Bring coqui frogs under control

Articles about coqui frogs on Oahu say that the Big Island has given up on coqui control. This is not true. North Kohala and Volcano, to name two communities, have been successfully controlling coqui for years. Coqui-Free Waimea was formed recently to do the same.

I suggest the following legislative actions:

» Fund the Big Island Invasive Species Committee (BIISC). This group provides a lot of bang for the buck, supporting community groups in coqui control.

» Require government and commercial operations to reduce movement of invasive species by spraying dumpsters, vehicles and materials before leaving infested areas, as well as to monitor and treat construction locations.

» Fund inspection agents at Big Island ports. Without them, brown tree snakes will arrive here on military and commercial transport from Guam and escape into the environment. The snakes will feed on the plentiful supply of coqui frogs nearby.

Invasive species threaten all our islands. We sink or swim together.

Kathryn Rawle
Coqui-Free Waimea Kamuela

A 47 percenter who pays taxes

I am one of those "47 percent of the people" who will vote for President Barack Obama "no matter what" ("Romney explains remarks about ‘entitled’ Americans," Star-Advertiser, Sept. 18). And I guess I am somewhat of a free-loader. I went to public schools. I use the highly subsidized bus and the totally free public library. I believe that Mitt Romney does (or did) none of those things. He is even proud of having paid full tuition at the private schools he attended.

But I should point out that I did pay a 15.3 percent payroll tax on my wages as compared to the total tax of around 14.7 percent that he paid last year; and who knows what percentage he paid in previous years?

Harold Loomis
Honolulu

Solar tax credit study ignored

The headline warned, "Solar credit drags down outlook" (Star-Advertiser, Sept. 7). A long article explained how the state’s revenue forecast for 2013 was lowered from 5.3 percent to 4.9 percent, apparently due to the solar tax credit.

No mention was made of the April 2012 study by Dr. Thomas Loudat, which concluded that every dollar of solar tax credits generates between $2.60 and $3.17 in additional tax revenues.

Nor did your reporter indicate what the Council on Revenues thinks of that study. This is a critical point, because if the solar tax credits are a money-maker for the state, reducing them will worsen the state’s budget picture.

On Sept. 15, a tiny article mentioned that state tax collections had jumped nearly 12 percent. How does this relate to the alarming article that was published on Sept. 7?

The Star-Advertiser has a reputation for thorough investigative reporting, but in this case, you are not connecting the dots.

Albert Perez
Aiea

Don’t do end run around land laws

I’m confused. Land use laws, county zoning laws and construction standards were passed and put in place requiring specific criteria be met by developers. The purpose is to assure that safety standards and aesthetic standards in new developments are met.

Now, the Legislature creates an entity called the Public Land Development Corp. which will be exempt from these laws. I’d say they just gave us the finger, again.

Each of us needs to pressure our individual representatives to vote to repeal the law which created this corporation. If the present laws are too stringent or too unwieldy, then the Legislature needs to go back to the drawing board and tweak them, instead of trying an end run around the public, again.

Annette Spinaio
Kailua

Cook brought Hawaii to world

Some historians suggest that many sea-faring foreigners — Japanese, Chinese, Polynesians, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese — had contact with the Hawaiian Islands prior to Captain Cook in 1778. Michael Lilly offered evidence of pre-Cook Spanish arrivals ("New evidence supports idea Spanish arrived here before Cook," Star-Advertiser, Sept. 6); Hawaiian mythological tales present further indication of early visitors.James B. Tueller questions these findings ("Read more on Spain, Hawaii," Star-Advertiser, Letters, Sept. 12).

The British Admiralty recognized that many voyagers explored the Pacific before Cook’s expedition. " … voyages conducted without a judicious plan, and their discoveries being left imperfect without immediate settlement, or subsequent examination, and scarcely recorded in any well-authenticated or accurate narrations, had been almost forgot; … producing perplexing debates about their situation and extent; if not to suggest doubts about their very existence" (James Cook, "A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean").

Cook’s maritime, astronomical, mathematical, geographical, botanical, sociological and illustrative publications offered a "discovery" of the Sandwich Islands for the world.

Eleanor C. Nordyke
Manoa

‘Hawaiian’ isles in Marianas

I read with great interest both Michael Lilly’s article on pre-Cook Spanish and James Tueller’s response on the need for more in-depth investigation, and Tueller’s mention of Swedish scholar E. W. Dahlgren.Dahlgren’s 1916 publication, "Were the Hawaiian Islands Visited by the Spaniards Before their Discovery by Captain James Cook in 1778?" includes a most comprehensive and thorough research on the Anson chart and the derivation of the islands it depicts. It contains 28 European charts illustrating the evolution of Pacific cartography from 1570 to 1820.

The original names for the three islands supposedly representing some Hawaiian Islands were Los Monjes, La Vezina and La Desgraciada. They first showed up on two 1570 chartsby Antwerp publisher Abraham Ortelius as part of the Mariana Islands.

Dahlgren presents a solid case that they were the three islands that one of Ferdinand Magellan’s captains came across when he unsuccessfully attempted to recross the Pacific in 1522. Today they are Maug, Asuncion and Agrihan.

Gordon Joyce
Captain Cook, Hawaii island

U.S., Israel likely to attack Iran

At the nonprofit Pacific Institute for the Study of Conflict and Aggression, we believe it’s a safe bet that Israel will attack Iran by the end of next year, and will soon be joined by the U.S., with a high probability for an October 2012 outbreak of hostilities.

The consequences of an Iran conflict for Hawaii transcend an upsurge in gas and food prices at a time when Hawaii is economically vulnerable. Politically, the war on his watch will diminish President Barack Obama’s chances of re-election, despite his correct actions aimed at extricating ourselves from unnecessary wars. What can we do?

We surely don’t need to elect the more martial and ruthless aspirants to political office — such as previous supporters of George W. Bush — as opposed to the peaceful, even altruistic mindset of the humble and community-minded leaders running for office in Hawaii. Please do the right thing.

Harold Hall
Kamuela, Hawaii island