Letters for Friday, March 28, 2008

• Contacting legislators hit-and-miss

• Truth about Obama

• Democrat Party’s old thinking

• Jimmy Torio signs off

Contacting legislators hit-and-miss

Mahalo The Garden Island newspaper for your community service listing “How to contact your legislators.”

My personal experience has been as follows: Twice I e-mailed our Senator and twice it was deleted without being read. I have written several letters to the mayor (one almost a year ago) and neither the mail nor the e-mail have been acknowledged. I have e-mailed all seven members of the County Council and here are the results: Two were read, acknowledged and the necessary action was taken regarding my inquiry. One County Council member deleted it, without reading or responding. The remaining four did not read or respond.

I’m a disabled senior citizen asking them for help. But with these results, it’s no wonder why Kaua‘i citizens don’t participate in politics often or at all.

My ‘ohana and I suggest you check with these politicians to see if they want their contact information published at all.

Save time, money and trees by leaving their names and information off the published list. As far as we are concerned, no action says, “We really don’t care about you and your concerns.”

Camellia Ditch-Crosby

Kalaheo

Truth about Obama

Anyone who wants to know the truth about Barack Obama needs only to read his two books “Dreams From My Father” (written before he decided to go into politics) and “The Audacity of Hope,” which spells out in detail his political point of view on a variety of issues. Both books are available in paperback at Borders.

In addition, since he has been elected representative from the state of Illinois for several years, his voting record is available at an easily browsed site, “Thomas” (for Thomas Jefferson).

There is plenty of valid information out there. The truth is easy to find. He’s the best.

Mary Mulhall

Kapa‘a

Democrat Party’s old thinking

Early in U.S. history, only landowners could vote on various issues. It was believed that they were the only ones capable of making smart decisions.

Our society now understands and endorses the one-person one-vote form of representation. But it seems the Democratic Party remains bogged down in old thinking. Consider the comment of Mike McCartney (former state Democratic Party chairman) who said: Democratic Party superdelegates are “designed to be elder statesmen to figure out what’s best for the country” (“Inouye, Abercrombie at odds over superdelegates,” A1, March 24) indicating the party’s belief that Hawai‘i Democrats are not smart enough to make good decisions. Seems like 1750s thinking to me.

Vince Jones

Koloa

Jimmy Torio signs off

There comes a time when one becomes complacent then all of a sudden you begin to feel this urge to drop what you’re doing and do something else.

That time has come for me.

It’s been a great ride and experience for me and I want to express my deep appreciation to the staff at KONG Radio and to my many listening audience who tunes in to KONG every day. Their support and patience has allowed me to grow into the radio person I am today after nearly 10 years. They are certainly the best family one could ever have if you’re pursuing a career in radio for sure.

I have been both lucky and fortunate to learn from the best professor you would want to teach you in radio. I made a commitment to KONG when I first started that I would do the best I could in the business without compromising my personal values, the station’s reputation, and the people’s understanding and I feel I have kept the promise. Learning to become a radio personality is a commitment and one needs to understand this early on when first starting.

Our island is in a constant evolution facing a gamut of socio-economic problems and radio plays a major part in the mix and I will miss this part. I’ve said some crazy things over the years on KONG Radio that most “radio hosts” would not get away with but I have, and I really appreciated that. The KONG Radio group has always allowed me to be my own person and speak in a way local folks would claim “truth, justice, and the Hawaiian way.” I’d like to think those who listened agreed with me on many of the issues I talked about over the last nine years. You can’t work in an environment like I have as a radio host over the years if you allow your beliefs to be compromised. It takes courage and requires a sense of toughness to remain successful.

Now is the time to close a chapter and begin a new one and take on new challenges. As it stands now, my e-mail constituents are telling me not to quit and I won’t. I am presently exploring other possibilities and one being joining KKCR community radio.

I’m trained by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as a community builder/planner and because of this I have been blessed to offer some independent consulting in a small way so I will be concentrating on expanding my interest in this area. It’s depressing to witness the sufferings our local communities are experiencing and I feel the need to help other leaders to better organize themselves to become stronger and have their voices heard as well.

A couple months ago my daughter Ipo asked me to join her team on her charter school administration to raise funds for their facilities building project and I agreed. I will be concentrating on grant writing and public donations looking to raise funds necessary to build a permanent school site in Anahola and this has been my priority lately, taking all of my time as well. There are only so many hours in a day requiring me to set my priorities and direction if I am expected to deliver any kind of success.

So there you have it, folks. My time has come and I must say “goodbye” to a great radio station, great staff, and wonderful listening audience who remains faithful to KONG Radio.

Thanks for the memories.

Aloha and God bless you all.

Jimmy Torio

Anahola