[ OUR OPINION ]
Cut outrageous pay
by hiring more guardsABSURD overtime hours worked by guards at the Hawaii Youth Correctional Center in Kailua require a thorough review to determine how to bring some order to the center's operation. More guards need to be hired to prevent excessive overtime, which has been required of guards to conform with a requirement that wards at the center be manned at all times.
THE ISSUE
Youth correctional officers are being ordered to work excessive overtime hours to guard wards around the clock.
In the most extreme example cited in a union grievance, youth corrections officer Alton Lorico worked -- technically, as we question how many hours he "worked" with eyes closed -- 156 consecutive hours because he was required to remain at his job or face disciplinary action. Lorico also worked for periods of 126 and 88 hours straight at other times under the same mandate.
Arbitrator Russell Higa acknowledges that the state Office of Youth Services is "caught between a rock and a hard place" by its statutory requirement to have guards placed at the center's wards. The only way to sensibly deal with the situation is to increase the size of the corrections officer staff from its present 51.
The state agency has considered privatizing the operation of the youth correctional center. However, a private agency ended its contract to operate the girls' section of the center late last year after 10 girls escaped from a guard who had been trained as a counselor, not as a guard. A national association of juvenile correctional administrators recommends "an appropriate blend of both public and private services" in centers where privatization is considered.
Privatization is not needed to address the overtime problem at the Kailua center. State budget problems should not be a hindrance to increasing the staff. The 156-hour marathon performed by Lorico cost the state $4,000 in overtime payments. Assuming he was paid time and a half for overtime, it would have taken less than $2,700 to have other guards stationed at the ward after Lorico put in his 40 hours; the state wasted more than $1,300 on overtime.
Sharon Agnew, executive director of the Office of Youth Services, says she has directed the correctional facility to reduce spending by 10 percent. In order to do that -- and this may cause private business people to shake their heads in wonderment -- seems to be by increasing the staff.
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Nature Conservancy is
key to preservationCONSERVATION advocates have much to celebrate in a deal that restricts development on 1,800 acres of native koa and ohia forest on Hawaii island. The arrangement between The Nature Conservancy and the U.S. Forest Service creates the state's first Forest Legacy project, a program designed to protect important areas from nonforest uses.
THE ISSUE
An 1,800-acre property in South Kona has become Hawaii's first Forest Legacy project.
The Forest Service's $1.06 million purchase of a conservation easement places perpetual limits on how the land can be used while the Conservancy retains ownership of the Kapua property, located along the southwestern segment of Mauna Loa. The easement restricts use even if the land is sold.
Although the land had been zoned for agriculture when the Conservancy bought it in 2000, it was never heavily affected by ranching or logging, according to Rob Shallenberger, the group's Hawaii island director. Ranging from 2,500 feet to 5,200 feet in elevation, the forest is home to several native birds and the endangered Hawaiian hoary bat. It "provides a rare glimpse of the potential for forest restoration on other lands," Shallenberger said.
The property is part of the Conservancy's Kona Hema preserve, which includes 4,000 acres in Honomalino, just north of Kapua. The group and the Forest Service also hope to complete another joint project at nearby Papa before the end of the year.
The Conservancy's commendable initiative to acquire and shelter the Kapua forest illustrates the group's growing cooperative efforts to preserve a diversity of ecosystems in the islands.
The organization earlier this month teamed with seven public and private landowners and the county government in a partnership to protect water sources on 30,000 acres in the Kohala Mountains. Participants will devise a management plan to assure the forest areas continue to thrive, essential since it supplies water to the Hamakua Coast, North Kohala, Waimea and South Kohala. The Conservancy is involved in similar watershed alliances on Maui, Oahu, Molokai and Lanai.
In July, the group and the National Park Service recorded the largest conservation transaction in Hawaii's history when it helped purchase the 116,000-acre Kahuku Ranch for addition to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. The deal expanded the park by more than 50 percent with land encompassing archaeological sites and habitats for rare and endangered birds and plant species.
Since its establishment in Hawaii 23 years ago, the Conservancy has been making its mark, managing 10 preserves and supporting other agencies in protecting 300,000 acres throughout the islands. Its persistence ensures that some of Hawaii's natural areas will be sustained.
