Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.

'Baywatch' makes cool contribution

One week ago, Kristen McEntee of Baywatch Productions and Mona Woods of Ikaika Communications informed me that Greg Bonann, executive producer of "Baywatch Hawaii," offered the use of his indoor air-conditioning units to our students to help them through the warm weeks until the end of the school year.

Imagine our excitement when we received the news! Friends of Maili Elementary to the rescue!

We are so thankful for these and other efforts to gain a better environment for our students. The first to show support was the Campbell Foundation, which generously pledged $45,000 in April toward air-conditioning units for our portable classrooms. The second was legislative support of $3.14 million toward air conditioning for the entire school. And, now, the assistance of "Baywatch."

We are hopeful that the Maili community will continue to support this generosity by ensuring that the equipment will be safe from theft and harm.

Linda M. Victor
Principal
Maili Elementary School

Show's producer shares the kudos

I have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of aloha since "Baywatch Hawaii" offered to help Maili Elementary with some temporary air conditioning to see it through the end of the school year. After hearing about the school's continued plight on KSSK's Perry & Price radio show, the situation bothered me so much I had to do something.

Although "Baywatch Hawaii" got the headlines, we could not have accomplished our mission without major support from:

Tesoro Hawaii Corp., which donated all of the fuel for the generator.

Spectrum Engineering, which gave us a substantial discount on the rental of the generator and donated two days of labor on installation.

Heide & Cook, which also gave us a discount on the 10 air-conditioning units and donated time and labor on the project.

Leeward Petroleum, which donated time and labor to deliver fuel for the generator.

I'd also like to thank Maili Elementary Principal Linda Victor, her wonderful staff and the great kids at the school. They were all such a joy to meet and we hope to involve them in some of our community projects in the future.

Gregory J. Bonann
Executive Producer
"Baywatch Hawaii"

Iolani students provoked Punahou's vandalism

As a parent of an Iolani student, I have followed your news coverage about the Iolani campus vandalism by Punahou students with a personal interest.

For years I have sat on the Iolani side of athletic events and, as a haole parent, I have witnessed the racism generated by Iolani students.

In the past, Punahou has shown great restraint and composure in the face of this. While no one would condone Punahou's recent destructive acts, Iolani athletes are not entirely innocent either.

No parent wants to see this kind of incident escalate. However, in all fairness to the Punahou students who were suspended, the Iolani students who are equally guilty by motivating this kind of hostile atmosphere should be suspended as well.

Or suspend NO ONE and enter into a teaching mode to correct the situation at both schools!

Karyn Herrmann
Iolani Parent

Quotables "I said, 'I'm just going to go to Hawaii and do this.' I think my heart was here long before me." Vivian Greene CREATOR OF KISSES CARTOONS AND GREETING CARDS On her move to Honolulu after 18 years of work was lost when Hurricane Andrew hit her Florida headquarters "I believe in wild wisdom. You have to let go of your own expectations, your judgments. That's the wild part." Jeanette Paulson Hereniko STORYTELLER AND SELF- PROFESSED WILD WOMAN On how the founder and former director of the Hawaii International Film Festival has undergone a metamorphosis, which will be celebrated in two storytelling performances at Kumu Kahua Theatre

Military was there before Mililani homes

Buying a home at Mililani Mauka and then complaining about the nearby military exercises is like buying a house next to a chicken farm and complaining about the roosters. Really now!

Wheeler and Schofield were around decades before Mililani was a housing development.

Many in Hawaii are quick to criticize the military, either for its need to use areas for training, or for making too much noise when practicing the skills needed to defend our way of life.

Yet the military is vitally important. When our armed forces go off to another country to fight for democracy or to protect natural resources, Hawaii's economy goes haywire from the lack of cash flow. Remember Desert Storm?

If we think the economic impact to Haleiwa was bad from the Waimea Bay road closure, imagine what would happen to the whole state if the military left completely, for any reason.

So to the Army and all other branches of service, for that matter, fire away! And thank you.

Gary Hashimoto
Kailua

'Agnes' should be dropped from comics

I hope it will soon be time for reassessment of the comics page and that "Agnes" will be eliminated. Normally, I don't obsess about comic strips. But the recent thread about Agnes experimenting by putting a LIVE goldfish into the spaghetti sauce troubles me. What message is this strip sending? Don't children read the comics?

Furthermore, didn't the Star-Bulletin run a May 13 View Point column on how animal abuse by kids is a predictor of their bad behavior as adults?

Phyllis Hanson
Kailua-Kona

Report distorted Cayetano poll results

Your May 18 poll indicated that 83 percent of respondents ranked Governor Cayetano's performance in one of three categories: fair, good or excellent. Yet the first sentence of your accompanying article states that the governor's "approval rating continues to be poor with Hawaii's voters."

I'd say you owe the governor an apology, especially since Webster's definition of fair is "neither excellent nor poor." Likely, it's this kind of behavior by the media that gives the guy thoughts of hiring a PR firm to defend himself.

T. Watson
Kailua

---

Legislature Directory
Hawaii Revised Statutes
Legislature Bills

---

Write a
Letter to the Editor

Want to write a letter to the editor? Let all Star-Bulletin readers know what you think. Please keep your letter to about 200 words. You can send it by e-mail to letters@starbulletin.com or you can fill in the online form for a faster response. Or print it and mail it to: Letters to the Editor, P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, Hawaii 96802. Or fax it to: 523-8509. Always be sure to include your daytime phone number.