HELP OTHERS

ON SANTA'S LIST: GIVING BACK TO THE COMMUNITY

As I embark upon another season of holiday frenzy to shop until I drop, I'm faced with the same challenge that I'm faced with every year: What is the perfect gift?

We've all grown older, and our biggest gripe seems to be the amount of stuff we keep accumulating and don't have time to organize. So instead, this year, I've decided to share my good fortune of the year with those who perhaps did not have the same, while at the same time hopefully bringing a smile to my friends and family. This year I'm taking part of my usual holiday shopping budget to give back to my community.

Holiday cards through IHS, gifts to the Angel Network, donations of all kinds — donated in the names of people just as blessed and sometimes more so than I. Won't you join me?

'MOKE'S'

ABBREVIATED NAME PLACES ARE IRKSOME

I have noticed in the past five or so years how today's generation (my son is 20 years old), as well as Island visitors, are starting to abbreviate Hawaiian name places.

I grew up in the Islands and have lived here for 37 years and I truly respect the Hawaiian language. But when my son tells me that he is surfing at "Mak's" (Makapu'u) or kayaking to the "Moke's" (Mokulua Islands), what is this all about? Did I not raise him to speak proper language? But then I notice that some of our Island visitors are using the same terms.

Since when has this become acceptable? Lee Cataluna writes about how the shaka sign has become a lost symbol to the Islands; well, what about all these abbreviations?

I've heard "Waik's" used for Waikiki, and I've heard "E-Lake" used for Enchanted Lake. And then, just the other night on the 6 o'clock news, they were interviewing a lady complaining because she had never seen traffic so bad on the North Shore from drivers going out to see the huge waves. "Traffic was backed up all the way from Lani's," she said. What, she no can pronounce Laniakea?

Is this just me, or have other people noticed these "lost" Hawaiian words?

NO DANGER

STREET PERFORMER STUDY WAS ALL WET

In your Nov. 29 editorial about the street performers, you indicated that a study says that crowds generated by the street performers sometimes force people into the street, an "accident waiting to happen." This is a bunch of garbage.

I've worked in Waikiki at the Lomi Shop at the Hyatt Regency for the past three years. I work from three to five nights a week. I am entitled to take 10-minute breaks, which I use to walk down to the International Market Place and return to my place of work at a moderate pace. I have never been late from my breaks because I was impeded by crowds.

I have never been forced to walk into the street. One can always negotiate whatever crowds that are formed by either walking through them or around them on the building side of the sidewalk. There is ample space.

People who choose to walk on the street side of the performers do so by choice. These are probably the same people who jaywalk across Kalakaua. The people who complain about the streetwalkers will come up with any type of safety excuse to get them out of there.

You state in your editorial that there is little hard evidence of specific injury or serious inconvenience attributed to the performers. I would modify that statement to say that there is no hard evidence.

Leave the street performers alone. They provide an excitement found only in some of the greatest cities of the world.

The only two serious accidents in the last year have been caused by careless drivers driving up on the sidewalk. In that case, wouldn't it make more sense to ban all vehicular traffic on Kalakaua Avenue?

NOT 'PRACTICE'

ARMY DISINGENUOUS ABOUT DUMPING ARMS

The explanations provided by Mr. Addison D. Davis IV, deputy assistant secretary of the Army ("Military scouring archives over chemical dumping Nov. 27th), concerning the military dumping of chemical weapons and munitions in the offshores of O'ahu and several other sites in the U.S., ring hollow and are unacceptable.

Dumping millions of pounds of mustard gas, cyanide and other weapons of mass destruction into the ocean has never been accepted as "the practice of the day," as he claims, but is yet another sign of the desecration of sacred cultural waters and lands and their people by the U.S. military.

Unfortunately, the contamination and lack of accountability continue to this day. The military has failed to properly clean over 200 chemical weapon sites throughout the country. Today, it wants to bring the Strykers to Hawai'i to continue this legacy of contamination.

During his recent visit to Panama, President Bush was asked about the environmental legacy left behind by the U.S. military, with 31,000 mustard and other munitions dropped on San Jose Island. Concerning the unmet promises made by the U.S. to clean those sites, Mr. Bush responded, "There will not always be agreement, such as in the unexploded ordnance issue."

HOOKERS, ADDICTS

STREET PERFORMERS ARE THE WRONG TARGETS

I couldn't believe what I was reading in the newspaper. The city is considering removing the "actors" who entertain on the streets of Waikiki.

How about we remove the hookers and pimps, not to mention the drug addicts who panhandle the streets. Where are the city's priorities? The city seems to have many of its priorities backward — money rules, not aloha.

LIVE SHOWS

WAIKIKI IS AWASH WITH HAWAIIAN MUSIC

Contrary to Rick Lamontagne's comments in his Nov. 30 letter, Hawaiian music and shows are not AWOL but are alive and well in Waikiki.

All one has to do is read The Honolulu Advertiser's TGIF section to see the plethora of live entertainment offered each evening. Every major hotel features nightly Hawaiian entertainment — usually at no charge.

Mr. Lamontagne also mentions that "gone are the abundant weekly or nightly lu'aus and Polynesian revue shows." Are they really gone? Sheraton Princess Ka'iulani features its "Creation — A Polynesian Journey" five nights a week; Hale Koa Hotel's lu'au is twice weekly; the Royal Hawaiian's Royal Lu'au is every Monday; and Hilton Hawaiian Village's King's Jubilee is every Friday.

Obviously, Waikiki will never be the same as it was 50 years ago; however, shows like these capture the magic and nostalgia of Old Waikiki.

It is a concern that an O'ahu resident doesn't know about all of the Hawaiian music and shows being offered. Perhaps this is a wake-up call that we need to do a better job in letting kama'aina know that Waikiki is still the place to go for great Hawaiian entertainment.

INTERNMENT

CORRECTIONS POLICY IS MUCH APPRECIATED

On Nov. 17, an article by Mike Gordon entitled "Wartime stain in history retraced in O'ahu's brush" appeared in The Honolulu Advertiser. When I read the article, I noted that no mention was made by the writer that German-Americans were interned in Honouliuli Internment Camp.

This prompted me to write the editor and the writer. I received an immediate response from both parties. And just a few days later, I read the following correction in The Advertiser: "German civilians ... were (also) held at the Honouliuli Internment Camp on O'ahu during World War II ... "

I have been researching the matter of internment of German-Americans for many years along with attempting to correct print media stories on the internment of German-Americans; rarely, if ever, are corrections made or even errors acknowledged.

The correction posted by your newspaper speaks volumes for the veracity and balance of your editorial policy.

CHANGE LAW

HAWAI'I SHOULD BE GETTING FAR MORE CRUISE SHIP VISITS

A quick survey online reveals that Hawai'i does not get a fair share of cruise ship visits. Other than Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL), there are only about 30 visits by cruise ships a year.

This is in contrast to Mazatlan, Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, which receive 350-plus visits a year. Even the small town of Skagway, Alaska, receives about 100 visits during the four months of summer each year.

We should ask our representatives in Congress why Hawai'i is treated so badly by the cruise industry, or is it that Hawai'i treats the cruise lines so badly? Why are there no plans for the No. 1 cruise line in the world to visit Hawai'i for the foreseeable future?

Why does NCL get preferential treatment while other cruise lines are shut out of Hawai'i? Is it our representatives in Congress? Why don't they realize that the cruise industry could create thousands of jobs? That passenger spending could reach billions of dollars a year, not to mention port fees, restoring shipboard stocks and taxes? Hotels, buses, taxis, tours and other transportation businesses would also prosper.

Why don't our representatives in Congress change the restrictive laws so Hawai'i could become a haven for cruises coming from and going to the U.S. West Coast as well as the Orient?

If each island port were to accommodate just four ships a week, it would be about 1,300 visits a year, or the potential of a million or more visitors a year. Hawai'i could probably accommodate 20 ships a day in our many ports, which could mean more that 7 million visitors a year from cruise ships alone.

There would be more money to build and repair our schools, fix our roads and repair other infrastructures.

I ask all who read this to write or call your representatives in Congress and ask them to change the law that keeps Hawai'i from benefiting from the cruise industry.

WAIMEA VALLEY DEVELOPER DEAL IS SELLOUT TO HAWAIIANS

Auwe that a majority of the City Council members are in favor of letting Attractions Hawai'i have 1,575 acres of Waimea Valley in return for the 300-acre parcel that is now the Audubon Society-run park.

This is all the result of a botched condemnation proceeding by the city in 2002 to acquire the entire valley, and now the city is backtracking, trying to save money by selling out the rest of the valley.The final vote is scheduled for Dec. 7.

Attractions Hawai'i wants to put in large lots for the extremely wealthy (to meet zoning requirements) and to put in some sort of commercial development.

I am also saddened to learn that a council member of Hawaiian ancestry, Todd Apo, has voted in favor of the development on one of our island's last, sacred ahupua'a. Auwe, Mr. Apo! Don't you represent the west side of the island, whose majority is of Hawaiian ancestry? Isn't this a stab in the back to all those who voted for you thinking that someone of our koko will ensure our Hawaiian culture and preserve what is barely left of our 'aina?

From a surfer's standpoint, can you imagine being out in the lineup at Waimea Bay point waiting for a set to roll in, and you glance into the beautiful valley, only to see construction of homes, mansions and who knows what, instead of viewing the lush, historical valley that our ancestors left?

This is such a disheartening thought, and I hope that everyone will come forth on Dec. 7 to City Hall and protect what we as Hawaiians barely have left — our culture.

Mahalo to state Rep. Brian Schatz for coming forward to assist in the preservation of Waimea Valley. I hope more state representatives and City Council members will realize the urgency of protecting Waimea Valley. If not, Waimea Valley, as well as Waimea Bay, will be changed forever.