Good Friday shouldn't be a state holiday

On Good Friday I was at work because I am not a state, county or city employee.

I am a Christian and strongly believe in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. But I do not get to take the day off from work because I work in the private sector.

I think it's great that the state, county and city recognize this day as a holiday, but I highly doubt it is for the same reasons as I would. I think it's just another lame excuse for public workers to have another paid holiday.

After all, isn't there a law about separation of church and the state? Isn't the state breaking a law by taking Good Friday as a holiday? Isn't this mixing church and state? It seems so to me. Where is Mitch Kahle? Why wasn't he at the Capitol ranting and raving about taking Friday as a holiday?

Oh, that's right, the Capitol was closed.

Joey Tynecki
Aiea

[Quotables] "I brought my coffee thing. I've got something to put under my head if I sleep on the floor." Joan Husted, Hawaii teachers union representative, saying she was prepared for a marathon negotiating session as talks between the state and striking teachers resumed Friday. "You've got to know that no pilot intentionally takes his horizontal stabilizer and sticks it in the propeller of an EP-3." Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense, asserting that the collision between a Chinese fighter jet and a U.S. surveillance plane was an accident caused by the Chinese pilot flying too close to the slower American plane.

Recognition bill ignores others' rights

Living in Hawaii with many friends and neighbors who have Hawaiian blood is wonderful and irreplaceable. Had I even a drop of Hawaiian, I would be most proud. I harbor no malice toward anyone due to race. Nevertheless, I feel unconvinced that the rights of sovereignty and self-determination belong only to Hawaiian natives.

When the revolution that overthrew the Kingdom of Hawaii occurred, nearly three-fourths of the entire population were not Hawaiians. Other races were here at the invitation of the Kingdom of Hawaii. Some white men were even appointed as chiefs by Kamehameha I. The earliest Portuguese person was an aide to Kamehameha I.

My Portuguese ancestors owned property and businesses in the Kingdom when it was overthrown. They had come here by invitation of the Hawaiian government, and so far as I know, they had nothing to do with the revolution.

By specific provisions of a series of constitutions, the Kingdom guaranteed inalienable rights to life, liberty, property, safety and happiness to everyone. It is unfair that only Hawaiians have the right to determine their future to the exclusion of others when they did not have that exclusive right under the Kingdom of Hawaii.

Hawaiians and non-Hawaiians alike lost their rights to participate in the government of the Kingdom of Hawaii. Should the descendants of other subjects also be allowed to regain what they lost, including benefits derived from ceded lands? Herein lies the racial hue of the sovereignty movement, i.e. the exclusion of persons without Hawaiian blood from decisions shaping the restoration of sovereignty and the enjoyment of what they were entitled to as subjects of the Kingdom.

Senators Akaka and Inouye, proponents of the Hawaiian recognition bill, are both fine men who love Hawaii. They are simply wrong this time.

Paul de Silva
Hilo, Hawaii

Don't kick Mansho; she's already down

I was blazing mad to read in the April 12 issue of the Star Bulletin that a group of people in Mililani have started a petition for a recall and impeachment movement to oust City Councilwoman Rene Mansho.

Mansho has stated she wants to complete her term, and she will still be effective in representing her district. She also cited the astronomical cost of holding a recall vote and a separate election to select a replacement.

Let's not forget all the good things she supported and accomplished for her district. Some vindictive people are trying to get back at her for the purpose of revenge and stomp her when she's down.

I'm strictly against this movement and urge all the people in Mansho's district not to sign this petition.

Edwin S. Imamura
Wahiawa

Finance Committee let sun shine on budget

A free press is essential to the survival of our democratic institutions, and the Star-Bulletin is to be commended for drawing attention to the issue of public dissemination of the Legislature's budget worksheets.

I share the paper's opinion that the public has an inherent right to expect its elected officials to be both timely and accurate in disclosing information about the government.

However, the April 11 Star-Bulletin editorial had me quoted out of context from my own April 6 press release. I would like to note for the record that I very clearly stated in that same release that public access to the House Finance Committee's budget worksheets was already available.

Because of that omission, the editorial distinctly but inaccurately implied that I somehow oppose or fear disclosure of information or thought, which rather ironically underscores the very point I was trying to convey. Elected officials may eventually come to reconsider how they avail themselves to the media, lest they find their transient or evolving thoughts about pending matters taken out of context and used against them to further someone else's agenda.

Rep. Marcus R. Oshiro
40th District (D-Wahiawa-Whitmore Village)
Majority Leader

Picket line 'ceremony' honors teacher

One day last week while I was on the picket line of the teachers' strike at King Intermediate in Kaneohe, I witnessed a very disturbing incident.

Carole Maeda, a Windward resource teacher, was picketing with her fellow teachers when she was called aside by a district office secretary to sign for a piece of paper.

The "paper" turned out to be the teacher's 30-year Certificate of Appreciation from the state of Hawaii. Oh, yes, she also received a koa pen.

The irony of it all!

This very special teacher is picketing for the second time in a career that spanned 32, not 30, years. Not only did Mrs. Maeda receive her certificate two years late, but her bosses in the state Department of Education did not have the courtesy or decency to wait until the strike was over to honor her years of service.

This is just another egregious example of how the state continues to dishonor its teachers. For all the young teachers who witnessed how the state "dissed" Mrs. Maeda, it must have made them wonder, "Is that all you get after 30 years?"

A police officer who was also watching said, "Thirty years? At least she should have gotten a gold watch."

Or a pay raise.

Valerie Y. Baldovi
Kaneohe

>> HSTA Web site
>> UHPA Web site
>> State Web site
>> Governor's strike Web site
>> DOE Web site

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