States get addicted to gambling money

Scenario: A crisis in Hawaii's educational system is created; strikes are prepared; disasters are predicted. Then a solution: gambling.

Result: Educators and the people of Hawaii are the losers. Gambling lobbyists and consultants (and people behind the scene) are the winners.

Beware of this cloaking device; it has hoodwinked many in 48 other states. Now they can't get rid of the scourge; they are addicted to this "easy" money.

Jean Yamasaki Toyama

Hawaii is missing gambling gravy train

I am a kamaaina on the mainland, originally from Hilo. The amount of money from Hawaii that is going to Las Vegas and other mainland casinos should stay in Hawaii. Just look at the success of the Indian casinos.

Rodney Akiyama
La Mirada, Calif.

[Quotables] "It's a done deal, unless they find iwi (bones)." Roy Benham, Opponent of the city's nature education center at Hanauma Bay, on the futility of the protest against the center that took place Sunday along Kalanianaole Highway. Excavation for the center was to have begun today. "For years we were in a kind of war with the world and with ourselves, and now something is over -- we don't know exactly what, but it may allow us a certain peace, I think." Ivan Radovanovic, Serbian journalist and author, on the arrest and pending trial of former Yugoslav dictator, Slobodan Milosevic

Good teams are key to bowl game success

Having been associated with the now defunct Japan Bowl, which worked closely with the Hula Bowl during the reign of the late Mackey Yanagisawa, the plight of the two all-stars games in Honolulu caught my attention.

I don't think the brain powers of the Aloha and Oahu Bowl are addressing the main issue facing the faltering games.

It's really simple -- the team match-ups. I know it's not easy to get teams with drawing power but throwing two teams into a game with no local interest isn't cutting it.

I mean, 50 bucks to watch Arizona State play Wake Forest? I wouldn't pay 50 cents to see those two teams on Christmas day.

George Yoshinaga

Voting forms need to be corrected

Voter registration forms have a serious error which should have been corrected months ago. The forms now in use have been known to be unconstitutional for more than a year now. The yellow-pages phone book has a voter registration form right after the map section; and forms are easily available at satellite city halls, libraries and places where driver's licenses are issued.

Item 11B was ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in the Rice vs. Cayetano decision on Feb. 23, 2000. It is outrageous that the most fundamental right of citizenship is still fouled by a racial question confronting everyone at the moment they register to vote.

This problem must be corrected before the new phone books are distributed, and before large numbers of new voters (or those whose addresses have changed) begin registering for the next election.

In addition, all voter registration information held by any state government agency should be purged of racial information previously gathered. When will our government officials finally do the right thing?

Kenneth R. Conklin
Kaneohe

Cayetano should stand firm to control costs

We are in a trying and financially difficult period in Hawaii history. For six years, Hawaii has been in a financial crisis caused by, among many things, corrupt past administrations, an excess number of state employees and out-of-control labor unions. Governor Cayetano has been willing to stand up and control or eliminate the pressures for excess spending, tax increases and fiscal mismanagement unlike any other politician in Hawaii today.

Governor Cayetano must not give in to any unreasonable demands being made by special interest groups or unions. The financial welfare of all the people of Hawaii is now at stake.

Ed Buck

Teachers supported Cayetano twice

As a local business owner, I support pay raises for teachers in Hawaii. As a former University of Hawaii student, I am against tuition raises that place additional economic burdens on students already struggling financially to survive during our state's endless recession.

Having said that, the teachers' and professors' unions should take a hard look at the decisions they have made that have contributed to the current situation.

During his first election, Cayetano promised to help teachers, but he did not. However, the unions supported him in his re-election campaign against Republican candidate Linda Lingle. And, once again, he broke his promise to the teachers and sold them out. He also appointed the members of the Board of Regents, who voted to raise tuition.

Cayetano only won against Lingle by a few thousand votes. Had the unions supported Lingle, I am certain that she would have honored her commitment to the teachers and the university, providing the teachers with adequate pay raises and the university the necessary autonomy to regulate itself.

In 2002, when the Democratic machine begins courting union votes, I hope the teachers and professors in Hawaii remember what their party and its governor did to them -- twice.

Joshua Hubbell
Kailua

Striking professors can earn extra bucks

If you haven't lined up day care for your public school kids yet, don't panic. Just call one of your old University of Hawaii professors. They'll have plenty of time on their hands, and you can probably offer them better pay than the university.

John Sender

Crusade against teachers is wasteful

As a taxpayer and parent of a public school student, I'm appalled at the amount of tax dollars Governor Cayetano is wasting on his vindictive campaign against public school teachers.

He is running full-page advertisements in the newspaper and has hired a marketing and research company to call up Hawaii residents to try and sway them to say that the impending Hawaii State Teachers Association strike is the fault of the teachers.

It amazes me how the governor has the nerve to say the state can afford to purchase textbooks and computers only if teachers give up the raises they're bargaining for. Does he realize how many textbooks and computers he could have purchased already with the tax dollars he's already wasted on his spiteful crusade against teachers?

He doesn't deserve to call himself the "education governor."

Governor Cayetano, stop wasting our time and money and get your priorities straight!

Linda Anderson
Mililani

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