Bainum did great job
as budget chairman

The removal of Duke Bainum as chairman of the Budget Committee said a lot about the City Council. How moldable the Council members must be who supported Mufi Hannemann and allowed his unmistakably heavy-handed style to raise its head again, this time to "Muf-fle" one of the most knowledgeable and concerned budget chairs this city has ever had.

Congratulations to Council Chairman John DeSoto and Council members Donna Mercado Kim and Steve Holmes for being independent and fair.

Good for them for refusing to roll over for Mufi and the special interests who can't tolerate someone heading the budget who was looking out for the taxpayer interests.

Vernon Shibata

Citizens should do more
to help prevent crime

My father came home from work today and told my sister and me that our croton plants were gone. My first reaction was, "Why would anyone want to steal plants?"

My family planted those crotons there because a tree was chopped down. Our house is on the corner of a big intersection, but has been broken into twice during the past year.

How could someone just walk along the street and decide to pull up 16 croton plants? It makes my blood boil to think of the people out there who believe that robbing others of their property is right.

When my family and I lived in Honolulu, our home was never broken into. Then we moved out to Kaneohe and have been the victims of crime three times.

Thefts like this would not happen if citizens took the initiative to call police or take some other action to stop thieves. Enough people have cellulars that "I don't have access to a phone" is not an excuse.

Alicia Kaneshiro
Kaneohe

Before condemning schools,
critics should teach in one

Regarding the Sept. 30 article, "Revamp failing schools," the "new approach" proposed by the Governor's Economic Revitalization Task Force is ludicrous. How much more accountable can teachers be? Shouldn't other state/city departments follow the same accountability?

I personally challenge any member of this task force, Legislature or self-proclaimed expert on Hawaii's educational system to teach a class for one month in any of Hawaii's public schools.

Instruction should include: preparation of all lesson plans for every minute of instructional time; the actual teaching and correcting of the lessons, including record-keeping for each student; assessment and evaluation of each child's progress, academically and emotionally; follow-up activities for each lesson and subject area; yard duty and responsibilities for field trips and extracurricular activities; referrals and follow-ups on every needy child; attendance at school meetings; responsibilities of designated committees; and communication (conferences and written) with parents of each student.

Only after this challenge has been met can the members of the task force truly see what the problem is, and possibly find a more realistic solution.

Marlene Chong
Educator

So what's the alternative
to the Promise Keeper ideals?

As a Promise Keeper, I find it curious that I am a threat to my wife and all women, according to the National Organization of Women. My promise to remain faithful to my wife emotionally, spiritually and sexually -- so I don't end up another Marv Albert -- is a threat, according to Patricia Ireland of NOW.

My promise to support my children in their growth and development -- so they don't shoot their girlfriends at school when they're 16 years old -- is also considered a threat by NOW. Helping strengthen my local church through greater participation; contributing my individual effort to heal racial, ethnic and social wounds; you guessed it -- all threats to women.

If you read NOW's literature on the Promise Keepers, it's like the rantings of a lunatic fringe group instead of reasoned discourse and constructive criticism.

NOW claims all actions by Promise Keepers are threats to women. Fair enough. What are NOW's viable alternatives to help society in general and families in particular to heal themselves?

Vince Shahayda
(Via the Internet)

Cartoon to the editor by
Richard A. Braley, Kailua

Why Promise Keepers
met in Washington

If the Promise Keepers is not a political group, why did it convene in Washington?

George W. Mason
(Via the Internet)

NOW doesn't know secret
of happy marriage

Regarding the Promise Keepers' controversy: Men have always been the head of the household. And that is the secret of most happily married women. We have allowed men to believe that they are in charge, knowing full well that "the hand that rocks the cradle" rules the roost.

Those women who do not understand our secret belong to the National Organization of Women gang of unmarried feminists.

Janice Pechauer

Restoration detractors
are muddying the waters

I read with interest two letters in last Thursday's issue about the Natatorium. I respect their opinions but wish they would get their facts straight.

One writer said that a beach would be a more appropriate memorial to our veterans. Without the Natatorium in place, there would be no beach due to erosion in a short period of time. The structure protects the existing beach.

As a member of the Friends, I took great offense to the second letter writer who referred to "money-hungry efforts to feed the city coffers." The only commercializing efforts connected to the Natatorium would be promoting its use for swimming and water sports, for locals, tourists, and especially for our children who don't know how to swim.

There are no provisions for promotional events at night. Money raised from a museum, snack shop and small gift store will go toward the ongoing maintenance of the facility and not into city coffers.

Fred Ballard
(Via the Internet)

UH athletic department
is trying its very best

Star-Bulletin sports writer Paul Arnett made several assumptions and some wrong conclusions in his Sept. 19 column, "Who benefits from this long, strange trip?"

Arnett seems to believe that scheduling for the Las Vegas football trip was for the purpose of gambling and "something of a pleasure cruise" for boosters and University of Hawaii officials.

I put more faith in the athletic director and football coaches than to think they would put the personal agendas of boosters and administrators before the players.

Athletic Director Hugh Yoshida has quietly assembled a staff of head coaches and administrative personnel that is dealing with declining revenues and gender equity. The women's sports program is providing opportunity to more athletes than ever before.

While funding is being cut and the university president is pressing the athletic department to become self-sufficient, additional revenue is growing through booster organizations. Yoshida is performing a balancing act never required by his predecessors.

It's easy to sit on the sidelines and criticize the performance on the field. This football team has practiced hard and has showed us character in the face of adversity.

We should be thanking Yoshida for doing the job under very difficult circumstances and Coach vonAppen for his commitment to the team.

Steve Goodenow

If TheBus was better,
more students would ride

John Werrill's Sept. 30 letter erroneously adopts the broad stereotype that children who attend Punahou, and the families who send them there, are elitist, selfish snobs who seemingly care little about others or the community (and environment) at large.

I, for one, nearly always took the express bus to and from Hawaii Kai during my six-year tenure at Punahou, or I carpooled, as did many of my peers.

More can be done regarding alternative forms of transportation for reducing pollution. But the same argument can be made for any school, public or private, to which parents and students drive. Blaming Punahou as a hideous offender lacks merit.

Also, if an option like TheBus -- which has never achieved its spurious "best bus system in America" label -- proved to be more reliable, it could become more attractive to those not already using it.

Earl Ma
Punahou Class of 1989
(Via the Internet)

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Bishop Estate Archive

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