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One casino will lead to more of them

If we open our state to one gambling casino, we will have opened the first crack to an eventual floodgate of future casinos in Hawaii.

The gaming industry recognizes the enormous potential profit to be made here and will push with every legal maneuver available to multiply its trade until the islands are dotted with these glitz-and-hype money-sucking enterprises.

At least with a casual poker game with friends, it's obvious where the winnings end up. But the casino, with the odds weighed heavily in its favor, channels the lucrative losses of its patrons down its insatiable out-of-state throat. This acts like a hidden tax draining lower- and middle-income families of already strained resources.

We would also soon see large sums of soft money "donated" by the gaming lobby influencing our political process. (Look at who's the mayor of Las Vegas.)

Please don't be fooled by the carrot on a stick in the form of a $30 million scholarship fund. Find better ways to come up with educational funds than by legally sanctioning quick-buck scam businesses. Casinos would detract from Hawaii's allure, not add to it.

James Miner
Owner,
Clear Image Business Systems
Makawao, Maui

Prisoners have more rights than students

Seems to me we can take care of two problems with two buildings.

First, it's been noted that Maili Elementary, which is near the pig farm, has no air conditioning so the smell is overwhelming on some days.

Second, the governor wants to build a prison. I say build it at the location of Maili Elementary, and move the school elsewhere in the neighborhood.

Make the prison a place that's unbearable. Maybe it would be a better deterrent to crime. Build nice, tall fences to let the air (and the smell) in.

Oh, wait. I'm sorry. The American Civil Liberties Union will probably say you can't put a prison there because it would violate the civil rights of the inmates, the unbearable smell and all. I guess the guard's union would also complain. Too bad Hawaii's students aren't protected in this regard.

Michael C. Blasco
Kapolei

Aspiring girl scientists are discovered

If you believe that "it takes a whole village to raise a child," then hats off to all these villagers who, on Feb. 10, made the 7th Annual Science Symposium for Girls at Sacred Hearts Academy an outstanding success for approximately 700 individuals. They included:

More than 30 professionals from the community encouraging girls to pursue careers in math, science and technology.

Karen Meech from the University of Hawaii's Institute of Astronomy, who created enthusiasm for planetary systems in her keynote address.

Emma Pavich, one of Hawaii's premier adolescent counselors, for convincing more than 300 parents that "sometimes, you have to switch gears from your brain and deal with your daughter from the heart."

Dedicated teachers and counselors from 44 schools for convincing girls that science and math can be exciting.

Corporate villagers -- First Hawaiian Bank, Coca-Cola, Frito-Lay Hawaii, the UH Engineering Alumni Association and the Augustine Educational Foundation -- for providing financial resources.

Together, these villagers are to be commended for inspiring more than 400 girls and 300 parents to be all they can be.

Betty White
Principal,
Sacred Hearts Academy

Quotables "I tried covering the breasts, but it just didn't work. It took away from the spirit of the piece. Breasts are symbols of motherhood, nurturing and a past culture." Kazu Fukuda ARTIST AND CREATOR OF THE SCULPTURE OF KA`AHUPAHAU AT CAMPBELL HIGH SCHOOL Who has decided not to modify the statue commissioned by the school two years ago after some Campbell parents, teachers and education officials complained that the bare-breasted work of art was inappropriate for the campus "When I get by myself, my wife says I'm dangerous." Tom Heers BIG ISLAND BUILDER Who, during a quiet moment on a family vacation, came up with the idea of building a small resort consisting of 40 treehouses in Kukuihaele near Waipio Valley

Cayetano's pay raise priorities are warped

After weeks of presenting a firm stance against proposed pay raises for public school teachers, Governor Cayetano is now pursuing a pay raise for his top executives. Is he arrogant or just plain ignorant?

I graduated from college in 1999 with a degree in English and secondary education. After completing a year and a half overseas, I returned to Hawaii with the option to do as I please while preparing for graduate school.

My mother, a public school teacher with 18 years of experience in Hawaii, suggested that I apply for a teaching or substitute teaching job. Being a young adult just starting out, however, I was forced to make my employment decision based not on social concerns but economic needs.

Therefore, I am now busing tables at a restaurant. I work about six hours a night and my projected income for the year will be between $25,000 and $30,000 including benefits. In comparison, the average starting salary for a full-time public school teacher in Hawaii is $28,000 annually.

What's my point? That I work about 30 hours a week, my work stays at the "office" and I have ample time to pursue other interests or jobs, if I so desire, during the other 18 hours of the day. How, then, can Cayetano justify a pay raise for his executives when young, potential educators can make the same money busing tables as teaching?

The absurdity of Cayetano's statements and opinions make me question the driving forces behind this man's actions.

Kainoa Lincoln
Kailua-Kona

Wish that aloha spirit could be exported

I just returned from a trip to Honolulu. It is "back home" to me since Hawaii is where I was born and raised, and where I've returned many times.

However, this time I felt something that I hadn't fully appreciated on previous trips. Maybe it's because I've been away for almost 40 years. This visit made me remember that Hawaii's most treasured asset is its people -- the wonderful, friendly and open-hearted of many races. They are all Hawaiians at heart.

From the airport security personnel, shuttle driver and waitress who served us at TGIF in Waikiki, to the clerks at the various shops we visited throughout the island, the aloha spirit thrived. Too bad it cannot be transplanted to California.

It made it very hard to leave. Mahalo and aloha from the depths of my heart to the people of Hawaii.

Ben Holokai
Westminster, Calif.

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