Corporal punishment isn't appropriate teaching tool

I was surprised by Rep. Calvin Say's suggestion that we review corporal punishment as an option for controlling children in our public schools. Legalizing physical violence is moving backward from where we have come as a society.

I have worked for over 20 years with troubled youths and adults. The vast majority of them have said that spankings and beatings did not help them learn. They agreed that experiencing violence only taught them to be violent. Is this what we want taught in our public schools?

If we are going to encourage physical force in the classroom, isn't it only fair that this approach be applied to politicians, too?

I propose that when politicians forget their promises, act unethically, become too high mucky-muck or are just plain stupid, constituents be allowed to give them a couple of slaps across their heads. If politicians continue to act up, it only makes sense that we should hit them harder. At some point they will learn their lesson, right? I doubt it.

Chris S. Leong
Anger Management/Domestic
Violence Group Facilitator

Fasi, Lingle should team up next time

It seems clear that the recent gubernatorial election ended Frank Fasi's career as a perpetual gubernatorial candidate:

He can't run again as a Republican, because he betrayed that party.

His outrageous flirtation with the GOP, and his resounding defeat by Linda Lingle, killed him as a Democratic contender. Loyalty counts in Hawaii's Democratic Party, and Fasi proved he doesn't have any.

As a third-party candidate, deeply in debt and a perpetual loser, he won't stand a chance.

Fasi has become, reluctantly, a white-haired elder statesman. Yet old warriors like Fasi never die. The best of them write their memoirs and teach a new generation of leaders.

Fasi's grasp on political science in general, and Machiavelli in particular, should not be without heirs. Who knows, public life being what it is, and Fasi being nothing if not creative, the next gubernatorial election may well find him working on Lingle's staff.

Why? Because Fasi has the answers to the worst of Lingle's problems as a gubernatorial candidate, and Lingle knows it. Like other women in Hawaii politics, Lingle loses by lacking detail and disdaining hardball. Fasi is nothing but the specific remedy for those problems.

Keolo Pettingill
Waipahu

Democratic supporters deserve what they'll get

People who voted for the Democratic Party in this last election are now somewhat surprised to find that the Democrats are making changes, and a lot of them hit right in the pocketbook.

The governor and his cronies in the Legislature will keep more of the room tax monies, making the mayors raise property taxes as much as 100 percent, "double" within the next two years.

Many of the people who bought homes during the early 1990s will be taking it right on the chin or walking away from a good deal gone wrong. As for owners of rental properties, they have only to look at how the Democrats operate to make the decision to raise rents accordingly.

Charging a fee to go to Diamond Head is no new idea, but look for more new fees and increases. These will be needed to pay off the unions that pulled in votes for the Democrats.

Add to all this the raises the legislators will give themselves and all I ask is, was it good for you? You've just been had, Democratic style.

Bruce Tetreault

Cayetano wisely proposes fairness for homosexuals

Governor Cayetano is being just and wise in proposing a middle-ground domestic partnership law, as exists in other cities. Mike Gabbard was not elected to be dictator of Hawaii.

Gabbard should get a life and let others live theirs in peace. In this country, the rights of the minority are protected.

Nancy Bey Little

Hawaii should ban importation of cars

There's a simple solution to our parking and traffic crisis, but no one will do it: Stop the import of all cars into the islands.

Why does anybody need a $40,000 Range Rover on a 40-mile strip of land? Are we going to pile luxury Buicks and Jaguars on top of each other until we need suspension bridges between the islands so everybody can pretend they're cool and living in California?

The moped guys in Waikiki have the right idea: Let's build a native industry of surfer-Woodies with two cylinders that get 100 miles to the gallon. There would be enough room for the kids, the surfboards and the groceries, and it would create many more jobs than would be lost to car dealers.

We could keep the buses and supply trucks, but everybody else would just to be uncool, drive 35 miles per hour and take five more minutes to get to the golf course.

David Seals

It's not too late to fire Hugh Yoshida

So UH Athletics Director Hugh Yoshida didn't bother to submit a bid to host the regional finals playoff tournament for women's volleyball. Either the University of Hawaii doesn't need the money or doesn't care about its fans.

But wait a minute. Isn't Yoshida the same guy who fired the last two football coaches to the tune of a total $450,000 buyout?

It doesn't take the wisdom of Solomon to determine that Yoshida is in way over his head. He should have been shown the door for dereliction of duty. It's not too late.

Jim Reed

Only their manufacturers adore transit systems

Rail transit is a great deal for the rail transit industry, but not for Hawaii. Only a decade ago, we were reading about the disastrous results of recently built light-rail systems.

Of 1989 completed systems, the average ridership was only 40 percent of the predicted amount. Average capital costs were 124 percent of their estimates. Total cost per rail passenger was more than 400 percent above forecasted costs.

The heavy-rail data was even worse. All of this is publicly available information.

These are disastrous results which the light-rail makers and distributors won't tell us about. Our answer should be an emphatic, "No, no, no!"

Jerome G. Manis

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