Crumbling campuses send sorry message

Without a doubt, fixing the physical plant of Hawaii public schools is vitally conducive to student learning. The Star-Bulletin hit the nail on the head with its recent series (Aug. 26-27): Schools face a multimillion-dollar backlog of campus improvement work.

What message do we send to students when they sit in rooms with leaky ceilings, crumbling plaster and substandard wiring? Are we telling them that school is important when they sit in stifling heat with fans only stir up the dust?

Research has linked student achievement and behavior with campus conditions. Students and teachers both function better and have higher morale in buildings that are modern, well-lit, clean, spacious and technologically equipped.

Karen Ginoza
President. Hawaii State Teachers Association

Yoshimura's law degree came in very handy

City Council Chairman Jon Yoshimura, who hit a parked car, then fled the scene and managed to get home before he was confronted by the police, may have disappointed Honolulu voters, but I think he knew exactly what he was doing.

When he was a TV reporter, Yoshimura would have felt an obligation to tell the truth, even when being interviewed by the competition.

And without the education in law, he might not have known that the police could not require him to take a sobriety test if they caught up to him at his house instead of in his car.

His statements on the KITV-4 interview, the smell of liquor on his breath (according to police sources) and that he thought it was OK to leave the scene of an accident if the object he hit was a utility pole instead of a car, makes me wonder: Is he that dumb? Or smart like a fox?

Keith Haugen
Via the Internet

Quotables "If something happens great. I'm obviously preparing to do my very best. If it doesn't happen, hey, I'm Mrs. Hawaii and I think that's the coolest title." Dede Guss Mrs. Hawaii About the 1999 Mrs. America Pageant, whose winner will be crowned on Tuesday at the Hilton Hawaiian Village "People don't want to think about it. They're just waiting until Monday. What will happen will happen." Unidentified Bank of Hawaii employee One of those dreading restructuring changes at Pacific Century Finance Corp., parent of Bank of Hawaii, which was to announce a major reorganization today

Politicians are busy doing nonsense

Since when did our country became so efficient that our lawmakers can do whatever they want?

The Clintons were house-hunting on our dime. They used airplanes, people and tax dollars to look for a house so Hillary can become a New York resident. They should have done this on their own time. Our country has too many problems that need fixing.

Then there is the governor of Minnesota. This guy had time to referee a wrestling match? Yes, Jesse Ventura gave money to charity, but he also pocketed a good penny.

Finally, there is our governor, who appeared in an episode of "BayWatch Hawaii." This man made promise after promise during his campaign and has barely kept any of them. If he wants to be an actor, he should join the Screen Actors Guild and let someone else run the state.

Luke Meyers
Ewa Beach
Via the Internet

Senator is right about international terrorist

We've all heard the expression: "A conservative is a liberal who got mugged." Well, there's a lot of truth in that saying.

Case in point: the ferocious liberal, former Sen. Howard Metzenbaum. He just got "mugged" by Abu Daoud, ex-PLO leader and terrorist, as reported in your Sept. 7 issue.

Metzenbaum wants the U.S. to ban Daoud's new book about how he planned the murder of several Israeli Olympic athletes in 1972. Metzenbaum also would like to see Daoud executed -- after a trial, of course.

Finally, after all these decades, I full agree with the senator. Too bad it takes an awful tragedy like the 1972 Olympic incident to get some liberals to wake up.

Art Todd
Kaneohe

Cayetano is trying to bully editorial writers

In an Aug. 30 article, Governor Cayetano said Honolulu's two dailies need to do better but that the state's TV media were doing a good job. Most local television news is entertaining, but is mostly sports and weather.

Meanwhile, both local papers do an excellent job of informing Hawaii's residents of real news, running hard-hitting editorials and publishing letters from readers, providing an outlet to offer suggestions to help improve Hawaii.

Your editors have the right to express opinions. This is a free country. Please don't censor your editorials because the governor wants to know who is writing them.

Anne White

U.S. should correct wrongs to Hawaiians

In your July 30 editorial, you referred to a willingness on the part of non-kanaka maoli (non-Hawaiians) "to consider acceptance of Hawaiian sovereignty on reasonable terms." However, the primary emphasis should be on the "reasonable," beginning with justice.

U.S. Public Law 103-150 acknowledged that the federal government broke its treaties with the Hawaiian nation. This means that the Constitution, which holds that treaties are the supreme law of the land, was violated.

The U.S. also admitted that it invaded Hawaii, suppressed the inherent sovereignty of the kanaka maoli, deprived them of the exercise of self-determination and that the kanaka maoli have not relinquished their claims to inherent sovereignty or to their lands.

U.S. citizens, kanaka maoli and non-kanaka maoli alike, should demand that the federal government correct these wrongs through compliance with pertinent domestic and international law.

Ramon Lopez-Reyes
Kailua

Picketing restaurant is sour grapes

I am very disappointed with what the Hotel and Restaurant Workers Union 5 has been doing. Its picketing of Sam Choy's restaurants seems to be nothing more than sour grapes after its defeat in a union vote.

I have never had the pleasure of dining at Sam Choy's, but I'm taking my family there for dinner as a personal protest against the union. I encourage everyone who feels the same to do likewise.

Tom Suster
Ewa Beach
Via the Internet

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