Parents need lessons in how to influence kids

I am appalled at the comments made by Nanakuli teacher and counselor Laprell Burgess in your Dec. 6 story on Samoan education. Burgess told about going into the homes of Samoan families who had 52-inch screen TVs and no books.

Exactly how many homes is Burgess referring to?

It's unfair for those who have accomplished their dreams of earning college degrees to then turn around and say to kids, "You see, Mom and Dad aren't doing a good job. But WE still love you!"

Part of being a Samoan or of any culture is grasping your heritage and then combining it into the Western world.

I know what it's like to live in Hawaii. I was born and raised there, and was a school administrative support assistant for the Department of Education. I am also a parent and Samoan.

We should not be saying to our Samoan people, "Where are your priorities as parents in your children's education?" We should say to them, "Here, this is what you can do to improve their learning."

Margret Taugavau
Roseville, Minn.
Via the Internet

Introduction of species is ruinous to nature

The state Department of Agriculture is playing with fire when it introduces an alien African weevil species in Oahu's rainforests. The department's motives seem rational: to introduce the weevils to control the ivy gourd plant, another alien organism wreaking havoc on our delicate ecosystems.

Rational, perhaps. But even a cursory look into Hawaii's past would reveal the devastating effects of this kind of biocontrol:

In the 19th century, the mongoose was introduced to control an epidemic population of rats, running amok in the sugar cane fields. Much to the horror of all, the diurnal mongoose seldom encounters its intended prey, which feeds mainly at night. Instead, the mongoose decimated Hawaii's native bird population.
In the late 1970s, an attempt was made to control the exploding population of the giant African snail, a pest to agriculture as well as a carrier of several human diseases. A predatory snail was introduced, which proceeded to dramatically reduce the African snail population, as well as many native snail species.

Biological control chief Kenneth Teramoto proudly states about the 300 weevils introduced in Makiki Heights and Waimanalo, "Their population is going to zoom up." He adds that biocontrol is effective because "it's self-perpetuating once established."

Well, he is right. These insects are going to have a population explosion, and we no longer have control over our own creation.

Sean H. Madinger
Via the Internet

Quotables "I hope that we can get it down to the lowest level possible. But to have it at zero would be hopeful thinking." Retired Adm. Robert Kihune Chairman of the Bishop Estate's interim board of trustees On what the estate hopes to negotiate in back taxes owed to the Internal Revenue Service "I will probably close up my apartment as tightly as possible and run the air conditioner and air filter." Joe Lew English literature professor at the University of Hawaii-Manoa On his New Year's Eve plan to suppress his allergies that could be set off by fireworks' smoke

Older drivers should be monitored closely

I was saddened, but not surprised, by your Nov. 24 article about older drivers. My mother and I had a terribly difficult time persuading my grandfather to stop driving, even after a couple of serious accidents.

I don't know anyone who has had the same talk with a parent or grandparent who hasn't had the same huge fight. This suggests that elderly people do not, in fact, regulate themselves well when it comes to driving.

This is very easy for me to say, since I am still relatively young. Yet I pray that I will have a concerned relative who will have the same awkward talk with me when I can no longer drive well. Still, what a tremendous blow to independence and self-esteem it must be to take away someone's driving privileges.

Maybe a fairer way to do this would be to have the computers at the driver's licensing bureau linked to computers at insurance companies. Then people of any age whose record shows several accidents and presumably poor driving skills could be asked to take road tests.

Catharine Honeyman
Midway Island
Via the Internet

Unions have too much power in Hawaii

I finally figured out why this state is in such terrible condition. Part of the blame should be placed on the politicians who make really bad decisions. But the other culprits are the unions that somehow obtained a lot of power. Look at the recent threat of a dockworkers' strike.

In a recent commercial, Unity House claims to be doing good works. Yeah, but only for its members and not for the community. Yet every election year, politicians seek the endorsements of these unions.

Let's take away power from the unions and give it back to the people. We must elect new leadership for Hawaii.

Alan Kim
Aiea
Via the Internet

Memories of Hawaii cool the desert air

I've learned that, to appreciate the splendor of the islands, go away from them. With the lights of Honolulu moving further and further away, I saw for the first time in 10 years what it is that draws us all home.

It is the comfort, the knowledge that no matter how far we go or in what direction, she lays there, cradled within the arms of the Pacific Ocean, calling to us, each and every day we are away. Heartbreak abundant with the missing of the fragrant air, familiar faces against the backdrop of downtown traffic.

Distance from one's family, those who reside in our hearts while we shake off the winter bite; hoping that those links, those special souls who gather together as ohana, will all be there when we return.

The things we took for granted, almost loathed about home, are now dear to our hearts as we try not to forget: Zippy's and its Zip Paks; Ala Moana Center, with its continuous flood of foreign visitors who clutter the holiday rush as we try to get to all the sales the day after Thanksgiving; the fact that we would drive all the way to Mililani to go to Wal-Mart and not think twice; to the folks who keep Matsumoto's open long enough for that last child to pick a favorite shaved ice flavor.

Isolated here in the Mojave Desert, I know now why my mother longed to go home all those years ago. It's not just family or food or even the fact that things are all within a 30-minute drive. It's because it is home.

Karrie Ann Cabana-Tanner
Twentynine Palms, Calif.
Via the Internet

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Hawaii Revised Statutes

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