Letters for Monday, December 3, 2007

• Message was, ‘Respect customs’

• All protesters, we?

• PMRF is test range

• Sue guidebook, not state

Message was, ‘Respect customs’

Regarding Agnes Keaolani Marti-Kini’s informative letter (“Married on heiau unheard of,” Letters, Nov. 28) and Gordon Smith’s response (“Letter gave insight into ancient times,” Letters, Nov. 30):

While Marti-Kini does make mention of the ali‘i class and its significance in Hawai‘i before ali‘i Liholiho, I believe that Smith’s response magnifies that minor mention at the expense of Marti-Kini’s message, which seems to be, “Please respect our customs as we respect yours.”

One would not even think of holding a human sacrifice in a modern church, or of going to Japan and playing the “Wedding March” while performing a wedding in the Daishoji Temple.

I don’t know of anyone who truly wants or desires a return to the days when one could be killed simply for crossing a person’s shadow, including Marti-Kini.

To our visitors and visiting ministers: please respect Hawai‘i’s — and Kaua‘i’s — sacred places.

Adam Prall

Lihu‘e

All protesters, we?

When I first heard about the Superferry, I thought, “Cool idea.” But then the underhanded-EIS-dodging-backdoor-favoritism-to-politically-contributing-Superferry-officials hogwash surfaced from the bureaucratic cesspool.

“Bullpucky,” my grandfather would shout.

I’m tickled pink that the United States Coast Guard is closing Kahului Harbor from roughly 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., because the supplemental negative press helps expose the arrogant, ill-advised, now antagonistic decisions by many political and military institutions.

This new manifesto is affecting a whole different crowd.

I can’t wait for some 14-year-old surf grom who could care less about the Superferry yanked off his wave, cuffed, board confiscated, appearing in court facing jail time and heavy fines. “Screw the Superferry!” he might say.

Same applies to shoreline fisherpersons. An 85-year-old fisherman who goes down to the harbor in the morning to catch some dinner will have to pack up for two and a half hours or have his bait bucket and poles tagged as evidence and get himself hauled off to the pokey. “What’s a Superferry?” he might ask.

Paddlers arrested and canoes impounded? You can’t rinse that bad taste out of your mouth.

I’m sure they and their family and friends will be riding that fun “Securityferry” after that.

Remember years ago the news photo of the elderly farmer in coveralls at some airport, holding up one of his shoes to a 6-foot, 250 pound uniformed guard towering over him waving a metal detection wand? Now there’s some Homeland Security, I thought.

I never imagined it would come to Maui like this.

Kenny Hultquist

Lahaina, Maui

PMRF is test range

The Pacific Missile Range Facility is a test range. It is not a part of our ballistic missile defense system. Of the two primary missile systems tested at PMRF, the Navy’s Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System is ship mounted and the Army’s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense or THAAD is intended to defend against short- or medium-range missiles and would typically be deployed overseas in a theater of operation such as Iraq, South Korea or Israel.

As for possible threats to Hawai‘i from nuclear attack one must look at who would be attacking. Presently the most likely attack on America would come from a rogue state such as North Korea or Iran. Being that this would most likely be a one-shot scenario, it is obvious they would try to take out a large population center. North Korea is alleged to have capability for intercontinental missiles, but hitting Hawai‘i would be like hitting a needle in a haystack. North Korea would probably aim for the Mainland or Alaska which is closer. The other threat would come from China. In that scenario everything would become a target, but primarily targets that could strike back and our population centers, possibly including Honolulu.

This new type of missile system being developed at PMRF is vitally important now in this era of Islamofascism. No longer can we rely upon the Cold War’s “MAD,” mutually assured destruction. As evil a threat as Communism was, they were not insane enough to want to all die to achieve their goals. Not so with the Muslims, the people who brought the world suicide bombers would gladly take the trip to Allah for their 72 virgins if they could get off one cheapshot attack on the West, or perhaps destroy Israel. The future of the Western World depends on these new missile systems. The people of Kaua‘i should feel proud in hosting and contributing to this important work.

The PMRF is directly responsible for pumping millions of dollars into the Kaua‘i economy and because of the high tech nature of the work they do, it helps to diversify Kaua‘i’s economy from relying only on tourism and agriculture. Also PMRF is attempting to preserve 6,000 acres of adjacent land for permanent agriculture use, surely all the anti-military leftists can see something good in that.

Trevor Cameron

Boulder Creek, Calif.

Sue guidebook, not state

I have thought about this for a while and initially I thought the visitors that perished at Opeaka‘a Falls were at fault for their own deaths because they ignored signs warning them not to proceed. Later I came to realize that they were told to go there by a guidebook and not adequately warned of the dangers. These women would have never known about this trail had it not been for the book. Had they been warned of the hazards they might have chosen not to go too.

If the purpose of this lawsuit is money, then the families of the two women are doing the right thing. The state will settle in a jiffy. They can buy some nice things to help ease their loss.

If the purpose of this lawsuit is to bring about change then why not go after the guidebook company? I know rescue workers who have pleaded with the authors of the guidebook to add warnings but they are unwilling to do so. If enough people sue them then maybe they will add warnings that will save lives in the future.

Gene Lebell

Kapa‘a