[ OUR OPINION ]
Protect precious
Hawaii agricultureRELENTLESS pest infestations and diseases that threaten Hawaii's agricultural industry demand that state officials impose severe restrictions on imports and require the federal government to defend the islands' from such invasions, just as it protects mainland agriculture from Hawaii's fruit flies and other insects.
THE ISSUE
Yet another imported pest is threatening the state's papaya industry as well as other crops.
The latest incursion is on Maui, where a mealybug that attacks papayas and other crop plants has taken hold. If the infestation spreads to other islands, which could easily happen, millions of agricultural dollars could be lost. The Big Island is particularly vulnerable since it produces about 90 percent of the state's papayas.
The pest also attacks mangoes, peppers, eggplants, sweet potatoes, beans, peas and citrus. Plumeria and hibiscus, plants common in Hawaii, play host to the bug. The insect stunts growth and forces early fruit and deformities, eventually killing its host.
Agriculture officials describe the infestations as mostly in backyard plants, but it spans such a wide area across central Maui, from Kahului and Puunene to Kihei, that eradication will be difficult if not impossible. The bug spreads quickly and is so small -- one-sixteenth of an inch -- that it easily avoids detection.
Hawaii's crops seem to be under constant assault. During the past few months banana farmers have been battling bunchy-top virus; meanwhile, papaya growers have fought an onslaught of imported troubles like blackspot fungus, white peach scale and the ringspot virus that nearly wiped out the fruit growing in the 1990s.
In addition to insects and diseases that menace agriculture, invasive plant species like miconia and alien reptiles like coqui frogs and Madagascar geckos upset Hawaii's fragile environmental balance.
The state's feeble shields fall short of protection, and while year after year officials declare they will strengthen them, other funding priorities mute their promises. It's time they put the money where their mouths are.
Gov. Lingle, who has expansively supported the Republican administration in Washington, D.C., should call in some favors and demand the federal government, which imposes rigorous inspections of Hawaii crops before allowing their exportation to the mainland, provide the islands with equally stringent safeguards. Our congressional delegation also should insist on them.
What's good for protecting California's and Florida's agricultural industry is equally necessary for Hawaii's.
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Schools head has
demonstrated skillsTHE state Board of Education's satisfaction with Schools Superintendent Pat Hamamoto is a testament to her ability to handle affairs within the Department of Education while walking the tightrope of external political forces.
THE ISSUE
Pat Hamamoto has received another favorable job evaluation from the Board of Education.
As she heads into the last year of a four-year contract, Hamamoto faces the formidable task of carrying out a host of changes in public education as mandated by the Legislature. Her past performance indicates she has the skills to bring them off.
The board's favorable evaluation of her work indicates members also believe in her capabilities. Hamamoto emerged from an annual evaluation last week with good grades, having met or exceeded all of the board's expectations.
Well-schooled through more than 30 years of teaching and supervisory work in the department, Hamamoto largely enjoys the support of teachers and administrators as well as the majority in the Legislature.
Although somewhat shielded from the barbs of politics -- unlike other department directors, the superintendent serves at the pleasure of the board, not the governor -- Hamamoto was the face of the agency that has been harshly criticized through the years with the state's public school system vilified as a stuck-in-the-mud bureaucracy interested only in self-preservation to the detriment of Hawaii's students.
Hamamoto, however, has not shrunk from conflict. When Gov. Lingle and her lobbying group proposed a package of reforms for education without including her, the superintendent went before the Legislature to present her ideas and put herself on the line, declaring "Hold me accountable and expect results."
Lawmakers are taking her up on that. Education reforms place accountability with principals, who report to district supervisors, who, in turn, report to Hamamoto. Along with changes in funding distribution through the weighted-student formula, decisions about the use of money have been transferred to principals, but ultimately it will be up to Hamamoto to shepherd improvement.
The superintendent must still deal with the politicians at the state Capitol; they hold the pursestrings. Also, the governor has not yet given up on her proposed constitutional change to decentralize statewide education and create separate school boards. In the meantime, Hamamoto remains the current board's choice to lead public education.
