Maui News NRXINTLE.HTM
Author: Maui News

Return to: Letter to the Editor, ``Not a Desert'', by Lee Altenberg

# Letters To The Editor

Friday, January 10, 1997

#### Wrong for a long time

I would like to comment on the Jan. 5 Letter to the Editor titled ``Decision Wrong.'' The decision by Department of Land and Natural Resources Director Mike Wilson to lease land to Ms. Annette Niles, who was running the ranch with her late father, Stephen Perreira, in Kahikinui, is not new. I was born and raised here on Maui and have complained to every governor for the past 20 years with letters and phone calls.

My protest was basically about the Perreiras using the thousands of acres from the Hawaiian Homes Commission and the land being destroyed by the cattle in the forest. The wild cattle are still in the forest damaging the fragile ecosystem, but the state doesn't care.

Let me tell you why this is being allowed to happen. Political connections, that's why. Check who were and are the Perreira-Niles family, who defends them in court, and you will see that their influence goes right back to state government. Don't be surprised, be frustrated at how your tax dollars are being spent.

Organize your friends and write letters to Mike Wilson, and if enough people write and call him, he will check with people under him who are giving him poor information or are perpetuating the ``Good Old Boy System,'' because really when you look at it, this is how the state of Hawaii is run.

Charles K. Maxwell

Pukalani