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A little rain shouldn't stop training exercise

Joe Watanabe's Feb. 24 letter said the crash involving the Army Black Hawk helicopters may have been due to a "poor leadership decision." That is unfounded and erroneous.

This tragic and unfortunate accident occurred during a necessary training mission to ready soldiers for actual wartime duties.

How can we possibly expect them to be prepared for the harsh conditions of battle if they train only in ideal conditions? Would we find it acceptable for these soldiers to refuse to perform necessary operations or rescue missions during a crisis because the weather was less than perfect? Of course not.

For the safety of their own lives, and that of others, they must be able to perform proficiently under a variety of undesirable conditions. The best training is done under conditions as close to reality as possible.

My sympathy and prayers go out to the friends and families of these courageous soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice for this great country.

B. Massacani

Another reason to carry concealed weapons

Well, it seems Diane Chang has found another reason that she and others in Hawaii should be allowed to carry a concealed firearm in Hawaii: dangerous dogs (Changing Hawaii, Feb. 26).

The laws that she and others want to enact against the owners of vicious dogs will not stop dog attacks. They are merely feel-good measures.

Just as there are vicious people "out there," there are vicious dogs that hurt and kill pets and people. Calling 911 at the onset of an attack is not going to save the life of a smaller dog or its owner.

What is needed is an immediate response, since it takes time for the police to get there. By then, it may be too late for the pet and/or its owner under attack.

If a person like Hoichiro Inui insists on walking his dog at 1:30 a.m., he should take adequate security measures. At the very least, he should carry some type of pepper spray. Otherwise, a concealed firearm makes good sense against violent predators -- man or beast.

For a disabled or retired person, a "Saturday night special" makes perfect sense, since it is cheap and probably won't be shot too often. It should carry enough bullets to ward off a pack of dogs, not just one.

After all, not everyone has a neighbor like Inui who is handy with a four-iron.

Debbie and Vernon Okamura

Sympathy is wasted on the very rich

There seems to be a lot of misplaced pity in high places these days for the super-rich, a small minority of the citizenry who allegedly pay the vast bulk of taxes.

But the super-rich don't really have to pay any more taxes than the moderately rich, or even the fairly poor, do. It's a matter of choice.

If property taxes are too much of a burden, the rich can give their property away and rent a place to live like the rest of us.

The rich are likely to pay more sales tax than the less rich, because they buy designer jeans rather than second-hand shorts at a thrift store, for example, but they don't "have" to.

The main complaint is income taxes. Well, the old saying goes, "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen." That applies here.

Who is better situated to live high on the hog with no income at all than the rich? Nobody with a reasonable income pays unreasonable income taxes.

Bart Mathias

Quotables "Making money, to me, is the real cage. Making music, if it really touches somebody, is the real pay." denise ISLE MUSICIAN, POET AND WRITER WHO WANTS TO BE KNOWN SIMPLY BY HER LOWER-CASE FIRST NAME Whose work is featured in a mini concert at the Moiliili Blind Fish Tank tonight "The public employee unions are having a field day in this Legislature. The fears that I expressed back in November are coming to pass." Ed Case DEMOCRATIC REPRESENTATIVE Worried that his prediction of no real change in state finances this year is coming true because of the House majority

Governor has tried to improve schools

Regarding Michael E. Duncan's Feb. 21 letter, the state has supported its teachers.

In 1997, teachers were given a 17 percent pay raise (Hawaii teachers currently rank No. 18 in the nation in compensation). The governor is now offering another 11 percent increase.

The state cannot, however, afford the additional 22 percent pay raise the union is seeking and still fulfill the many other educational needs that Duncan points out, such as textbooks and computers.

The state has worked to put in place structural reforms to improve education. In order to relieve overcrowding, we cut in half the amount of time it takes to build a school. In the past six years, more new campuses have been built than at any time in history.

The state has also added more than 2,000 full-time positions to the Department of Education, largely to educate our children with special needs.

Six years ago, Hawaii had the shortest school year in the entire country. Now, it's been extended by seven days and our state ranks in the upper half.

Do we need to do more for education? You bet. There is no denying the fact, though, that education has remained at the top of the state's list.

We need to give teachers a decent raise, fulfill other educational needs and provide basic services to those who most need their government at a cost that doesn't cripple the people of this state.

Jackie Kido
Director of Communications
Office of the Governor

Bush should push for clean energy

Thanks for featuring Charles Levendosky's Feb. 26 column, "Bush launches attacks on public lands." It confirms our worst fears. Our oil president wants to convert public lands into private profit centers for the fossil fuel cartel.

What if these corporate welfare recipients shunned bulldozers, earth-movers, drills and trucks to scrape and gouge and instead poured their mountains of money into harvesting energy from the earth's abundant clean sources? A minor shift by these behemoths to photovoltaic (sunlight-to-electricity) cells could transform most buildings in the nation from energy-drainers to energy-producers.

Their investing in "distributed generation" (mini electricity and heat-generating plants) could further reduce our subservience to OPEC nations and create a whole new American industry.

In Hawaii we know that natural, beautiful public lands are far more valuable than those ravaged by corporate welfare. Witness over 2 million visitors to pristine Haleakala last year. Look at Maui's packed hotels during whale-watching season. We need to remind our leaders that Mother Nature is elegant, beautiful and highly profitable for ourselves and our grandchildren.

Howard C. Wiig

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