Tourism industry swipes our wallets

Regarding the Oct. 22 story "17 bills await action as special session opens today": Give the tourist industry the keys to our treasury? I thought they already had them!

Robert G. Devine

Ocean View, Hawaii

Hamamoto will be great superintendent

Court monitor Ivor Groves is correct to have concerns about the state's compliance with the Felix consent decree (Star-Bulletin, Oct. 20), but he may discover that acting Schools Superintendent Pat Hamamoto can move the education department closer to a goal that has eluded the state for seven years.

As principal of McKinley High School, Hamamoto has administered more special education program meetings than all of her predecessors, Felix plaintiff attorneys, Groves and U.S. District Judge David Ezra combined. My experience at those meetings is that she has consistently kept the educational and mental-health needs of the students as her first priority. As a result, some very effective programs and services were put in place and students made measurable progress.

If, as superintendent, she is able to propagate her convictions throughout the school system, and if she can change the "just say no" posture that administrators have lately been encouraged to take, the court and the long-suffering parents of Hawaii's special-needs children may be able to hold a party next year to celebrate the department's graduation from the consent decree.

Larry Geller

[Quotables] "Haunani-Kay Trask is living proof that common sense and compassion are not prerequisites to a Ph.D." Clayton Hee Office of Hawaiian Affairs chairman, on Trask's challenge to him, the governor and Star-Bulletin contributing editor John Flanagan to debate U.S. foreign policy and what she says is the United States' culpability in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks "Obviously, it does appear to be raining these days." Steve Holmes Budget chairman of the Honolulu City Council, saying it appears likely that the Council will approve spending the city's $5.3 million "rainy day fund" to cover the costs of extra security and police, fire and emergency services overtime incurred by the city since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and anthrax scare

Repaving won't help Fort Weaver Road jam

I want to point out some discrepancies in the article about the Fort Weaver Road traffic problems and the moratorium on home construction in Ewa Beach (Star-Bulletin, Oct. 18).

Vicki Gaynor, vice president of Haseko Homes Inc., says people here in Ewa Beach are frustrated because the road work is being done at night.

Well, I can tell you we are upset, because the work is not being done at night. Everyday we wait, and wait and wait for the traffic to move while they repave the roads.

Repaving is not the answer. How is that going to alleviate problems? How is taking off five inches of old black top and putting five inches of new black top, going to help the traffic problems? It is ridiculous. Why widen the road to six lanes when it becomes four lanes at the overpass by St. Francis Hospital? Widening is only going to move the backup from Renton Road to the overpass.

The city and state should build a better route. We need one in the event of a serious accident or other emergency.

William McCoy

Rolovich has earned starting position

I think that it would be unfair to Nick Rolovich if he is bumped off as starting quarterback for the University of Hawaii football team. Look what he has done while starter Timmy Chang has been injured. Rolovich has led UH to three spectacular wins. He has proven he deserves to play out the rest of his senior year as the quarterback.

Chang would still have one or two years in the spotlight. Just because he is a household name doesn't mean anything to me. Winning is the main thing.

Lloyd Pagaduan

Researchers need data from cancer survivors

As a breast cancer survivor, I am touched by the donations of money, time, energy and even blood from our local community. However, I believe that cancer survivors also need to give back to our community by participating in studies and answering surveys that will provide much-needed information on the cancer experience.

The cure for cancer will not come solely from research with animals. The cure will come because thousands of cancer survivors are willing to sacrifice their time and energy by allowing ourselves to be studied. When a researcher asks you for information on cancer, don't say, "I'm not interested, I don't have the time." What could be more important than finding a cure for cancer?

As a Japanese-American, born and raised on a sugar plantation, I understand that local people have a hard time talking about our problems and that it may be extremely difficult for Asians to talk about their cancer experience.

However, the Japanese also having a saying, "kodomo no tame ni," which means "for the sake of the children." So let us think about our children. Let us seek to find a cure so that our children do not suffer from this dreaded disease.

Patti Mieko Isaacs

Bin Laden should hide out in Mecca

Ever since September 11, I have been praying that Osama bin Laden is as stupid as America's leaders think he is. If I were bin Laden, I would abandon Afghanistan and hide in a sacred mosque in Mecca, the holy city of Islam and the birthplace of its prophet.

I'd borrow a lesson from the prophet Jesus. St. Luke wrote that when the Pharisees told Jesus to flee because King Herod issued a fiat that he was going to kill him, Jesus told those terrorists, "Go back and tell that fox, if he is going to kill this prophet, he must do so in the holy city of Jerusalem."

Don't be surprised if bin Laden surfaces in Mecca and says, "If those infidels are going to kill this son of Allah, they must kill me in the birthplace of Mohammed."

I do not know how to fight a religious war and I pray that bin Laden doesn't either. However, it appears that President Bush and his people also don't know. Jesus must be very upset with us when we bomb children unintentionally. Is this what he meant when Jesus said, "Suffer the little children to come unto me?" I thought Jesus meant all of the children of the entire human race, not just our American children.

Joseph A. Ryan

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