I would like to make a comment on the Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. cane burning. These people are all misinformed on this. Sure, it is an inconvenience for a short period of time. And it is not the cause of asthma.
I suffered from asthma, but outgrew it. I had even heard asthma is caused by cockroach droppings. I was raised on Oahu until 11 years old and never saw a cane harvest until I returned to Hawaii at 24.
I lived in Oakland, Calif., and that was in the early 1950s - there were a lot of industries back then. No one complained until the late 1960s and then the factories moved and the city suffered from unemployment.
There's nothing wrong with cane burning. Why should a few disgruntled outsiders - who were not raised in the islands - cause unemployment for the people that work in the industry? I resided right across a cane field in Lahaina. The smoke never bothered me.
Dennis Kim
Wailuku
