Helicopters,
Weasels and
Wal-Mart

by Peter Serafin

Green Harvest Government runs on the people's money, and it's the duty of our elected officials to insure we're getting the biggest bang for our buck. 'Doesn't happen that way a lot of the time, but once in a while we're pleasantly surprised. Last month the county council voted to stop throwing good money after bad and defunded the Green Harvest marijuana eradication program from the budget. The program will likely continue, but without the formal support of the council.
Yet real life Drug Horror Stories abound on this island. We're all affected-directly or indirectly. The real question: how best to use our money to combat this problem. It makes a lot more sense to go after the truly devastating curse of ice and other hard drugs.
Ethics report
We live in an entrepreneurial, free market economy, but freedom works best when coupled with honor and responsibility.
We got a couple of calls recently from longtime readers, friends and supporters of independent journalism on this island. They also happen to be longtime, loyal advertisers.
I'm sorry to report that at least some of the sales staff of Stephens Media's local free Big Island corporate weekly have resorted to telling potential clients untruths about the competition (i.e., us). To whit: the Journal is "tanking" and is about to go out of business (the subtext: you'd better start advertising with us and get out of your contract with HIJ). Of course, nobody is buying that balderdash.
The truth: We've been around eight years and are healthier than ever. Back in 1999 we printed 12,000 copies of each edition. In 2004 we were up to 22,000, and since 2006 our print run has been 24,000-a circulation increase of over 9 percent this year (and double the print run of the corporate competition).
We just signed a lease on a new office and are expanding staff. Beginning this issue we are delighted to welcome Ku'uwehi Hiraishi to our editorial department and are adding a fourth account executive, Recycle Hawai'i's Carmen Kinsey, to our sales staff.
So why are we wasting valuable editorial space on these fabricators? Well, George Bush was re-elected, in part, because John Kerry didn't quickly and truthfully refute the lies told about him by the so-called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Although the Swift Boaters were ultimately discredited, in the short term their lies worked. So it's necessary to let you know what's going on.
The business strategy of Las Vegas-based Stephens Media is to create a media monopoly on this island that sends the profits back to the Vegas HQ. They started their free corporate weekly when they couldn't buy the Journal, aping the strategy that worked for them in Vegas, where they were able to take over the respected, independent paper and change it into something else.
To be perfectly clear: We realize the local editor and reporters are not consciously part of this plan and we intend no disrespect to them. As novice journalists, they evidently don't have the background to see that those who sign their paychecks have a different agenda than the laudable goals they are pursuing.
We welcome more dedicated journalists into the local media mix. This is a wonderful learning experience for them, and we've been pleasantly surprised with some of the work they've managed to produce (such as Kristine Kubat's essay in the 05/23 issue).
And we note that the editorial staffers have conducted themselves with class, truthfulness and integrity-we hope certain members of the sales staff learn from their example.
Like our brother and sister journalists on this island, we have better things to write about than these local breaches of newspaper ethics, and we sincerely hope we'll never have to mention this one again.
Dept. of Corrections
The article "Wal-Mart Superstore: Far From a Done Deal" (05/19) contained editing errors, which included an added but incorrect statement that the new store would not be a superstore. We have no evidence that Wal-Mart is not planning a superstore.
We should have also made clear that Wal-Mart opponents claim that the company drives down wages in an area, thereby reducing workers' overall buying power; and that those who support the company believe that Wal-Mart's low prices improve the standard of living for many Americans, especially poorer families.
As we go to press, the Kaua'i County Council passed a measure banning superstores on that island.

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