Cases of food and toys were taken from our social services pantry which serves needy families and homeless in the Honolulu area.
Frozen and fresh food was also taken from the kitchen that serves clients in two of our programs, the Adult Day Center and Ohana Keiki Preschool.
This loss would severely reduce the assistance given to families in crisis.
However, thanks to some excellent coverage by the media and in particular the article written by Debra Barayuga (April 5, "Burglars strike Salvation Army for third time"), help from the community was on the way.
The Kauluwela Mission Corps is restocked and ready to serve once again thanks to the immediate and heart-warming response.
We sincerely appreciate Barayuga's genuine concern and accurate reporting of the incident, and thank the Honolulu Star-Bulletin for its continued support.
Major Chris Buchanan
Divisional Commander
The Salvation Army
A case in point: House Bill No. 3498 SD1, originally written solely to allow the state to hire health-care administrators outside of civil service regulations, has had amendments tacked on by Sen. Donna Ikeda and Rep. Calvin Say.
These amendments, adopted without debate, public hearing, or consultation with the affected parties, would remove children's mental-health services from the Department of Health and place them under a new managed care system.
This radical alteration of state service provision, in all probability, violates the federal court consent decree arrived at in Felix vs. Waihee and Felix vs. Cayetano.
Moreover, in proposing this change without consultation with the parents, teachers, health-care professionals and other interested parties already involved in the arduous task of reworking Hawaii's outmoded and ineffective child mental-health services delivery system, Ikeda and Say have shown either remarkable arrogance or impressive ignorance.
I would urge all concerned citizens to contact Ikeda and Say to request that they immediately provide full information on the rationale for their unilateral decision to the Children's Community Councils established under the Felix vs. Waihee consent decree.
The councils must be allowed significant input into any decision to actually pass this amended bill, or any bill on children's mental-health care.
In a democracy, the legislative branch exists not to ignore the will of the people, but to implement that will. It cannot do so if it does not actively seek information from the people most affected by its legislation.
Peter S. Webb
"If certain immigrants are illegal, shouldn't they be deported? If not, aren't you sanctioning illegal activities?
Furthermore, don't illegal immigrants take education and jobs away from those who have entered the United States legally and are struggling to make the American dream a reality for themselves and their children?
John Pechauer
This new facility will be located directly between two existing facilities which sit a stone's throw from one another, and which will be demolished after the new structure is completed.
According to the Parks and Recreation Department, the new toilet (no land costs, just the building) will cost $344,022.00, overruns and unforeseen delays notwithstanding.
I can only assume that the new "johns" will contain koa benches, a couple of hot-tubs and a solarium.
I suppose the city fathers have plenty of justifications for the way they spend our money. In this case, I'd like to hear some of them.
Gary Bosch