• What do films contribute here? • Abstinence only cure for drinking • Slow the U.S. war machine What do films contribute here? What’s wrong with this picture? I am disappointed that only one response (Letters for Friday, July 2,
• What do films contribute here? • Abstinence only cure for drinking • Slow the U.S. war machine
What do films contribute here?
What’s wrong with this picture?
I am disappointed that only one response (Letters for Friday, July 2, 2010, “Good ole boy’s mega-millions ripe for harvest”) has been published to my letter concerning putting the film commissioner to a vote. (Letters for Sunday, June 27, 2010, “Put film commissioner before voters”).
This does not resemble a debate, transparency or participation. I think the film commission office and the millions of dollars it represents in money for the island is worthy of a more-serious examination. Why not devote a page of letters to the editor on a Sunday with the newspaper weighing in with its own informed opinion on the subject.
Three BIG Screen Movie Productions have come here this year and what do we have to show for it? We offered unparalleled hospitality and the untamed beauty of Kaua‘i which is beyond photography. Did anyone see a public appearance by a major star? Did anyone see a public-service announcement supporting anyone of two dozen nonprofit organizations here on Kaua‘i struggling for donations and support for their worthy programs and outreaches that serves the community?
Did our classrooms benefit? Were there any workshops conducted by these productions?
We have a college here. How about a scholarship or better yet a school of film comparable to: AFI – American Film institute, L.A., Calif.; Columbia University School of the Arts, New York; New York University Tisch Film & TV?
Why not establish a Center for Advanced Cinema and Television Studies at KCC offering rising local talent mentored by visiting leading actors degreed programs (BFA/MFA) in the fine arts and funded by the filming here on the island and throughout the state?
Why not have our own film festival like Sundance to discover and promote filmmaking’s newest talent both locally and statewide celebrating Kaua‘i’s (Hawai‘i’s) unique cinema history and contribution to the industry?
Why not create a grant or small-business loan to build another movie complex on the island?
Correct me if I am wrong, but is not the film commission office the gatekeeper for access to our island and our advocate to negotiate the film industry’s participation and contribution to our island’s well being? We know what they get from coming here. Can anyone point to one benefit that the community at large has enjoyed outside special interests?
I suppose even though we open our doors and pay taxes to support filming here on Kaua‘i, we will just have to get in line and buy a ticket to the movies filmed here. Again I ask, what is wrong with this picture?
Stephen Haray, Kapa‘a
Abstinence only cure for drinking
A drunk is a drunk is a drunk. The disease of alcoholism does not discriminate between rich and poor, man and woman. The only successful treatment for alcoholism is total abstinence. According to TV reports, Mel Gibson is a good example of this. A great talent who obviously should not take that first drink.
When I was director of Civil Service for Honolulu, Mayor Fasi authorized me to start an employee-assistance program. Instead of firing an employee with a drinking problem, we prescribed 90 AA meetings in 90 days. It worked in about 10 percent of the cases.
Alcohol can be very patient. I recall one city employee who was fired from his previous job for drinking. He was temporary and eligible to be permanent with my signature. I bluntly told him that we did not need another drunk on our payroll and prescribed the 90 days of AA. He did 93 days and we made him permanent.
He became a valued employee of Parks and Recreation. Two years after I left my job, he started drinking again. Alcoholism is a patient disease. For the addict, that slippery slope is always there.
Harry Boranian, Lihu‘e
Slow the U.S. war machine
Mr. Antonson (“Get real,” July 12) lumped anyone with concerns about the use of sonar by the Navy and the military as an anti-military wacko who needs to get real. I am very concerned about the impact of sonar on whales and dolphins and all other threats facing sea life from nets to runoff to overfishing. But being against the massive oil-guzzling monstrosity that the U.S. military has become and its meaningless and wasteful exercises that have distressed whales in Hawaiian waters does not make me anti-military or unpatriotic. I teach my kids to respect all military service people who have fought or died to free the victims of oppression and tyranny. But I do not support maintaining an unsustainable massive worldwide war machine that consumes so much energy and resources that its leaders blinded by power, greed and irrational fear manufacture reasons to start wars to acquire the oil and resources needed to maintain its existence.
The people who need to GET REAL are the ones who believe there is a bigger enemy to America and humanity in general than the war machine wasting our planet’s rapidly-depleting oil supply and hastening the decline of our modern standard of living that is still sadly dependent on oil.
Jason S. Nichols, Koloa
