Letters for Wednesday, May 20, 2009

•Kiahuna Golf Course much appreciated

•Tourist tax increase is necessary

•Demand a single-payer health care solution

Kiahuna Golf Course much appreciated

A deep word of thanks to the Kiahuna Golf Course for the dedicated and consistent support they give to Junior Golf.

Among the privately owned golf courses on the island, the owners of Kiahuna Golf Course have been tops in giving back to the community.

Please join me, and whenever you can, let Kiahuna Golf know they are very much appreciated.

Monroe Richman, Koloa

Tourist tax increase is necessary

I grew up in a peaceful plantation camp, Kawailoa, on O‘ahu’s North Shore.

Life was good at Grandma’s house. Lots of good food grew around her yard like mangos, avocados, grapes, bananas, papayas, guavas, oranges. The only food we bought was rice, tofu and shoyu. We walked to the beach to pick ogo and catch fish. We raised a few chickens for eggs and Sundays made nishime. Neighbors and friends shared food and lots of aloha.

Fast forward 60 years. The camp was bulldozed to make an agricultural research station and most of the residents moved away. I almost bought an acre in Pupukea for $9,000 in 1967. I came to Kaua‘i for 30 days on vacation from the fire department and never returned until my friends 50th surfing anniversary.

I pushed my friend into his first wave 50 years ago. What a flash! So many more people. We parked by the Shell gas station and walked to the beach center. Freddie Manong was there. Bobby Ah Choy, Max Lim and Clarence Maki took our pictures while surfing waves at “Canoes.”

He was OK or “under control” as they say, but oh wow! Where did all these people come from?

I guess people must like it here. It’s warm, with plenty food and anyone can “crash” here or there. Welfare is an easy tap, or there are plenty of jobs if you’re willing to (gasp!) work or you can start your own business.

You can make a go of it if you work hard, be honest, provide a good product or service and stay away from drink or drugs. The rules of life are simple: be humble, work hard and don’t do drugs.

So, what’s the point? Why am I writing this letter? Because Gov. Lingle wants to veto the tax increase for tourists because she says it will result in fewer tourists coming to Hawai‘i.

Bull. They will continue to come and tourists should pay their fair share for the roads, water, electricity, parks and the facilities they use, plus the sunshine, tradewinds, beaches and the enjoyment of our aloha spirit.

Hawai‘i is holding on to the goods that count like mana, spiritual healing, and taxing tourists doesn’t even begin to pay for the inconvenience of their clogging the roads, beaches, parks, stores — and tell them to leave their arrogant attitudes at home.

Lingle wants to give her rich friends a tax break. How nice for her so they can give more to her campaign fund. It’s all so obvious. I don’t blog or Twitter so I write to The Garden Island.

Kawika Moke, Kekaha

Demand a single-payer health care solution

During our unemployment crisis, the number of uninsured has ballooned.

Unfortunately, you can’t avoid illness when you can’t afford medical care.

Congress promised to reform health care but has turned toward disaster with just the first steps. We know what treatment would cure our health care system, but Congress is using a poison because of big donations from the health care industries.

It is wrong to treat a patient with a medication that has never been used before when a proven cure exists. So, why is Congress trying to fix our health care system by inventing an entirely new complex system when every other industrialized country has had success with a single-payer system?

Bribes from insurance companies are poisoning our future. Medical costs are drowning our companies. Can we compete and fix our nation using a system that is so poor at delivering this basic human need?

We spend more than any other country but have poor quality. If we just offered insurance like Medicare to all citizens, we would save hundreds of billions of dollars, enough to cover all the uninsured and expand coverage so citizens would no longer be at risk of bankruptcy due to medical bills.

We would save money, have better health care and compete better in the world economy.

Why is single-payer not discussed in Congress? The health care industry would lose billions in profits, so they bribe our politicians. Call and say stop the poison and start a single-payer solution.

Graham Chelius, Waimea