• Pono Kai guest gets shocked twice • Baseball should be colorblind • There’s nothing wrong with dogs Pono Kai guest gets shocked twice I am writing this letter to express my concern about what I consider a lack of
• Pono Kai guest gets shocked twice
• Baseball should be colorblind
• There’s nothing wrong with dogs
Pono Kai guest gets shocked twice
I am writing this letter to express my concern about what I consider a lack of aloha from a large Florida-based corporation that manages the Pono Kai Resort in Kapa‘a.
If the Pono Kai were managed by a Hawaiian-owned company, I believe the outcome of this story would be different. On Thanksgiving eve 2007, I plugged my computer into an electrical socket in the kitchen of my timeshare apartment at the Pono Kai resort.
What followed was a loud crackling noise and visible spark and a shocked computer. I had my computer diagnosed, ordered a replacement keyboard and the following week before I left the island, the problem was fixed.
Bob Egan, the director of maintenance at the Pono Kai verified that the outlet was shorted out; he replaced the outlet and sent a report to the management company, The Bluegreen Corporation in Boca Raton, Florida.
He told me I would be called and told how to handle the situation. I received no call so several days later when I returned home I even had to initiate the call.
One month after the first shock I received the second shock. I was told that my word could not be trusted and the $50 that I paid a techie vacation acquaintance to diagnose the computer was not going to be paid because I did not produce a receipt.
No one ever told me to produce a receipt, and the techie’s contact information is gone forever. Dell would have charged a lot more than $50, and Peter Sit, the manager of the Pono Kai, is quoted in the Better Business Bureau of Hawai‘i report saying that they cannot accept my word that I spent $50.
What a shock! I was their guest for three weeks and have been trusted by the Pono Kai and five other timeshare locations in Hawai‘i, but my word can not now be trusted.
With a guest relations policy like this, no wonder the stock price of the Bluegreen Corporation has declined so much over the last year and no wonder the Pono Kai has so many foreclosure timeshares available at such discounted rates.
I have visited Hawai‘i eight times and will do so again, but I will not return to the Pono Kai.
• Dave Godown, Fleetwood, Penn.
Baseball should be colorblind
With all due respect, Mr. Miyazaki, your letter completely misses the mark. (“AJA all about tradition,” Letters, Jan. 18)
You make the statement, “It was hurtful and disrespectful to me, my family and other participants in the AJA to have (me) mock your ties to the organization and the true cultural and traditional meanings it holds.”
Nothing could be further from the truth. I have the utmost respect for any person who chooses to play baseball and particularly for the student-athlete who goes to college, gets his education and possibly reaches his goal of playing in the big leagues as Tyler Yates has done — Kaua‘i is super proud of him!
For me, baseball is and should be color- and race-blind and the only qualification needed should be desire and ability. And no matter what a player’s race or ethnic background was, it was my privilege and honor to help them get to the next level.
In my opinion, we had several players on Kaua‘i who had the ability to play in the major leagues, but unfortunately, they never got to pro ball. They did however graduate from college, and I am proud of them and race or color never had anything to do with their achievements.
I had the wonderful opportunity to briefly play baseball with the legendary Jackie Robinson in Brooklyn in 1953. My frustration and anger were never greater than when I saw Robinson, Campanella and other African-American baseball greats denied the right to stay at the same hotel in spring training in Florida where I and all other Caucasian players stayed.
I came from Southern California, where I never saw discrimination in school or in sports and I certainly never saw “white drinking fountains” and “black drinking fountains” nor “white bathrooms” and “black bathrooms” nor segregated hotels — really shocking to me.
And, yes, Mr. Miyazaki, people mostly in the southern states believed that it was their “cultural heritage” to have slaves and to treat African-Americans as being inferior to Caucasians.
This is the same case you are making to keep all kids from playing in the AJA league and this is not acceptable.
When I argued this case many years ago, some people who favored this discriminatory practice suggested that I open a baseball league in Hawai‘i for Caucasians only. By doing this I would be nothing but another race discriminator, and this is what we should all be fighting against.
Also, a number of people with no Japanese blood lines have reminded me that AJA baseball uses public facilities to play on and this, I believe, is a violation of federal law.
Finally, Mr. Miyazaki, you say, “The point of this league is not to be discriminatory, but to carry on a tradition.”
That statement is truly contradictory as the “tradition” you wish to carry on is discriminatory.
Baseball is for the kids who want to play it, so please don’t stop any of them from participating.
• Glenn Mickens, Kapa‘a
There’s nothing wrong with dogs
Almost every day a letter appears in the anti-dog category. (“Dogs, dogs, dogs,” Letters, Jan. 20)
I am also a newcomer to this island. As the owner of a 90-pound golden retriever, I do not want to change anything that restricts the dogs or their owners.
Long before we came here to this island, long before it became part of the United States, there were dogs here and some of them went swimming and surfing with their masters and enjoyed the beach.
Why should I leave my friend at home?
It is important that our dogs want to play and greet each other and do not attack. That is our job, not to create a badly tempered attack dog.
It is my suggestion to add one more commandment to the nine we already have for the bike/walk path.
Rule No. 10: If your animal shows aggressiveness, it must be leashed to the owner’s neck at all times. The leach not to exceed 5 feet, 3 inches. All others are free to enjoy a dog’s life.
Let’s stop the rule-making, you’ll never stop the bullfights in Spain either. Carry a big stick instead.
• Captain Fred Deckwitz, Kapa‘a
