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| Malia Zimmerman |
Terror Threat to U.S. Raised From Yellow to Orange; Hawaii Has Own Terror Threat that Shuts Down Honolulu International Airport's Inter-island Terminal
U.S. Attorney John Ashcroft this morning announced the Homeland Security Council increased the terrorism threat condition designation currently classified at "elevated risk" to "high-risk" -– or from yellow to orange -– because of specific intelligence received and analyzed by the full intelligence community corroborated by multiple intelligence sources.
Ashcroft's says recent intelligence reports suggests that Al Qaida leaders are planning attacks on apartment buildings, hotels and other soft or lightly secured targets in the United States.
"Since September the 11th, the U.S. intelligence community has indicated that the Al Qaida terrorist network is still determined to attack innocent Americans, both here and abroad. Recent reporting indicates an increased likelihood that Al Qaida may attempt to attack Americans in the United States and/or abroad in or around the end of the Haj, a Muslim religious period ending mid-February 2003," Ashcroft says.
Meanwhile Hawaii visitors and residents had their own scare this morning as they tried to leave the island of Oahu via the Honolulu International Airport and instead were evacuated from planes owned by inter-island carriers Aloha Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines. Airport and airline employees and other travelers at the airport also were evacuated from the terminal and forced to wait across the street for at least 45 minutes. According to airport sources, an alarm detecting explosives went off in the baggage area leading airport security to announce a security breech.
Bills Seek to Take Rights Away From Firing Range Operators, Gun Owners
Sure, it is important to make sure that terrorists are not using American facilities to better their terrorism skills. However, anti-Second Amendment people in the Hawaii law enforcement communities and the Hawaii State Legislature are using the threat of terrorism as an excuse to erode even further basic Second Amendment rights of Hawaii's people.
For example, SB 1024, introduced by Sen. Willie Espero, D-Ewa Beach, prevents anyone under the age of 21 from working at a firearms facility -– this when young adults at 18 years of age can join the U.S. military and risk their lives for their country. The bill also requires anyone accessing a firing range to be a resident of Hawaii for at least a year and puts the police chief in charge of regulating the firearms range through a rigid and regularly renewed permitting system. The companion bill in the House is HB 792.
There are other odd bills that require those applying for a handgun permit to take a handgun training course rather than a firearms safety course. More on these anti-second amendment legislation bills in Monday's Political Tittle-tattle with comments from Hawaii Rifle Association spokespeople who will be interviewed at the HRA's Annual Conference this Saturday.
Bad, Bad Tax Bill Backed by Governor Heard Today
Well, now Gov. Linda Lingle supporters know she cannot be perfect. She is backing a bill, SB 1401, that adds a tax of between $3.50 and $4.25 to all passengers leaving the Honolulu International Airport. The bill is up for a hearing today at 2:45 p.m. in room 229 at the Hawaii State Capitol.
Republican Gov. Linda Lingle, who signed the Americans for Tax Reform tax pledge promising not to raise taxes during her term, maintains the charge is not a tax, but a fee charged at all other airports in the nation.
Lawmakers opposed to the tax say the governor is taxing Hawaii's residents and visitors further. However, many legislators, particularly in the Democrat party, do support the tax increase (when don't they?) and it will likely pass both Houses.
Elections Appointment and Review Panel Broke the Law
A new member of the Elections Appointment and Review Panel, Kitty Lagareta, says Panel Chairman Ray Pua violated state law when he did not submit a report to the state Legislature this year prior to the opening of the 2003 Legislative session.
The report was supposed to evaluate the performance of the state's chief elections officer Dwayne Yoshina, but the evaluation and report were never completed, according to the chairman's own statements at last week's panel meeting.
Pua, appointed by the former Democrat governor, and Lagareta, appointed by the Republican minority leaders, are two of five people, including two Republicans and three Democrats, who are charged as members with the appointment and review of the performance of the state chief election officer.
The violation of the law, which could lead to Pua's removal under the "removal for just cause" provision, led to the delay of automatic reappointment of the Yoshina, which until last week, seemed likely.
Because the report and evaluation were not done, the panel could not legally automatically reappoint him and the chairman, an adamant supporter of Yoshina, was somehow behind the scenes convinced to open up the position to applications and defer discussion on Yoshina's reappointment to a yet to be determined date.
Those opposed to Yoshina have testified he has a great game face that turns darn right nasty and dark if he is challenged or questioned about the election process or irregularities. They also say he has not run the elections well, has wasted more than $1 million in state funds on recounts and noncompetitive elections management bids, and has caused the state to have the first ever complete election recount in 1998.
The panel will meet next Thursday at 9 a.m. in the lieutenant governor's office and will continue to meet regularly after that date on Fridays, according to Lagareta.
Aloha Stadium Management Makes Good?
The highly criticized management at the Aloha Stadium finally did something right, and tried to make good on a major mistake made at the ProBowl last week.
Susan Forbes and her husband were sitting comfortably in their seats at the Pro-Bowl, which came at the whopping price of $85 each. The tickets were purchased at the Aloha Stadium ticket office by Forbes, but an usher told them they were in the wrong seats and had to move or be arrested, even though they were in the right seats and had proof in the form of their ticket stubs.
Another couple had somehow been assigned the same seats by another ticket distributor, and they for some reason were given preference over Forbes.
When she asked for a refund the next day, Forbes was told "You can't have your money back" by Scott Chan of the stadium management, even though he admitted the stadium had double sold the tickets.
Forbes sought help from her state Senator, Republican Sam Slom, R-Hawaii Kai, and he contacted the Aloha Stadium Manager Eddie Hayashi, who issued an apology letter to Forbes Feb. 6, along with a full refund.
More to the Misspellings at State Capitol
Yesterday, Hawaii Reporter published correspondence between a Democrat House Chairman and former House majority leader, Marcus Oshiro and a Hawaii Reporter reader that allegedly contained four spelling errors.
After that item was published, some of Hawaii Reporter's akamai readers pointed out there were actually MORE spelling errors that this columnist missed. In addition, Hawaii Reporter's spell check actually inadvertently helped correct one of the errors. So here is a rerun of the item with the proper misspellings published and pointed out, including the following: "universal" as "univeral," "receive" as "recieve," "communications" as "communitcations," "will" as "willl," "written" as "wirtten" and an odd sentence that reads "and I willl help me in getting back to you."
"From: "Rep. Marcus Oshiro" <mailto:repmoshiro@capitol.hawaii.gov><repmoshiro@capitol.hawaii.gov> Sent: Wednesday, February 05, 2003 11:23 AM Subject: Out of Office AutoReply: Univeral Health Care'''
Thank you for your e-mail,however, given the volume of mail that I recieve each day, it is not possible read each and every one. It does not recieve the same attention as wirtten communitcations and facsimile. For matters, that require my immediate attention, please call me at my Capitol office at (808) 586-8505 or fax me at (808) 586-8509. Please leave a name, telephone number, and time to best reach you and I willl help me in getting back to you.
REPRESENTATIVE MARCUS R. OSHIRO 39th District (Wahiawa-Whitmore Village-Launani) Hawaii State House of Representatives"
Who'd Want to Adopt a Legislator?
Who'd want to adopt a legislator –- especially in Hawaii? National Federation of Independent Business Hawaii President Bette Tatum says she is asking just that of business people in the state who want to participate in the 8th annual legislative breakfast on Tuesday, March 4, 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. at the Pacific Club.
Andrew M. Fox, the 2003 Adopt a Legislator coordinator, says the goal is to have all members of the 2003 Legislature adopted by at least one NFIB member.
"This worthwhile effort has proven effective in the past. It is through close personal communication between the two groups that we (business owners) can become more effective at the state Legislature."
For more information or to adopt a legislator, email Fox at mailto:foxa002@hawaii.rr.com
To reach legislators, see: "Representatives at a Glance" and "Senators at a Glance"
Send any tittle or tattle you might have to Malia Zimmerman at mailto:Malia@HawaiiReporter.com Send complaints elsewhere. Compliments and news tips accepted here.
