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Treatment center teens could use sympathy, too

Wouldn't it be wonderful if the people of Pearl City and Rep. Nobu Yonamine could give the same encouragement, support and forgiveness to the 10 teen-aged boys who are now living in a cage in their district at a sex offender treatment center?

They, too, "...in spite of (their) own personal conduct...have to learn from (their) mistakes, improve and make it as positive as possible." These young offenders are already getting professional help.

Perhaps justice will prevail and on March 6, a district judge will sentence Yonamine to 500 hours of community service at the sex offender treatment center. Maybe then the community could teach these teens what their families couldn't.

Surely, the legislator's constituents can show these boys the same support and forgiveness they have shown Yonamine.

Pauline Arellano
Mililani

Hate crimes bills do not restrict free speech

Your Feb. 28 editorial regarding hate crimes legislation misinterprets the letter and intent of the proposed law.

Actions speak louder than words. Senate bill 951 and its companion bill in the House, HB 390, are intended to punish felons for violent acts, not speech. Criminals' words (e.g. confessions) are often used against them in the court of law to determine motive and guilt. Hate crimes legislation will not change that.

Tougher sentencing based on motivation is consistent with other laws that increase punishment based on intent such as premeditated murder, libel and possession of drugs with intent to sell.

First Amendment proponents such as the ACLU, the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission, the Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women, the Japanese-American Citizens League and many other organizations all support this legislation. So should you.

Holly J. Huber
Civil Unions-Civil Rights Movement

Legislation against hate can be two-edged sword

I testified against the hate crimes bill in the previous legislative session. Tolerance is as thin a thread as the humor in a joke by Frank DeLima or a song by Bob Dylan. The government is violent because it reflects human nature, which is violent. There is no such thing as a reservoir of good will which the government can tap by merely telling us to be good.

There are many examples of sanctioned intolerance in Hawaii's history.

During World War I, every judge in the Territory of Hawaii signed a petition declaring that the enemy found pleasure in the mutilation of small children.

In November 1918, a man in A'ala Park shot another man because he had criticized the Navy League (or so the perpetrator said, the victim having succumbed). He was found "not guilty" and was carried out of the courtroom on the shoulders of a jubilant mob.

A Catholic chaplain stationed at Fort Shafter, Capt. Franz Feinler, was sentenced to 10 years at hard labor after returning from the Western Front for failing to corroborate the German atrocities (i.e. the deliberate hacking of limbs from the bodies of small children) at a meeting at the Richards Street Y held expressly for that purpose.

The Hawaii representative to Congress introduced legislation to force German Americans to wear alien enemy buttons in the relocation camp at Kihei, Maui.

The Senate Judiciary Committee likes to think of itself as the organized force of good, but the hate crimes bill is akin to mob hysteria. Demonization of criminals is counterproductive and leads to sympathy for the devil.

Richard Thompson

Support of local film talent is needed

Just about the time "Baywatch" was sending out feelers to film in Hawaii, a few local industry professionals were looking into the idea of setting up a consortium. It would have been composed of Hawaii-born or resident talent, aided by state funds, in order to get talented locals to write, act and produce quality films and television projects for world-wide exposure.

Now that the glitz and glamor have gone, what a shame this idea could not have been pursued while the money was there and/or earmarked for such purposes. With the economy shuffling, who knows if there will be any funds available to give this idea life.

If not, what a sad waste of talent.

I pray not. Hawaii should be supporting its own in this area. You want writers? Actors? Producers? Look in your own backyard; they're there and they're hopeful.

Rita Ractliffe
Van Nuys, Calif.

Authorities refuse to enforce some laws

Police, lifeguards and other officials are not enforcing the leash law, the law about keeping dogs out of parks or laws in general.

This is symptomatic of the attitude of police that prevails today. Like with the New Year's Eve fireworks, the police are essentially saying that they simply don't feel like enforcing the law.

I'm from the Lanikai area, and people regularly speed and cross center lines. Even driving over the Pali, the average speed is 10 miles over the posted limit; motorists weave in and out of traffic who are going 15-25 miles over the speed limit.

Only when somebody gets killed or on certain special occasions do the police make a big to-do about giving out tickets.

Another example: In Kailua, and probably in other areas, people regularly park their cars in the beach park, oftentimes right under signs that declare a $500 fine for parking there. This can be seen on weekends and on any holiday, yet police do nothing about it.

My theory is that the police would rather be liked than feared. So they are letting people get away with breaking the law.

Sandy Cathey
Kailua

Tax plan will only benefit the rich

The president's tax plan (scam) is quite simple: pennies for the poor and big bucks for Bush's buddies.

David Rezachek

Quotables "We're having so much joy doing this show that we laugh the whole time we're rehearsing it. The minute they put on a nun's habit, it just changes their lives." Ron Bright DIRECTOR OF THE CASTLE HIGH SCHOOL BRIGHT THEATRE'S PERFORMANCE OF "NUNSENSE" On the fun of coming out of retirement to direct the musical comedy "Carrie practically raised him. She loved him as much as... her own children." Tammy Escorzon FRIEND OF CARRIE PATTISON-ADRIC Lamenting her friend's murder, allegedly by her friend's brother, Dante Pattison

Proposal on UH faculty pay is disheartening

Some University of Hawaii faculty feel outrage over the attitude of the governor about our desire for a pay raise, and his suggestion that instead of distributing our nine months of salary over 12 months the way it has been for at least 30 years, it be divided into nine payments so that faculty members pay for their own health plans during the summer.

I feel more disgust than outrage over this idea.

I like to think that I help people learn and that is why I am here. I don't stop thinking at 5 p.m. like I did when I had a 9-to-5 job many years ago. I suppose, then, that I should stop thinking from May 20 to Aug. 15 or so if we have to follow the governor's plan to only pay us during the time we are on duty.

In a sense, I have always felt that students' learning problems are my problems, too. But when the governor comes up with this kind of proposal, education becomes his problem, not mine, even if I have to starve.

I feel like just leaving the computer on, turning around, leaving books and notes open, and walking out the door, come what may.

Dave Ashworth
Associate Professor of Japanese
University of Hawaii at Manoa

Cayetano and Marcos have a lot in common

I used to think Cayetano was just "Bumbling Ben" who didn't have a clue. Now I see he has more in common with the dictator and president for life, the late Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos.

Cayetano says he can find no way to pay a reasonable wage to teachers and professors. Yet he had no trouble finding a sneaky way to circumvent the state Legislature and use taxpayer money to buy the former Hemmeter Building for the state's art collection.

Cayetano says state funds are scarce, but yet he was able to take a trip to the Bahamas to see an "aquarium." Will someone tell him that if we take care of the aina, Hawaii is one big aquarium?

Pay the teachers and professors before we commit to more black-hole boondoggles like the Hawaii Convention Center.

Del Pranke
Pahoa, Hawaii

HSTA is spreading lies to get teacher raises

As a substitute teacher in the Central Oahu district, I was stunned to hear a representative of the Hawaii State Teachers Association on the television news that there are substitute teachers in Hawaii classrooms who are only high school graduates. I was also stunned to hear her say that the average full-time teacher earns an average of just $29,000 a year.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Under current Hawaii guidelines, applicants must have a bachelor's degree and complete a state-approved teacher certification. Some districts may hire a substitute teacher without teacher-training on an as-need basis, but the bachelor's degree requirement is etched in stone.

Furthermore, I know dozens of veteran full-time teachers who earn well above $50,000 annually, while the teacher-recruiting brochures openly publish beginning salaries of $33,000. Nearly every substitute I know is currently working on a master's or doctorate degree.

What is the HSTA doing? Are its representatives so desperate for a pay raise that they are willing to lie about salaries and turn on their own co-workers who are substitute teachers, who on a moment's notice must dash to school when full-time teachers are absent and for half the lowest teacher's pay with no benefits? Shame!

Telling half-truths is unethical in our profession and stepping way out of line. Do us a favor, HSTA: If you are not going to extend membership to us, leave our unprotected category out of it. Now we will have to carry our credentials to school in our pockets.

Raphael Eredita

Don't trust your eyes to just anyone

Thank you for printing the other side of the story with your Feb. 19 story, "LASIK surgery draws critical eye." People have been caught up with the price wars between laser centers. Cornea cuts, reduced night vision, irreversible blindness, star bursts and halos, and wrinkled corneal flap are very serious possible outcomes.

Yet, LASIK is the fastest growing elective surgery today.

Now here's the spooky part. Oklahoma state allows optometrists (a non-medical practitioner with less than half the education required of a medical physician) to perform eye laser surgery! And, up until June of last year, so were Minnesota optometrists!

These are your eyes and you don't have spares. Be careful.

Kimi McLofbel
Kailua

Long-term care insurance is a major concern

Hawaii needs to move on developing a long-term care insurance program to help all of us who can't afford the high premiums of private insurance but are willing to pay our fair share.

I can no longer handle my aged mother, who is in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease.

I am reaching the age when long-term care will become a personal problem, and I have no children to help me.

Volunteer help for the elderly is already stretched to the limit.

A. Ralph Keller

Ocean is being ignored as energy source

With increasingly expensive electricity, gas and oil, why are we not harnessing the tireless sea? My by-the-shore place at Diamond Head is virtually shaken without pause by strong, beautiful waves. Incessant wave action is mechanical energy not being converted to electrical power.

To mere common sense citizens, it appears painfully simple and environmentally feasible. What responsible agencies, people and institutes can we contact for action and/or answers?

George Swift

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