Taxpayers lucky to have
Graulty back in service
Graulty is a public servant. I respect him knowing that he will take a cut in pay to accept this cabinet position. We need someone of his caliber with the knowledge and dedication to serve our state.
Graulty was victimized by the same-sex marriage bill in the last election. He is not a proponent of same-sex marriage. People living in his district misjudged him.
Jimmy Dean
Pearl City
Don't blame military wives
for taking civilian jobs
The majority of military wives are homemakers and mothers, who don't work outside of the home. With the lack of jobs around here, they probably wouldn't get the chance to anyway.
Before people here blame the military for the downfall of the economy or the high unemployment rate, they should take a look at themselves, their education system and the way they raise their children.
To eliminate the military presence here would not only weaken the defense that these United States have built, but would weaken the economy substantially. Think of all the military personnel who visit the clubs or tourist sites, and the draw of tourism to Pearl Harbor and the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial.
Remember, most of us didn't come here on our own, and most of us aren't staying.
Amy E. Savidge
Barbers Point
(Via the Internet)
Teachers would welcome
observers to their workday
My husband, an air traffic controller, spent a day in my fourth-grade class a few years ago. He never again compared his occupational stress level to that of teaching! My starting salary was much smaller than his, yet I put in almost twice the hours per week - evenings, late nights, weekends.
During the summer, many teachers take professional improvement classes or teach summer school. In addition, many teachers spend well over $1,000 of their own money on supplies for their classrooms.
They get about 15 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes at lunch to stand in line for the phone, use the restroom, eat, correct papers, set up lessons, help students and do "yard duty."
How many professionals would put up with these conditions?
Inga Park Okuna
Suggestions to ponder
if public teachers strike
Juniors could be given the option to also take the GED and graduate a year early. Vice principals and counselors may have to teach a pre-GED course to students who need it.
The strike would provide a great chance to change the education system in Hawaii:
Make the teachers responsible to the governor and eliminate the school board.
Give principals the opportunity to rehire the teachers they think would do the best job.
Give principals a school manager and the lump-sum budget which includes teacher salaries. Let principals determine which is better: fewer experienced teachers with larger class sizes and higher pay, or more younger teachers with smaller classes but lower pay.
Russel A. Noguchi
Pearl City
'Rent-to-own' transactions
need stringent regulation
Nonetheless, the Legislature should do a favor for the highly stressed working people of the state by passing a full disclosure law regulating such transactions.
Such a law will assist consumers in the face of any potential trickery thrown at them when their guards are down.
Moreover, state Rep. Marcus Oshiro is to be commended for working for a constituency that is not likely to show up at the polling place or attend a political fund-raiser.
Brian C. Buckley
(Via the Internet)
Birds won't have perches
if utility lines are buried
Protect our birds. Save the overhead utility lines in Lanikai.
Victor Weisberger
Kailua
Librarians were right,
and Bart Kane was wrong
The Justice Department's lawsuit against the mainland company proves our librarians were not the crying malcontents that Kane tried to depict them.
If Kane had considered the sage advice of his employees before engaging in the ill-conceived contract, he would not now be hiding behind the protective skirts of the Attorney General.
Tom Krumpe