Road repairs leave unsightly patchwork
I'm not sure which is worse; the graffiti done by what one judge called "artistic mischief" of our juveniles, or the planned squares of leftover mismatched paint done by the city and state workers along our streets. Both are an eyesore.
Joe Carini
Honolulu
Crowing roosters are a legitimate nuisance
So Kim Kido (
Letters, June 12) complains about whiny mopeds, buses that beep and hiss and loud parrots. That is her right. But then, even though Kim hasn't heard a rooster crow in years, she would deny citizens who do suffer from their "noise" an opportunity to complain about them at our neighborhood boards.
In my neighborhood, it's not unusual to have children and parents awakened at 3:30 a.m. due to crowing roosters. Mahalo to Councilman Charles Djou for championing all of us who are very tired of not having a good night's sleep.
Jeannine Johnson
Niu Valley
Bill gives added rights to illegal immigrants
Phil Robertson ("Why not give tax evaders amnesty, too?"
Letters, June 15) may assume that U.S citizens should have more rights than an illegal alien. If a U.S. citizen has a legal dispute with the IRS, they have the right to retain legal representation at their expense in such a case. If a veteran has a dispute with the Department of Veterans Affairs, they have a similar right to retain legal representation at their expense.
The Hagel-Martinez bill, aka the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act, will ensure that illegal aliens do not have such problems, at least with immigration law. Section 622(m) of the bill would allow illegal aliens (estimated in the millions) who work in agriculture to receive "free" legal services. Every illegal alien working in the agricultural sector would have access to an immigration attorney to argue his case through the immigration courts and federal courts of appeals -- paid by the taxpayer.
Ken Welch
Mililani
Prescribers must know chemistry, biology
The
June 3 guest commentary by Marya Grambs and Beth Giesting on
Senate Bill 1004, promoting psychologists prescribing medication, misses the point. Putting a drug into somebody's body is not a rural vs. city issue, or a counselling or psychology issue, but a "need to know chemistry and biology" issue. Neither a Ph.D. in psychology nor SB 1004 requires the basic college chemistry and biology required of all other Hawaii health professionals who prescribe, including nurses, optometrists and dentists. If they want to prescribe, shouldn't psychologists at the very least learn the basic minimum that everybody else does?
Hiring psychiatrists into federally qualified health centers, telepsychiatry, removing barriers to discriminatory copayments, parity, liability reform -- these are some of the right answers to improving access to psychiatric expertise. Some have already been implemented, more need to be.
SB 1004 is a wrong answer and needs to be vetoed.
Jeffrey Akaka
Speaker, American Psychiatric Association
$700 grand could buy plenty soap dispensers
Now that it has finally been determined that there will be no 13th game in this fall's University of Hawaii Warriors football season, we can use that nearly $700,000 in savings to fix the soap dispensers and improve athletic facilities in general. Maybe it's a blessing in disguise!
Roy M. Chee
Honolulu
DOE should do better than 21 percent
It's a sad state of affairs when, as a rebuttal to a national study, the Department of Education has to admit that 21 percent of Hawaii's public school students either drop out of school or don't graduate on time (
"Study says 36 percent fail to graduate," June 12).
Whether the figure is 36 percent or "only" 21 percent, too many students aren't getting the education they need. Furthermore, a school system's graduation rate is often used as an indicator of the overall quality of education, which affects even those students who do graduate.
It has been reported that Hawaii taxpayers provide an average of $13,000 annually to educate each student. For a typical class of 25 students, that works out to be $325,000 per year. It seems like our children should be getting a lot more for that much money.
Apparently, the system is leaking money in quite a few places.
John Kawamoto
Honolulu
Aloha doesn't extend to Hawaiians
I am outraged that the Star-Bulletin has given free advertising to Kenneth Conklin's book ("Book explains attack on Hawaiians-only programs,"
Gathering Place, June 2). Attorney David Rosen's defense of his unethical e-mail solicitation for anonymous clients to sue the Kamehameha Schools was broadcast in another column.
It is truly a sad day when those who attack Hawaii's aboriginal peoples are upheld as defenders of the aloha spirit. Their actions are less about gathering people than they are about dividing and polarizing our state.
Speaking of division, Conklin argues that we have an apartheid-like system in Hawaii, and he has somehow convinced himself that Hawaiians are at the top. I invite him to visit Hawaii's prisons and homeless encampments, and see firsthand that Hawaii's aboriginal peoples remain at the bottom rungs of society in our own homeland. Conklin touts "aloha for all" as an ideal, but he really means aloha for all but Hawaiians.
Arthur B. Wilson III
Kailua
Why no protesting by native Hawaiians?
Where are the Hawaiians?
A Hawaiian monk seal dies tangled in an illegal gill net laid by a fisherman with a Hawaiian name ("Man charged in death of seal," Star-Bulletin, June 8). Not only is it an endangered species, but the federal government could shut down our near shore fisheries under the Endangered Species Act. This because the state of Hawaii has not done enough to protect the species. Where are the Hawaiian activists denouncing this type of fishing?
How about a tourist who goes to a locals-only beach, gets punched out and dies because he's a Caucasian ("An idealistic advocate of local culture is killed while visiting Nanakuli," Star-Bulletin, May 4). Where are the Hawaiians in denouncing this?
Why aren't they at the state Capitol protesting the dismal educational system?
While people from around the world risk life and limb to come here, some Hawaiians whine and complain about being U.S. citizens, blaming the haole for all their problems.
Stephen Curty
Honolulu