everything, you haven't," she said. A judge's granddaughter, Vi.