Isles will soon have monk seals hospital

My heart sank when I learned of the death of four Hawaiian monk seals recently.

With what is known about the seal, its history in the islands and its role in a dynamic marine ecosystem, and when one considers its plight: 1,100 animals or less, a decline of 4 percent per year, competition for food, habitat loss and marine debris entanglements along with harmful human actions — one could feel hopeless.

But, for a growing number of us who rescue and treat ill and injured monk seals, this situation is galvanizing. Many in Hawaii have long been working toward monk seal recovery, and we are looking forward to joining their efforts as partners and adding to the valuable efforts under way. In fact, with the great collaboration of partners in Hawaii, and supported by a recent surge in financial support, the shared vision of a dedicated hospital in Hawaii for monk seals is soon to be a reality.

Jeff Boehm
Executive director, The Marine Mammal Center, Sausalito, Calif.

Tourists not at fault for reef degradation

There is a lot of talk about reef degradation these days, but a great deal of destruction of our reefs is done by snorkel gear producers and rental shops.

Visitors probably have little or no instruction at the shops where they rent their gear. Therefore, I hold the shop owners responsible for much of the damage.

Here in West Hawaii, we have lots of photos of people who have rented snorkel gear standing on coral. There are many places where the coral is completely dead on the tops of coral mounds several hundreds of years old. Yet there is still live coral growing around the bottom. The only reason for it to die on the top is trampling.

Tina Owens
Kailua-Kona

Assisted suicide not legal in Montana

I was glad to see your article reporting that physician-assisted suicide is illegal in Hawaii (“Assisted suicide not lawful, state says,” Star-Advertiser, Jan. 17).

I was, however, disappointed with the erroneous coverage that assisted-suicide is legal in my state, Montana.

For the last five years Montana has been targeted for legalization. In 2007, an out-of-state group initiated litigation, which resulted in a Montana Supreme Court decision. This decision gives doctors, and only doctors, a potential defense from criminal prosecution for causing or assisting a suicide. Assisted suicide is not “legalized” by giving doctors or anyone else criminal or civil immunity.

In 2011, the out-of-state group tried again, by backing a bill in our legislature. This bill, SB 167, would have legalized assisted suicide in Montana, but failed.

Legal assisted suicide is a recipe for elder abuse. It has multiple other problems.

Bradley D. Williams
Coordinator, Montanans Against Assisted Suicide & For Living with Dignity

Keep ‘spiking’ for emergency workers

I agree with Jack Niendorf (“Paramedics deserve every cent they get,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, Jan. 17).

Don’t begrudge paramedics, firefighters or police their well-deserved earnings. As a firefighter myself, I researched the pay discrepancies between mainland fire departments and our  Honolulu fire department. Our department is about 30 percent underpaid uniformly as compared to mainland departments.

Do not disallow “spiking.” It gives our responders a little chance to catch up somewhat.

Also, it is important to remember that the unfunded liability in the state retirement system was not caused by our first responders. It was caused by our state senators and representatives taking retirement system earnings to balance the budget.  

David Chabriel
Kailua

Other places also have resident rates

Regarding the letter, “Nonresident fees are repugnant” (Star-Advertiser, Jan. 4), I beg to differ. I ski in various states and there is always a “local rate” for their residents that is substantially lower than the visitor rate.

On the other hand, our airport arrival experience is still a nightmare. You cannot find your way easily to the baggage areas. You have a fork-in-the-road choice and neither makes one feel confident that it’s the right way to go. I walked all the way to the end of the airport following signs to baggage claim, only to have to walk all the way back to my designated area on the lower level.

Margaret Murchie
Waialae

We know problem; what is solution?

Gayelynn Kalama and Jack Schmidt have described the Kailua Beach-Lanikai vehicle-pedestrian-rental kayak traffic situation, which has become a public nuisance. Fortunately for all involved, local attitude is usually very tolerant in working through a solution, respectfully withholding complaints until the situation is beyond critical.

The problem arises in the area’s business-use transition from retail grocery of the 1950s (original Kalapawai Market, Lanikai Store and later Foodland) to today’s largely visitor-based watersports and beach food. The resultant overload of vehicle, pedestrian and rental-kayak traffic, plus jaywalking, imposed on the limited roads and minimal or non-existent sidewalks, produces an unending circus.

The free flow of traffic and a quiet, private residential neighborhood are the first victims of the transition. How do we rebalance the land use equivocally between residential needs and visitor trade? Is a density use limit, a la Hanauma Bay, in order? Who decides? How?  

Ted Ralston
Waimanalo

Power blackouts occurring too often

Lately Hawaiian Electric Co. has been running commercials in an attempt to explain the rising cost of our electric bills.

The fact that all that money is being spent on TV air time to justify the increases is bad enough, but it seems we can’t go a week without a power outage. Never mind that they are brief. We still have to reset our electronics. Now we get them two days in a row. At these rates, I would expect the power to be more stable.

Rob Hicks
Mililani