GILL NETS

DLNR EFFORTS NEED STRONG PUBLIC SUPPORT

The Honolulu Advertiser Editorial Board has endorsed a total ban of lay gill nets, arguing that the partial ban implemented by DLNR is not working (Aug. 5, "It's time to ban lay gill nets in Islands").

DLNR receives regular reports about illegal lay gill nets across the state, and our Enforcement Officers respond to calls and seize the illegal nets. The department is grateful to the public who take the time to report suspected violations of any fishing rules.

For example, on Aug. 1, DLNR Enforcement received reports of an illegal gill net. After searching for two hours, they located a very long unmarked lay gill net in Kane'ohe Bay.

DOCARE officers monitored the net during the required time limit and did not observe anyone attending this lay gill net as required by law.

They then seized the 23 illegal — unmarked, unregistered and unattended — lay gill nets that were more than 4,000 feet long.

While our DLNR enforcement officers do a valiant job, this incident, and others like it, illustrates how difficult it is to stop people who deliberately violate the law.

The quality of the future of our natural resources depends on everyone sharing the responsibility for their care. As resource stewards, DLNR is taking a more strategic approach to building public support for achieving increased compliance.

We are revising our rules and laws to be more enforceable, increasing our public education and outreach, and will be working with community "makai watch" groups that also take this kuleana seriously.

COKIE ROBERTS

COMMENTS REVEAL A BLIND SPOT FOR MANY

As a black American who has lived in Hawai'i for 20 years and appreciate the special quality of acceptance and aloha of these islands, I was dismayed by ABC commentator Cokie Roberts' disapproval of Sen. Obama's decision to take his vacation here — despite the fact that his grandmother and sister live in Hono-lulu, and this is his birthplace.

I have long admired Ms. Roberts, first on NPR and later on television, but was shocked by the ignorance such a seemingly smart woman displayed in calling Hawai'i "foreign" and "exotic," and suggesting a vacation in Myrtle Beach, S.C., instead.

It did, however, point out a blind spot that apparently many white Americans, particularly those from the South (Ms. Roberts is from New Orleans), share.

I seriously doubt she is aware how insensitive her words were — reminiscent of Hillary Clinton's now infamous "hard-working Americans, white Americans" remark. Hawai'i is a multi-ethnic melange of humanity, one that presages what America will become by mid-century, and is a model for tolerance that the rest of the country should want to emulate. For some used to being in the majority, and accustomed to a sense of entitlement afforded that status, this is an uncomfortable reality.

What Ms. Roberts reminds us is the "Ugly American" syndrome still exists — a sense that the world revolves around white Americans. Hawai'i is neither "exotic" nor "foreign" for us who live and work and pay taxes here. It is, however, a state populated by minorities (mostly Asian), and I think this is what she is referring to, perhaps on an unconscious level. It makes her not only less attractive as a news commentator, but as a human being.

I do hope she has a chance to travel more to expand her horizons — outside of Myrtle Beach, S.C.

DIVERSITY REFLECTIVE OF DEMOCRATIC AGENDA

Cokie Roberts said that Hawai'i was "foreign and exotic" and that Barack Obama should have vacationed at some place like Myrtle Beach. What she was really saying was that he should have taken his vacation where there were a lot of white people and not in Hawai'i which is multi-racial or, perhaps, "foreign" to her.

The last time a majority of white people voted for a Democratic candidate for President was in 1964. They left the party in droves because of the party's commitment to civil rights legislation. Sen. Obama picked the right place for his vacation.

COMMENT REFLECTS HER PROVINCIAL MINDSET

I literally gasped when Cokie Roberts expressed her criticism of Hawai'i as a vacation location for Barack Obama on ABC's "This Week." Even if Obama was not born and raised in the Islands, this comment was over the top.

Cokie Roberts has had a privileged upbringing as the daughter of not one, but two congressional representatives. She should know better. Yet this Eurocentric attitude shows a provincial mindset about Hawai'i as a state and its role in the country as a whole.

Sad to say, in government and business-related travel I have often observed an East-Coast bias about meeting locations and subject matter experts. This mind set is hard to change.

Numerous times I have seen our state eliminated as a meeting location option because of the criticism that might come from traveling to Hawai'i for work. When that happens, everyone loses out.

Meanwhile, Orlando and Las Vegas are considered acceptable for such purposes, despite also being major vacation destinations.

By the way, Cokie Roberts' parents (Hale and Lindy Boggs) were U.S. House representatives from Louisiana, host state of the recent Sugar Bowl. Think about the equity in that situation, where more than 6,000 from Hawai'i traveled to her home state.

MILITARY

MAKUA VALLEY CRUCIAL TO MILITARY TRAINING

The Army must regain use of the training area in Makua Valley.

The national security strategy for the Pacific is to forward-base military units in Hawai'i, Alaska, Guam, Japan, and South Korea to display a "visible force presence" aimed at potential adversaries to deter and dissuade military aggression. When deterrence fails, these forces must respond quickly to quell a conflict before it can escalate into a war. Army brigades and Marine expeditionary units in Hawai'i are critical components of this "visible force presence" and must be trained and ready at all times.

Consider the potential consequences of denying use of Makua: It would remove the only live-fire, company-level, maneuver training area in Hawai'i, without which the military would not be able to maintain combat-ready ground forces essential to meeting the strategy of deterrence.

This could encourage the Army and Marine Corps to relocate to Mainland bases where training areas are more readily available. This move would compromise our "visible force presence," jeopardize security in the Pacific, and adversely affect Hawai'i's economy.

The Army and Marine Corps account for about 50 percent of annual defense expenditures in Hawai'i. Their departure would severely reduce military expenditures and devastate the state's $6 billion defense industry, which is the stabilizing force in our economy during times when tourism is down. Note that the Navy's RIMPAC exercise alone pumped in $35 million in July.

Collateral impacts would reverberate to hundreds of small businesses and loss of thousands of jobs. Millions of dollars will be lost in defense contracts for construction, research and development, education, and more.