Riding the rail nicer than sitting in traffic
I live in Waipahu and have to fight traffic each and every day. Traffic is bad, and it's getting worse. One stalled car, one accident or bad weather can easily double our driving time to town.
This is happening too often. There are too many cars and too much traffic congestion. Drivers are frustrated, angry and aggressive.
But what if we could just catch a train to get to work instead? Imagine taking rail, kicking back with time to read a newspaper, drink a cup of coffee or turn on our laptops to respond to e-mail. That's a lot more desirable than bumper-to-bumper traffic any day.
It's time we look at other ways to get around. It's time we build rail transit. We can't wait much longer. Please, City Council, pass Bill 79, CD1.
Eric Torrate
Waipahu
Union is protecting lousy teachers
The Hawaii State Teachers Association functions as both a union and a professional organization. In opposing drug testing of its members (
Star- Bulletin, Dec. 6), HSTA has revealed that it is more interested in the union function of protecting its most incompetent members than in advancing the profession of teaching.
John Kawamoto
Honolulu
Don't let good teachers be victims of drug war
A question that seems
to be overlooked in the furor over the alleged "pothead teachers" is, are they good teachers? It seems unlikely that this is the first time they got high before school, just the first time they got caught. And so the question is, has their pot smoking hurt their teaching performance? If so, then the school district would be correct to fire them.
But if they have performed well as teachers then their jobs should not be in jeopardy. Let the legal system do as it will, but don't take away their livelihoods for capricious reasons. If they are good teachers, then let them continue teaching.
As far as what message this sends to kids, perhaps it sends a message that is more honest than we have been accustomed to in the frenzy of the drug war. It sends the message that common, everyday, responsible people smoke pot -- bankers, lawyers, doctors, teachers, insurance salesmen and others. Unfortunately, this message will be drowned out by the drug war snake-oil salesmen. And so it goes ...
Keith Blevins
Eugene, Ore.
Wars can't be won without public support
Naturally, I would expect local papers to declare "Shinseki was right," but that just isn't the case. Regardless of whether or not 100,000 or 300,000 troops were sent to Iraq, the premise for the war was weapons of mass destruction. The reality is that not finding WMD resulted in endless media declarations that the war is baseless.
Finally, it is paramount that the public come to the realization that soldiers can only win battles, it is we (the public) and our will who must win the war.
Richard Hough
Honolulu
Bush needs tweezers, not a study group
If you got a sliver in your hand, you'd pull it out.
Of course, instead, you could listen to the recommendations of a study group. They might tell you it's a good idea to pull it out but, even though admitting that the sliver wasn't a good thing, they wouldn't want to set a timetable for the event. Consulting with other people might help, too, they'd suggest.
But then more study groups would chime in. Some would recommend taking it out a little at a time--no time specified of course. Others might suggest that matters are really much better now than before you got the sliver, and they'll even urge you to push it in further.
All in all, though, don't you think -- no matter how dumb you were in getting a splinter into your hand in the first place -- that the smart thing to do is to pull it out immediately?
John A. Broussard
Kamuela, Hawaii
B&Bs let elderly keep their homes
Having lived in Kailua for more than 50 years, I would like to comment on these "kolea come lately" millionaires who are all up in arms about bed and breakfasts in the area.
I am in favor of B&Bs. If you own your own home, you may do anything you want with it as long as you don't bother or injure your neighbors. If the visitors do something wrong, call a cop, just like you do now. And if you don't like the cars parked at the house, then remember that public parking goes on every night on every street in Hawaii. That is public land, and it belongs to us all.
I have retired, elderly neighbors who already have had to sell their homes, and many others who are afraid they soon might have to sell and move God knows where, because they are having trouble paying their ever-increasing property taxes. Where does an old person, living on Social Security, get the money to pay the exorbitant property tax for their 50-year-old house that is falling apart, yet is now valued by some government official at a million dollars, without having a B&B or rental unit? A B&B would allow a widow to stay in her house until she dies, and that's as it should be.
I say, let anyone over 65 rent any part of their house as long as it allows them to live where they have spent their lives and can enjoy what's left of it.
Don McDiarmid Jr.
Kailua
So much for having a color-blind society
With the recent ruling regarding Kamehameha Schools (
Star-Bulletin, Dec. 6), I have to wonder, what's next? I mean we already have black-only colleges on the mainland and there are even some Latino-only schools in areas of the mainland as well. With Kamehameha's "preference" for Hawaiian children, I wonder how popular a Samoan-only school would be? How about a Tongan-only school? Hey! Maybe we could have an Anglo-only school! Oh, wait that's right ... those are considered racist and illegal. So I guess the message is that unless your skin is white, you have the right to be prejudiced and have a school that accepts only "your kind"!
Shawn Lathrop
Kaneohe