Honolulu Star-Bulletin from Honolulu, Hawaii • 12

I i i 1 7 ffVS i Mi! nil Editorial Department: 525-8607 E-mail: lettersCustarbulletin.com I B-2 Honolulu Star-Bulletin Volcanic Ash By David Shapiro AAA Don't dilute the news with wasted talk Saturday, September 25, 1999 Editorials AAA rr i mmm I I- -f I I'k sic otfeitiB tO Stilli your (mf) here." The Issue: The former trustees of the Bishop Estate studied moving the estate out of Hawaii and converting the trust to a for-profit company. Our iew: This confirms the ex-trustees' willingness to damage the estate to protect their own interests. 'OTHINGcameofit, but the fact that the former Bishop Estate trustees considered moving the estate's corporate base out of Hawaii and converting the trust to a for-profit company shows the lengths they might have gone to protect their own interests. The former trustees' actions were detailed in an amended lawsuit filed by the interim trustees seeking the permanent removal of Richard Wong, Henry Peters and Lokelani Lindsey. The suit says that the former trustees directed former Gov.

John Waihee's law firm, Verner LiipfertBernhard McPherson and Hand, to lobby Congress to lower the "exit tax" on organizations that surrender their tax-exempt status. The purpose of ending the tax-exempt status would have been Letters to the Editor AAA Interim trustees' pay to remove the estate and its trustees from the scrutiny given tax-exempt organizations by the Internal Revenue Service and perhaps from the Probate Court. But it would have come at the cost of many millions of dollars in income taxes that the estate does not currently pay. This would have been an gross breach of trust, causing enormous harm to the estate. It is shocking that such an action could have been considered.

The interim trustees said the effort "was a further attempt to preserve excessive compensation at the expense of the trust" Former trustee Henry Peters said moving the estate out of Hawaii was raised by Lokelani Lindsey in her "disgust" over the way the state attorney general's office was handling its investigation but was not considered formally by the board. At least some of the former trustees evidently recognized it as a hare-brained idea. These disclosures further confirm the irresponsibility of the former trustees and the correctness of the decision to remove them from their positions. That decision, initially made on a temporary basis, should now be made permanent ruling on the interim judges' pay would have no bearing on the determination of reasonable compensation for the permanent trustees. A consultant firm has recommended to the state attorney general's office that the trustees receive no compensation except an annual allowance of $5,000 for travel expenses and $200 for each meeting that lasts longer than six hours.

The former trustees, at the time of their ouster, were paying themselves about $1 million a year. That vastly excessive compensation was one of the issues against them. The interim board's compensation works out to about $180,000 a year, far less than the former trustees were getting, but perhaps more than the new permanent trustees will receive. That question is still undecided. two-page summary, along with a 27-page document containing both the constitution's original language and the proposed changes.

However, the summary does not mention the elimination of the right of recall. The recent ruling by a hearing officer from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the parent of the UPW, on complaints by three current or former chief Gary Rodrigues UPW STATE DIRECTOR stewards critical of Rodrigues' leadership, was a blatant whitewash. Now the idea seems to be to head off any further criticism. These tactics give the union movement a bad name. UPW members should reject this attempt to strip them of their rights.

The Issue: Probate Judge Kevin Chang has ruled that the interim trustees of the Bishop Estate will be paid $15,000 a month. Our view: This decision should not be Interpreted as affecting the new permanent trustees. ITr HE interim trustees of li thoRichnn Potato will be paid $15,000 a month, by order of Probate Judge Kevin Chang, but that shouldn't be taken as an indication that the new permanent trustees will get as much. Chang, in his decision, cited the "extraordinary circumstances" surrounding the May 7 appointment of the interim board and the enormity of the task they had undertaken. The judge specifically stated that the 1 radio listening needs are simple: I want to hear the i news.

No music, no talk radio, no shock jocks. Just the news. I was in audio ecstasy a few years ago when KHNR (AM 650) started playing the sound portion from TVs CNN Headline News. It's a little awkward when they talk about pictures you can't see but still, it's all news, all day, updated every half-hour. I can always keep up with what's going on while I'm out of the office.

Unfortunately, they've started getting cute with it First they introduced Ken and Barbie drive-time teams in the morning and afternoon, resulting in more pointless chatter and less news. That didn't seem to work out, so the station mercifully went back to mostly straight CNN. But there are still maddening deviations. They often insert Charles Osgood into the spot where the business and sports usually go. Instead of finding out how Microsoft and the Yankees did, you get Osgood rendering the day's events into doggerel in between his insipid insurance commercials.

Then the station replaced the evening drive-time news with an infomercial hawking vitamins and "natural" health aids. You're driving over the Pali, unwinding from a long day, thinking about dinner and you have to listen to a guy talk about how his bowel movements are two- to five-feet long and yours can be too. Good grief. How would you get one of those suckers down the commode? You'd probably have to give it a decent burial in the backyard. Lately, they've filled the evening drive time with a talk show featuring Mayor Jeremy Harris and his eager sidekick Courtney Harrington.

The mayor interviews guests, takes calls, quibbles with newspaper editorials and keeps improving on his personal best for how many times he can say "uhhh" in one minute. I counted to 40 once but lost track when he threw me off with an "ummm." I've got to admit the show is occasionally informative and always entertaining for its amateurish production if nothing else. Harrington: "Gee, Mr. Mayor, you sure move your hands a lot when you talk. Are you Italian?" Harris: "Let's, uhhh, go to, uhhh, the, uhhh, next caller." Harrington: "That would be John from Hawaii Kai.

John, are you there? John? John? Oops." THEY had Nanci Kreidman of the Domestic Violence Clearinghouse on the other night in what certainly would have been a lively interview if her microphone had been turned on. Instead, Harris would ask her a question and the response would be 45 seconds of dead air. They finally got her mike on as the mayor was asking her to identify the best single way to stop domestic violence. Kreidman said it was a complex problem without a single solution. When Harris pressed her for a "silver bullet" for domestic violence, Kreidman shot back, "The first thing would be to get rid of the bullets." Touche! After five years as mayor, Harris still gets his biggest charge from techno-babbling about engineering.

That's where it gets tough. Listening to Jeremy Harris drone on about a "mixed array of transportation options," es- pecialiy at the end of a long day, could cause you to doze off and run the transportation option you're driving off his well-engineered highway. Watch where you step in the: bushes as you get out of your crumpled car. You might acci-; dentally find where the Vita- min Man stopped on his way home to evacuate his intestine. Dat'td Shapiro is managing editor of the Star-Bulletin.

He can be reached by calling 525- -8681, e-mail at dnridsfa net or fax at 523-7863. Volcanic Ash runs every Saturday. UPW right of recall Loss of starbulletin.com will leave huge void Say it ain't so. My favorite site on the World Wide Web will be gone with your demise. Hopefully, a new phoenix will arise from the ashes and continue to provide Internet service for Hawaii and the world.

R. Darter KAILUA VIA THE INTERNET Residents can reduce need for power plant I'm against the new Kauai Electric fossil fuel power plant Why? For three personal reasons: First, breathing is the most important thing I do. Second, petro-laced air is bad for my health. Third, I came here from Los Angeles. If the plant goes through, let's protest We can diminish our use of fossil fuels.

How? Keep fewer lights turned on. Take a bag to the grocery store and stop taking plastic (made by petrochemicals). Drive less by doing errands one day a week. And much, much more! Make a list of "Fossil Fuel Reducing Activities" that you can live by. Do your part to create cleaner air.

How sweet it is! Tina Pedersen HANALEI, KAUAI So much for gas company's promises When ARCO entered the Hawaii market a short while ago, it announced that its arrival represented the end of high gas prices in Hawaii. As I drive through various sections of the island, however, I see a spread of gas prices ranging from lows of $1.35 a gallon in the gas war section of Nanakuli to $1.39 in most other areas, with an occasional high of $1.41. The basic median price of regular gas in Hawaii right now is $1.39. Lo and behold, ARCO prices are right in the middle in all areas. Nowhere do I see evidence of the ARCO bravado of low prices.

As a matter of fact, the station at ARCO headquarters at Nuuanu and School displays a $1.41 price on the pump! It's another illustration of mainland misinterpretation of Hawaii's economy and false predictions of wonderful solutions. W.W. Robinson VIA THE INTERNET Letters plde We welcome all letters on subjects of public Interest. Letters of more than 200 words are used only when they are deemed of special merit. The Star-Bulletin reserves the right to edit any letter for clarity and length.

Letters must be signed, with a daytime telephone number. You can send us a letter by: l-MAIt -JL, lettersstarbulletin.com MAIL Letters to the Editor Honolulu Star-Bulletin P.O. Box 3080 Honolulu, Hawaii 96802 1 MX New management at flea market overdue The decision to change management of the Aloha Flea Market is long overdue. Why should the state continue to let millions of dollars in revenues slip through its fingers in these tough economic times? We must look at new ways to make money. Edwin Hayashi and the rest of the stadium authority board should be commended for their decision.

If former operator Ed Medeiros feels that he should have the contract, he should have bid on it like everyone else. Since Medeiros is a business man, he should realize that competition is good. This is not some punishment for backing the "wrong" candidate. It's just good business, so let the bidding begin! James Wataru Jr. VIA THE INTERNET Guns should be as easy to own as cars A Sept.

4 letter by Sheldon C. Crane stated that guns should be treated just like cars, and blamed gun owners and the NRA for not allowing that sort of legislation to be passed. But I am a life member of the NRA and wholeheartedly agree with the idea! I stand behind licensing guns as we license cars, 100 percent Anyone of legal age can buy a car. A driver's license is good in any state, and even recognized by some other counties. There are no restrictions on cars you can buy a little "Saturday Night Special" Civic or an "Assault" Ferrari, with no problems at all.

You can even get "high capacity" gas tanks. So, if we followed the "license guns like cars" model, anyone could buy a gun and, with the passing of a proper test, carry a gun in any state. This is most definitely not the case now. The bottom line, though, is simple: Driving a car is a privilege; owning a gun is a right AlexWakal WAHIAWA VIA THE INTERNET Fasi insults war dead and their families Frank Fasi's published comments about the Waikiki War Memorial Natatorium are inaccurate and troubling. First the memorial honors nearly 10,000 men and women from Hawaii who served and 101 who died during World War I.

The decision to honor them by building our nation's first living memorial was not made by Mayor Harris. It was made by the citizens of Hawaii in 1921 through the Territorial Legislature when it appropriated money for a design competition and construction of the memorial. The completed complex was transferred to the City and County by executive order 50 years ago. It is on both the State and National Registers of Historic Places. Most troubling is Fasi's assertion that too few died to justify this memorial.

Obviously, that was not the conclusion of Hawaii's citizens seven decades ago. They best understood the impact of that war on their families and communities. They made the decision to build the Natatorium so that "the Great War" and the role of thousands of Hawaii's citizens would QUOTABLES AAA "My (high school) coach told me I would never be a Division I player. That kind of drives me every day. Heather Bown STAR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL TEAM Benched as a senior at Esperanza High In Orange County, before coming to UH and hitting the ball harder than any other Wahine volleyball player, according to Coach Dave Shoji "It's cool.

I hope it rains. Melina Ryan FOURTH GRADER AT TRINITY LUTHERAN SCHOOL IN WAHIAWA Who prayed for precipitation when Bobby Broyles, Trinity's principal, spent a night on the school's roof after students met a fund-raising goal never be forgotten. Everyone agrees that the memorial is an eyesore in its current condition. The memorial's status as an historic site makes demolition nearly impossible, and a state study showed that demolishing the existing structures to create a new beach would cost about as much as full restoration. Fasi should know that the mayor and City Council have made it clear that the city cannot spend more than the $11.3 million in capital improvement money appropriated for the project, and that future operation and maintenance costs are to be borne by a nonprofit operator.

Fasi's words help us understand why he failed to maintain the Natatorium as mayor. Thomas RIenzl C. Bruce Smith Bill Daves 0AHU VETERANS COUNCIL Hawaii will lose a friend when newspaper folds Losing the Star-Bulletin is like losing a very dear friend. You have been a welcome guest in my home for almost 40 years. Like a good friend, a newspaper accompanies me on trips near and far, and cheers my lonely hours.

It passes on the latest gossip and informs me of the actions, for better or worse, of my public leaders. It stimulates, encourages and moves me to take action on behalf of my community. In Honolulu, the loss of this much needed separate editorial voice is a tragedy. In this one-party town, soon to be reduced to one political point of view, the loss of the Bulletin puts Honolulu in the class with other one-newspaper cities such as the Moscow of old and the Beijing of today. James V.Kall VIA THE INTERNET The Issue: Proposed amendments to the UPW constitution would eliminate members' right to recall union officers and to elect their stewards.

Our view: The proposals should be rejected. TT makes sense: Weeks after a union hearing officer cleared United Public mm Workers state director Gary Rodrigues on charges that he violated the union constitution, proposed amendments to the constitution are being circulated that would eliminate the right of union members to recall officials and elect their stewards. The proposals would strengthen Rodrigues' grip on the reins of power in the blue-collar public employee union and discourage his critics from further challenges to his authority. The Star-Bulletin's Ian Lind reports that the proposals are part of a complex set of amendments being presented to UPW members during a series of meetings being held state-wide. Members attending the meetings have been provided with a Honolulu Star-Bulletin Published by Liberty Newspapers Limited Partnership Ruil.RT E.

PimXJPS, Chief Executive Officer JH1N M. pLANACiAN, Editor mid PiMsher DAVID Si lAI'IRO, Managing Editor DlANfi YL KII UW Cl Senior Editrjr and Editorial Page Editor KANK BkIIX.I.WATI.R AND MkIIAFX RoVNI R. Assistant Managing lulilon AA SmYSUR, Contrtlwting EJitur.