Brainstorm! Challenge

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Judge lets felons off with light sentences

Judge Karl Sakamoto handed out to Michael Matsumoto a light sentence of 300 hours of community service plus a fine ("Harris donor gets fined for illegal gifts," Star-Bulletin, July 16). This businessman was convicted of a felony of laundering about $139,000 to Mayor Harris's campaign fund. Just prior to this, Sakamoto gave two high-ranking police officers a similar sentence for their felonies.

What really bothers me and probably many others is that these convicted felons will have their records wiped clean after five years of good behavior.

Do the state and city own these judges? It sure seems like it. Someone I know was charged with stealing a piece of candy, which he forgot to pay for. The value of the candy was about 59 cents. This person had no prior record, but the judge charged him with petty theft. Today, 22 years later, this misdemeanor is still on record. That's four times as long as these felons get to clear their records. No balance of justice here.

Judges seem to be swayed by letters written in behalf of these felons by their friends. Ordinary citizens are sentenced with much more punishment than politicians and other high-profile crooks. Call it "Hawaiian justice."

Gene Cordero
Pearl City

Review will be used to improve child welfare

The National Association of Social Workers, Hawaii chapter, represents more than 1,000 members statewide. Many of our members work directly with the child welfare system and were involved in the recent federal review of Hawaii's system that your paper reported ("Isles' child services overloaded," July 19).

We are concerned about the safety of our island keiki and see this review as an opportunity to reform our child welfare system. The federal review team identified many strengths and areas of improvement. While we are happy to hear that the commitment of those working in the system is our No. 1 strength, we agree that the system needs more social workers so they will have manageable caseloads. We also agree that the system needs ongoing training of foster parents, social workers and supervisors.

NASW will be happy to work with the state Department of Human Services in addressing the deficiencies identified in the report. We also want to work with the Department of Human Resource Development to more clearly differentiate among those individuals who have been formally educated as social workers and those who have other degrees but are hired in social work positions based on substitute experiences.

By working together, we can achieve the goal of providing the best care for the children of Hawaii.

Debbie Shimizu, LSW
Executive director
National Association of Social Workers, Hawaii Chapter

Vandals take the 'luck' out of living in Hawaii

Lucky you live Hawaii!

This used to be the battle cry of everyone who lived in our beautiful state. Today, however, it's "Lucky you live Hawaii??" It is absolutely pathetic that a local family goes on an outing to any beach, only to return and find that their automobile has been vandalized by local kids who have nothing better to do than to break into or steal cars. Perhaps we should do away with summer vacation and keep these kids in school to keep them busy.

I wonder how they would feel if the things they own were stolen from them or destroyed. I just wish that we citizens could gang up on these kids, just to teach them a lesson. They say a word to the wise is all it takes. My word to them is, "Give up your drug habit so you don't need to steal to make money for it."

Curtis R. Rodrigues
Kaneohe

Bring 'em on -- investors, that is

Did you know that last summer Halliburton, the company that Vice President Dick Cheney headed as chief executive, had its stocks down in the $10 range? How does one increase profits? Well, Cheney supported an invasion of Iraq last March, but before the assault Halliburton won a $7 billion nonbid contract to put out oil fires that the United States would initiate by the attack!

Investors saw the writing on the wall and moved the stock up to $20 per share by the time the war was under way, and in less than 90 days it hit $25 per share. From $10 to $25, a whopping 250 percent increase!

Meanwhile, Bush-Cheney policies have workers losing their jobs, the deficit rising and the economy falling. This from an administration that persuaded Congress to go to war based on false information, in a conflict that is seeing an increasing loss of U.S. lives, so investors can continue to profit.

Had enough? Contact your congressional representative and explain that you want a government that functions for the people, not the investors. Otherwise, WMD really is "wealth of motor-oil deposits, and "bring 'em on" is an invitation to more investors.

Smoky Guerrero
Mililani

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