Thanksgiving

Sean P. Roset died last night after losing control of his motorcycle on Kamehameha Avenue between Lono Avenue and Kane Street. Speed, alcohol and no helmet were factors.

Gonzaga wons the EA Sports tournament.

More on the Ulupalakua Ranch owner Pardee Erdma's donation of 2/3rds of the ranch to Maui Coastal Land Trust.   Erdman family has owned the 165 year old working ranch since 1963. It has 5,000 head of cattle, a winery, a country store and grill as well as horseback riding and clay shooting.  The donation will insure that future generations will not be able to sell off the ranch piece by piece to developers.

Glenn James, senior weather analyst at the Pacific Disaster Center, said more high surf is coming this weekend and into next week at 3 day intervals. Trades will continue. See Glenn's weather unusually accurate weather predictions at www.hawaiiweathertoday.com

Jesse Alexander of Haiku is featured in an Amanda Cowan photo.

Two men lost at sea while transporting a 21 foot sailboat from O'ahu to Hilo were found  50 miles of Lanai'i by a Coast Guard plane after a 5+ hour night search by DLNR, Coast Guard, Navy, Police, Fire, and Civil Air Patrol.  A rescue swimmer was dropped and determined that the men needed to be airlifted via helicopter rescue basket as the boat was unstable.

Kathy and James Martinez are the subject of a Kealia boardwalk photo by Amanda Cowan.

Finally an arrest has been made in last August's beating outside Cassanovas.  Garin Freitas, 21, of Haiku, and Sheldon Kaeo-Pimentel, 18, of Makawao are alleged to be part of the gang of 7 who beat and kicked a man after knocking him to the ground.  The gang is alleged to have been wearing mouthpieces and appeared to have a premeditated intention to engage in a fight.  The victim suffered a broken left eye socket bone and broken nose.

At the time of the incident Freitas was walking around free awaiting trial on a theft.

Oh no!  Judge August got their case.  First bad move:  He gives them a low bail of only $10,000.  for Freitas and a mere $1,000 for Pimentel.   $1,000 is a nonsensical bail for Assault 2 - a felony.

These people who are kicking their victims after knocking them to the ground are sociopaths who simply need to be removed from society to protect the rest of us.  The kind of person who can kick another human being who is down on the ground, is missing some essential part of human-ness that can never be restored.

In another felony assault 2 case, Judge August allowed 19-year-old Chyene Kala to serve only 4 months for assaulting a 15-year-old Olivia Butchart-Kalama during a party at old Maui High School last year. Kala got five years' probation, was ordered not to consume alcohol or illegal drugs and to undergo treatment and anger management classes.. The victim didn't know Kala, and suffered a broken nose.

Judge August - how do you think Kala's victim feels, that you take this so lightly?

A local male, approximately 5 feet, 8-inches tall, smelly and possibly homeless,  grabbed a woman,  threatened her with a knife in an attempted rape at 7:30pm last night at War Memorial complex baseball fields in Wailuku.  In fighting him off, the woman believes she may have broken his finger.

The attacker was slightly unshaven and wore a long-sleeved black shirt and jeans.  He had a 2-inch tattoo of a cross on his left hand.  If you have information in this case call  Detective Clyde Holokai at 270-6518 or Maui Police Department dispatch at 244-6400.

Kahului Airport's Aalele Street overflow lot will be open for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Lana'i is out of luck on trash pickup last week and probably next week due to a broken truck.

The state Board of Education will hold a community meeting from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Monday at Kaunakakai Elementary School on Molokai.  More info at  www.boe.k12.hi.us.

Today's editorial is a repeat of the 2004 Thanksgiving history editorial.

Letters to the Editor

Gail Nagasako points out that Glen Beck's rants have no basis in fact.  Good points, Gail, but I think most people know this and those who believe him are impervious to reality and logic so you're probably not going to convince them.  But studies have shown that the more a lie is repeated the more people tend to believe it. so it is good to repeat the truth every time a lie is spoken.

Gary Aplanalp wants us all to write our elected officials to demand better education for our children.  His major premise is that we need to audit DOE.  We heard this from Republican, Ramon Madden, so it is shaping up to be the GOP talking point.

For some unknown reason the Maui News decided to print a fetus-lover letter from Michigan.  What? No home-grown letter-writers want the government to legislate their religious views and control women's bodies?

Martin Micheelsen doesn't like Roz Baker saying the Legislature probably won't appropriate the extra money required for local school boards.  Martin - try the Governor.  For years she's said she supports local control but she hasn't acted to make it become a reality.  Ask her to allow local volunteer school boards and then require her State Administration abide by their decisions.  Presto!  Local control of schools.

And now an editorial that should have been in the Maui News but was in the  Star Bulletin.

Proposed oil tax a barrel of trouble for Hawaii

By Henry Curtis (Executive Director of Life of the Land)

I used to believe that Hawaii should pass an oil tax. This tax would be imposed on the use of fossil fuel and the money raised would be used to establish a renewable energy fund.

Unfortunately, the proposed state oil tax is anti-business, anti-labor and anti-common sense, and might significantly increase greenhouse gas emissions.

He goes on to explain that Hawai'i manufactured goods would be taxed twice - once on the raw materials containing petroleum products and a second time when the finished product was sold.  But mainland-produced goods would only be taxed once - when they were sold.

Thus the current oil-based tax would make locally produced goods more expensive than imported goods, discouraging local production and employment while most likely contributing to more oil use in transportation.

Life of the Land is one of those organizations which takes a careful look at energy policy and advocates for policies that are most cost-effective for citizens and least damaging to the environment, so it is a surprise to see them oppose an oil tax.  This indicates there must be a big "Gotcha" in it for us regular people.