Pay raises hard to bear while kids go hungry
I'm shaking my head after reading that the
city Salary Commission is recommending a salary jump for Mayor Mufi Hannemann of 5 percent to $128,100 a year beginning July 1, the third such pay increase for Hannemann. If our mayor makes that much in his elected post, there's something wrong with this picture.
As a taxpaying individual who has lived in Hawaii for 25 years, I have one question: "Why do homeless children still live in shelters, many going hungry at this very moment, while our city Salary Commission is recommending another 5 percent salary increase for the mayor?"
The Bible tells us in the book of Matthew, "To give freely while accepting freely." Nothing personal, Mr. Mayor, I just feel that this recommended increase could feed and clothe many of our island's children, the very ones some of us notice daily while living in this great state of Hawaii.
Thomas Stocks
Honolulu
Disclosure law would discourage volunteers
For more than a decade I have served as a volunteer on the Barbers Point Redevelopment Commission and then as a Kalaeloa member of the Hawaii Community Development Authority.
As a volunteer I take my job seriously, attending meetings, working with the community, and most of all, having professional and personal pride and integrity in all my acts and actions. It is in this regard that the governor did the right thing by vetoing the bill that targeted members of a handful of state boards and commission to make public our annual financial disclosure forms. On these forms, not only mine, but my husband's and any dependent children's personal financial information is set forth.
The publication of these forms on the Internet may make some elected officials feel they let "sunshine" in, but I venture that instead they will reduce the pool of citizens willing to volunteer for these important boards.
We are volunteers who serve without compensation, unlike state employees and elected officials. Most of all, we have the personal integrity to recuse ourselves when we have conflicts, which incidentally are not limited to financial matters. Legislature, this is a veto that should stand!
Maeda C. Timson
Kapolei
What happened to clean elections bill?
The failure of a recent bill in the Legislature to assure clean elections is a disappointment. Why did the Senate decide to deep-six the Voter Owned Elections bill after public testimony and constituent contact indicated the public wants assurances of clean elections? Perhaps the legislators will tell us someday.
Until then, the public must wait until the elected officials will determine how elections are run without oversight.
K. Chung
Honolulu
Tilting helmet back reduces effectiveness
I hope someone will tell the University of Hawaii security guard in the
picture on your front page Thursday how to wear her helmet. By wearing it on the back of her head, she is seriously reducing the effectiveness of this valuable piece of safety gear. All she needs to do is look at the picture and see how the two male security guards are wearing their helmets.
I hope you will print this letter so that a wider audience will get the message. Her error is quite common, especially among young children and the mothers thereof.
James V. Pollock
Kaneohe
Arming UH security is prudent measure
In response to Eric Daido's
April 29 letter against arming University of Hawaii security personnel:
Daido said, "Where do we draw the line? Do we arm all security guards for all schools? Do we arm security guards at shopping centers? What about public libraries? Or any of our public gathering areas?"
I ask, why not?
If some lunatic was shooting people at Ala Moana, Pearlridge, Aloha Stadium, UH, or any other place where people gather, how do we stop him?
When shots are fired, time for negotiation is over; someone needs to fire back. Police might not make it there in time. So those places need armed guards.
Some have mentioned that Virginia Tech had armed guards before the infamous incident. Chances are, the killer started firing when he knew security wasn't around. So, the answer isn't keeping security unarmed, the answer is having more security, and having them armed.
Pablo Wegesend
Honolulu
Ho send-off filled with songs and laughter
Last Saturday (May 5) we strolled from our Waikiki homes to Queen's Surf. A special feeling was in the air as we approached the large beach gathering. We had come to say
aloha to Don Ho.
Don was one of a kind, our local "Chairman of the Board." With lei, singing, hula, madcap humor, talk story, canoes, surfers and our hearts, we came to place him gently in our waters where we swim, surf and paddle. From prayers to taps, from fly-by to fireboat pumping rainbows of life-giving water, from soap bubbles wafting in the trade winds to the overarching canopy of stars, we gave thanks for our hero.
We mourned with the Queen's Prayer; we belly-laughed to the zany antics of Willie K. We listened enraptured as Ho's youthful discoveries performed their magic. We were both laid-back and keenly attuned to every nuance.
We celebrated a life and time now past. Does that mean Don Ho's spirit is lost? Is there hope we can recapture the warmth and love which are the soul of our 'aina, and which Uncle Don embodied so well?
We will be fortunate if we remember who we really are, the way Uncle Don spent a lifetime teaching us to be. We all can be Don's kids. His way can be our way. Hana hou!
David Lee Saurer
Waikiki
Why don't sponsors abandon KSSK?
Why is it that Don Imus was fired for his racist rant on the airwaves, but
Larry Price isn't? Is it because Imus' sponsors started leaving him in droves, but Price's sponsors of Clear Channel Communications and KSSK radio won't do the same?
What Price said about having blue eyes is even more egregious than the young teen who yelled epithets in the Waikele parking lot at the military family who bumped his car. Here we have a state senator who loves Hawaii and has lived here for 37 years, but, according to Price, because his eyes are blue, then he cannot possibly understand what it means to call Hawaii home, what it means to know and appreciate societal norms, what it means to live aloha.
Mr. Price, you might not have lost any sponsors, but you sure have lost a longtime listener.
Don Rochon
Honolulu
Bias has crept into radio broadcast
Since 1992, when I first listened to KSSK until the present, mainly to Perry & Price, I have noticed that
Larry Price seems to be biased, even during the OIA high school champion play-by-plays of the recent past.
This may be only the beginning of other potentially embarrassing encounters yet to play out in the future.
Should we even bother listening to these two if they continue to act as cheap, predatory shock jocks on unsuspecting targets?
This is no longer entertainment. Change is needed, and quickly.
Louis Maytorena
Waipahu