Although I’m pretty sure you won’t have the nerve to print the
following letter, I would appreciate some sort of explanation as to
what your motivations are in trying to pass off unresearched inferences
as news. This is completely unprofessional and I would like some sort
of response from you, even if you won’t print my letter. After reading
the garbage you guys tried to pass off as a front page story I realized
that you guys are nothing more than a print version of Fox News… You
guys should stick to covering “Arts and Entertainment,” you do a fairly
good job at that, but leave the fear mongering and misinformation to
the pros at Fox News… Four words for editor Anthony Pignataro: “Give me
a break.” His comments about Governor Lingle’s energy proposals in
Volume 9, Issue 35 were either naively or intentionally incorrect… This
week my mother and I were reading the Movie Capsules in your newspaper
and realized that your writers, Heidi King and Anthony Pignataro, don’t
know how to summarize the movies… I just wanted to commend you on your
hugely enlightening article on Maui’s Top 10 Hot Dogs. I learned so
much! With high-quality news coverage like that, I need look no further
for my news. Perhaps next week you could do a piece on Maui’s top 10
places to eat a steaming pile of shit!… Reading the Maui Time Weekly
makes me wonder how the heck a bunch of haole transplants became
responsible for churning out the paper… In general, the articles are a
waste of ink and paper. With so much happening in these times I feel it
is an outrage that you believe Holoholo Girl and stories about bacon
are appropriate for any reader to digest. I also could care less that
you think the theme to Ghostbusters is an anti-lynching song… Who hired
you? Who gave you the authority to cast your weak spells on paper? What
is alternative about it? The world has enough alcohol-sucking minions.
Take it to another level already. Ponder this life of illusions. Have
you even driven the road to Hana?… While I found the article on the
effects of hikers in Kahakaloa fascinating I was slightly irked by the
quotation that opened the story… Can you please give Mr. Cole [Smithey]
some toilet paper so he doesn’t keep using the pages of the Maui Time
to wipe his ass? Now while I have no personal investment in whether Mr.
Cole likes a movie or not, it is personally assaulting to have to wade
through paragraph after paragraph of what can only be described as
verbal diarrhea… Hi my name is Samantha West Gruys and this man Trevor
Jones is my grandpa. I really appreciate you putting him on the
newspaper or whatever you want to call it… If you continue to publish
crappy “interviews” like that, publicists will stop returning your
phone calls. I usually love your paper, and I am underwhelmed
by the standards you are setting these days. Ask some interesting
questions, get some interesting answers, remember what they were, and
then PUBLISH it—I’m begging you!… If one is only looking for trouble,
one can paint a picture of a beautiful sunrise as a cloudy day. There’s
a lot more sunshine in this story than the cloudy article chose to
show… In response to the recent article regarding Pacific Biodiesel, it
is too bad the author did such a poor job of researching the facts… I
would like to say that after reading Miss Carrie Courtney’s article I
think she just may have single-handedly sabotaged what little hope
the homeless people had for understanding and support… I used to
think Maui Time was about “being fair,” open, honest... showing ALL
sides of a story, even when it was naked and covered with slime... I
thought one of your main goals was to be unbiased and not just
“reporting as you like” as the other major papers, TV stations and news
media do, all to gain points for their side of an issue... Yet I am
seeing more and more of your papers becoming one-sided, almost
vindictive... To list Nikhilananda as “Activist of the Year” is one of
the more absurd things I have seen in this newspaper. You have a great
newspaper, but this is ridiculous… I hope you know what an idiot you
have working for you in Editor Anthony Pignataro. How the Pig can back
The A-Team rather than Charmaine Tavares shows either: (1) He’s an
idiot; (2) He’s friends with [Mayoral Executive Assistant David]
DeLeon; (3) What all us women say: “He’s got the small man syndrome
(very small I might say)”… Shame on you Maui Time… Once again you
have fallen to the ways of the average press, using the paper to
promote your own selfish biased ways, being childish, poking immature
jabs at only those you have personal vendettas against... Grow up Maui
Time. Sure it’s YOUR paper, and you have the permanent pen, but isn’t
your paper supposedly the impartial one on the island? Leaving
personal agendas at home? You obviously aren’t the press you claim to
be. If I had a subscription I would cancel it... I usually like the
diatribes of Mr. Pignataro but his pathetic reflections on the East
Maui Council race in “Case Closed,” Sept. 28 issue, were extremely
disappointing. It appears that Pignataro has a serious problem with
democracy… I am writing this letter to explain my utter disgust in your
lack of judgment in regards to the Eh Brah! I submitted. Editing
without permission is not something a person in your position should
condone. Let alone editing a piece so poorly that it elicits a reply
suggesting violence against the writer. I, of course, am talking about
the soda incident as I would hope you are well aware of… Please learn
from [your] mistakes and apologize to your readers for making a mockery
of something so threatening and significant. Remember, throw shakas,
not soda… This goes out to the morons who wrote the “Play in one act”
on Chris Isaak. First of all who authorized five people who only know
Isaak from a video on MTV to write an article on him? Not only is it a
huge disrespect to people who love his music, it clearly showed your
ages and maturity level. Reading that article reminded me of being in
high school listening to gossiping girls give reviews on other
students… My guess is that you are very tired, sister. Take some time
off. Start taking better care of yourself. Travel. Read. Visit the
elderly, the homeless, the terminally ill. Serve. Then tell us all
about it… If you’re going to rip off someone else’s concept, at least
make it entertaining… And why doesn’t Maui Time have a letters to the
editor section so that people can voice their feedback about the paper
anyway? MTW
Maui Time welcomes letters commenting on
our coverage, but only if they’re complimentary. If you still wish to
complain about something, please have the decency to use plenty of bad
punctuation and grammar—that makes it easier for us to make fun of you
when we respond. We also reserve the right to edit your letters. Send
your letters to the editor via e-mail (letters@mauitime.com), regular
mail (Letters to the Editor, Maui Time Weekly, 33 N. Market St., Ste.
201, Wailuku, HI 96793-1742) or fax (808-244-0446). All correspondence
must include your full name, hometown and phone number.