Changing Hawaii

By Diane Yukihiro Chang

Monday, December 7, 1998

---

Spanking students and
other silly ideas

IT'S time to think merry. Ho, ho, ho and all that jazz. But while it may be true on the facade, some quizzical and downright irksome issues are simmering below the surface, powerful enough to turn each and every one of us into holiday Grinches if they aren't confronted soon.

They range from an overpriced inaugural ball to the speaker-elect's idea of allowing corporal punishment in the schools to a murder defendant's all-too-familiar refrain, "Yeah, I shot her -- but she deserved it!"

Santa, give us strength:

Buddy, can you spare $225? Gov. Ben Cayetano and Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono are commemorating their razor-thin re-election win tonight at their 1998 Inaugural Gala at the Sheraton Waikiki Hawaii Ballroom. Nobody can begrudge such a celebration.

But isn't it in considerably poor taste to price the tickets at $225 per seat -- or $2,250 for a table of 10 -- when Hawaii is suffering through a prolonged recession?

Think of how many more "little people" could have attended the function if it had been less fancy, held in a larger (and cheaper) public facility, and if the price of admission had been about $25 per person.

Who beside corporate bigwigs, Democratic fat cats and members of the Governor's Economic Revitalization Task Force can afford such lofty admission fees? Or were the "grass-roots" soldiers -- the ones really responsible for the Cayetano/Hirono victory -- already thanked at "mahalo parties" featuring juice and cookies?

Somebody's priorities are shot.

And the hits just keep on coming. Even before Rep. Calvin Say becomes speaker of the House in the 1999 legislative session, he's already come up with a very bad proposal. He is toying with the notion of letting public school teachers spank unruly students, as a means of keeping control in the classroom.

Say, what?

Picture the scenario: Pupil acts up. Teacher whacks kid on okole. Kid gets mad and hits, punches or kicks teacher in return. Teacher retaliates. An all-out brawl and lawsuit ensue, thanks to a dubious legislative mandate.

Does Say know about a recent study by the University of New Hampshire, which proved that children who were hardly or never spanked did better on intelligence tests than those who were frequently smacked?

In other words, instituting corporal punishment in the schools would make our young people dumber. Well, duh!

Somebody's values are shot.

My wife made me do it. And then we have Danny Haili, on trial for the second-degree murder of his wife, Philimena, at their Kailua home in June 1996. Testifying in his own defense last week, the story that Haili told was a predictable one.

Wife wanted to leave him for another man. He didn't want to give her a divorce. So he went "temporarily insane" and gunned her down. Now he says on the witness stand, "I feel bad. I wish my wife were here." So does she, pal.

Somebody's shots are regretted -- too late, in retrospect, and while painting the victim (who can't defend herself) as a slut. Philimena Haili and her character are getting murdered all over again in court. Who speaks for her?

SANTA, puh-lease, grant this yuletide wish for these beautiful but loony Hawaiian Islands: All we want for Christmas is some common sense. A really big fat bundle of it.

P.S. Better make that a rush job. We just can't wait until Dec. 25.

---

Diane Yukihiro Chang's column runs Monday and Friday.
She can be reached by phone at 525-8607, via e-mail at
DianeChang@aol.com, or by fax at 523-7863.