Letters to the Editor

Windmills ruined North Shore beauty

The beauty of the North Shore of Oahu has been marred forever.

You used to be able to ride along Kamehameha Highway with the ocean on one side and the beautiful hills on the other. No longer.

In the name of "sustainable energy," our North Shore has been destroyed. As one looks up beautiful Waimea Valley, we see huge, ugly steel protrusions reaching high above the mountains.

What were they thinking? Who at the state, county and federal levels of government allowed this to happen without letting the residents of the North Shore have major input to something that primarily affects them?

How can Kamehameha Schools say "Malama the Aina" when they have ruined a beautiful landscape? Where are the protests of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the Outdoor Circle (who will not even let anyone put up a sign in Haleiwa without strict guidelines) or the Sierra Club?

There are a lot of questions not being answered.

Sharon Rapoza Bruffey
Pupukea

Computers do help students write well

Lynette Araki said, "Unless students already have the ability to organize ideas and a good grasp of the English language, drafting on a computer won’t make a significant difference" ("Computers are not factor in good writing," Star-Advertiser, Letters, Sept. 23).

Computers allow students to add and adjust the flow of sentences and paragraphs an infinite number of times. Most students aren’t willing to totally re-write a paper repeatedly. The result is a better end product.

Araki said that the only way to improve writing is to write, and that the advantage of high-tech accessibility is convenience, but it will not improve writing.

Computers promote writing. Blogging is a great stepping stone for kids to write, which is exactly what she suggests they do — write.

David Ketzenberger
Kapolei

Who is looking out for next generation?

In his opening day speech to the Legislature in 2008, Rep. Kirk Caldwell sounded an alarm, warning that Hawaii was losing its farmland faster than any other state in the country but one and asking, "When is enough, enough?"

Today he is championing both Koa Ridge and Ho‘opili, developments that will pave over 2,000-plusacres of Oahu’s most productive farmland, growing 40 percent of our local produce.

Ben Cayetano has spoken up against these developments, citing those lands as critical to our food security.

However, I’ve yet to hear either candidate outlinespecific stepshe plans to take as mayor to stop this hemorrhaging of our farmland.

It’s hard to keep up with all the ag land being slated for development, from Makaha to Laie. Yet this is only the beginning of the coming raid.

Who is looking out for the next generations?

When did building rail and filling potholes become more important than ensuring we have enough land left to feed our children?

Beth McDermott
Manoa

We need leaders with clear visions

The fact that former Gov. Ben Cayetano stated, "If this thing doesn’t work, we try something else" is exactly the reason that large metro areas end up with patchwork Band-Aid fixes and have many of the issues that Oahu faces today.

Cayetano has plainly shown he does not have a large-scale, long-term contiguous plan to provide a more sustainable Honolulu (and greater Oahu) during his candidacy, or provide a framework for after an elected term.

We need to elect officials to local government who understand such initiatives as transit-oriented development, which are key to providing a more sustainable Oahu and addressing the future needs of the island far into the future.

No one solution will fix all of Honolulu and greater Oahu’s issues, but electing a leader who is able to look at both the near and long-term needs is step one.

Ben Robinson
Waikiki

Court ruling needs to be respected

The state Supreme Court has ruled that the law forbids the start of construction of rail until the entire route has been surveyed for archeological remains.

It appears from letters to your paper that not everyone respects the iwi kupuna. But shouldn’t everyone respect the law?

The court ruled that rail is one project and the law is that the city cannot divide the project into phases and start in the first phase.

In view of the fact that starting construction was illegal, respect for the law demands that all contracts for construction be canceled.

Pearl Johnson
Pauoa Valley

More regulation needed for fishing

More needs to be done in the area of placing bag limits on Hawaii’s game fish.

When compared to other states, our lack of regulation and fish populations are embarrassingly reflective of the current state of things.

Whilemost fishermen do not overfish the resource, enough people fish under the guise of commercial fishing while underreporting and not paying taxes, and recreational fishermen overstep their rights and take an inordinate amount of fish. That leaves everyone else with nothing.

That is why stricter bag limits and better enforcement of fishing regulations as well as tax collection are necessary to combat overfishing in our waters.

I know this asks a lot from people, but we need to have this serious dialogue now or there will be no fish left for our children.

Lance Kimura
Moiliili