Restricting welfare would be hard on kids
Mayor Lingle continues to comment on the large numbers of newcomers who come to Hawaii "just to get on welfare." She wants to restrict their benefits to the levels of their home state. This strategy will divide our community into deserving and undeserving persons in need.I would like to remind Lingle that the majority of people on welfare are children. Restricting a family of three to $120 of cash benefits, like in the state of Mississippi, would clearly inflict hardship on children whose families could not find housing or survive on such assistance in Hawaii.
I am unclear where Lingle gets her data about such migration, since the Department of Human Services does not find many people moving to Hawaii from Mississippi. California, Oregon and Washington have benefit levels similar to Hawaii.
Susan M. Chandler
Director
State Department of Human Services
Candidate has it right about welfare reform
Kate Stanley's Aug. 25 letter relative to Linda Lingle's comments on welfare reform missed the mark entirely. In rushing to defend her agency's administration of the state's welfare system, Stanley has focused on one component of Lingle's overall plan and failed to grasp the main message: Hawaii's system must be changed from one that manages financial assistance to one that puts people to work.Lingle recognizes the need for this change and her comments relative to toughening up on requirements for newcomers to Hawaii are intended to reflect a system focused on putting people to work, as opposed to the present system, which still focuses its efforts on financial assistance.
Stanley is correct in reporting that newcomers to Hawaii represent only a small part of the overall problem. But, as deputy director of the agency responsible for welfare reform, her apparent denial of the need for improvements in Hawaii's welfare system is a good indication of why our state is lagging far behind the rest of the nation in implementing reform.
Mark Percell
Pukalani, Maui
'Straight' parents aren't necessarily best for kids
People opposed to same-sex marriage feel strongly that children should not see mommy kissing mommy or daddy kissing daddy, but what kind of emotional comfort is it for a child to see daddy beating mommy?How about a child who is surrounded by parents who may be verbally abusive or into illegal drugs? Are these healthy environments for a child to grow up in? Is having a man and a woman as parents mean that children will have the emotional support and understanding that they need?
If this is true, why are there so many runaways and children involved in crime who live with their heterosexual parents?
Raising an emotionally stable child can be accomplished by two women, two men, or a man and a woman, as long as they are caring, loving and supportive parents.
Leah Taylor
Mililani High School
Mililani
Civil rights' claim is farce in same-sex marriage issue
The small but misguided group, Protect Our Constitution, claims that whether homosexuals should be allowed to marry is a civil rights issue. But Dr. William Howell Masters, co-author of "Human Sexual Response," said on "Meet the Press" that homosexuality was a learned behavior.The existence of thousands of former homosexuals supports his assertion. It follows, then, that this type of behavior cannot be the same as one's ethnicity or an inherent civil right.
Ever heard of a former Hawaiian? Not me. I will always be Hawaiian! And I will vote "yes" on the constitutional amendment to allow the Legislature to reserve marriage to opposite-sex couples.
Stephen Kaleipahula Holck
Store owner knows true meaning of aloha
What is the "aloha spirit?" That question has puzzled me since small-kid time. In my early 20s, I hitchhiked across Canada with some Air Force buddies starting from London, Ont., and ending at Niagara Falls. Along the way, we were given rides and were invited into homes for meals or refreshments.Was that, I thought, the aloha spirit? Simple hospitality, a graciousness found around the planet? Like the local story about people coming unannounced at a home and being served the only thing left in the cupboard?
Recently, I experienced an epiphany reading Maile Meyer's "Aloha isn't about you -- it's about the other person, what you can do for the other person." There it was. To paraphrase Martin Buber, and with due respect, it is not "I and Thou" but "i and thou."
Best wishes to Meyer and her fellow hui members, who have opened their Native Books & Beautiful Things at Ward Warehouse.
Alvin Nakamura
Waikiki is fast becoming unfriendly to pedestrians
In kinder and gentler times, all we had to worry about was to preserve bathers' rights-of-way between hotels to Waikiki Beach. Today we face an uphill battle to preserve the rights-of-way of motorists and pedestrians in Waikiki itself.The city insists upon making Waikiki more inaccessible to motorists by eliminating the Kalakaua Avenue lane adjoining Kuhio Beach Park.
If this weren't enough, the 1998 City Bicycle Master Plan recommends that a four- to six-foot bike lane run the entire length of Kalakaua Avenue, taking another lane away from motorists and creating a dangerous traffic situation.
Pedestrians are finding it increasingly difficult to walk a straight line and avoid running into retail establishments. Sidewalks, like those next to the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center and Niketown, are strategically designed to force pedestrians to veer from curbside and walk closer to their storefronts. Planters subtly transform pedestrians into potential shoppers.
This loss of pedestrian and motorist rights of way are engineered by those who view Waikiki to be "the engine that drives Hawaii's tourism and economy." Their engine is not a cute and benign "choo-choo that could," but a mean, mercenary machine ready to steamroll everything in the way of making the upscale, pedestrian Waikiki Mall a reality.
Richard Y. Will
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