Sunday, August 26, 2001
City Council members bring shame to office
Is anyone out there outraged about our City Council criminals? Does anyone feel disgusted that these people stay in office even though they have brought shame on themselves and the offices we elected them to? Does anyone have any ideas?Doug Oakley
Condit isn't as lucky as our Council members
Calif. Rep. Gary Condit could have made a complete and glorious end of all his troubles if only he had come here and spoken before our Campaign Spending Committee members.If they can give Honolulu City Council members Rene Mansho and Jon Yoshimura a gray-area OK for their transgressions, then they could forgive Condit all the affairs he did not have.
Please, show me one -- only one -- elected person in this state who is capable of becoming a role model for youth within the next 20 years and who will not be indicted for anything.
Arnold Van Fossen
Hurricane fund rebate should be rejected
Certain facts should be considered by those who are calling for a rebate of moneys held by the Hawaii Hurricane Relief Fund, which spent all of the premiums collected from its policy holders on the purchase of reinsurance.The annual purchase of reinsurance enabled the fund to maximize the amount of annual coverage provided. Just as with homeowner's insurance, the annual premium is paid for annual coverage, with no rebate expected.
The remaining moneys in the fund are comprised of an assessment on property and casualty premiums and a fee on filed mortgages. These two revenues cannot be refunded without jeopardizing the federal tax- exempt status of the fund.
The fund's tax-exempt status saves millions of dollars each year. This enables the the fund both to buy more protection for its policy holders and to build reserves for claims payment.
The fund is not going out of existence, but merely suspending its operations. It may again be needed to remedy a scarcity in homeowner's insurance and to provide an alternative to expensive forced placement of insurance by mortgage lenders. When the fund starts up again, it will again face huge risk exposure and will need its reserves to pay claims of future policy holders. If we want the fund to do its job in the event of a hurricane, we need to get behind its proper funding, not attempt to dismantle it.
Lloyd Lim
Acting Executive Director
Hawaii Hurricane Relief Fund
Kids' perfect manners shone at stadium
This is a tribute to three elementary public school students who behaved admirably at the recent Father Bray Classic at Aloha Stadium.These part-Hawaiian (or Samoan or Filipino) boys sat with a father. Dad could completely focus on both the Waipahu-Pac 5 and the Iolani-Kaimuki games because his three charges sat politely, chatted quietly and viewed both games with no verbal arguments or physical altercations. They all had come to watch high school football; they were not cheering any particular team.
Dad left and must have told them to meet him at a certain time. Soon after, the eldest stood up and told the other two boys, "Pick up you rubbish." They all dutifully did so. "There's one more under that seat."
I was so proud of these young citizens and had to ask the name of their school. "Kanoelani", answered one boy.
They departed with my words of praise and a silent admiration of their family upbringing and school training. You made my day.
Jeanne Chun
Retired school teacher
Not using your UH ticket? Give it away
The best way to demonstrate support for University of Hawaii athletics is for large numbers of fans to attend games.In previous years, thousands of tickets were purchased but not used. Please, don't let tickets go to waste. I urge both private and corporate season ticket-holders to give their tickets away if they aren't going to the games. Perhaps a neighbor, friend, co-worker, client or a fellow church or club member would appreciate them. Consider the paper carrier or just someone who has been kind to you. If time is short, check with local radio stations to see if they can be used as giveaways.
Companies can use a lottery to distribute unwanted tickets to their employees. And don't forget to include secretaries and the guys on the loading dock. Donating tickets to such organizations as Big Brothers and Big Sisters is a solution with possible tax benefits.
Remember, large and noisy crowds are a big part of the home court advantage.
Kent R. Youel
Inouye's views offset half-truths on Makua
Mahalo for presenting the other side of the story in the Army's continuing need to train at Makua Valley.The Star-Bulletin's front-page story on Sen. Daniel Inouye's views last Sunday and editorial comments on Monday were sorely needed to offset the half-truths conveyed in other recent media releases.
The Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii and its Military Affairs Council have actively supported the Army's need for its training range in Makua Valley.
While the rhetoric has centered on environmental concerns, our top concerns are the thousands of soldiers and marines whose lives are at risk if we fail to provide these front-line troops with the opportunity to train for combat. This would be tragic and inexcusable.
We agree wholeheartedly with your assessment of the need for candor. We are in a critical period where unprecedented reforms are being contemplated in U.S. defense policy. Base closures and the repositioning of military units will happen and could have far-reaching effects on Hawaii.
The economic effect alone will be devastating to many in Hawaii. Rest assured that the availability of training areas such as Makua Valley is being watched closely and will remain foremost in the minds of Pentagon planners and legislators.
We must refrain from indifference and seriously address the implications of impending change. Hawaii's silent majority must sound off and demand action.
Ken Sandefur
Chairman Military Affairs Council
Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii
" 'Firm' means exactly that, and 'firm' means Sept. 17. We're ready to go." [QUOTABLES]
City prosecutor, on the rejection of former Honolulu Police Officer Clyde Arakawa's request that his manslaughter trial be moved to Oregon instead of beginning on schedule in Honolulu.
"General Myers is a man of steady resolve and determined leadership."
Nominating Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, former Honolulu-based commander of the Pacific Air Forces, as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Fluoride would ruin Hawaii's sweet water
Once again, Hawaii residents are having to deal with an event being shoved down our throats. Fluoridation, while helpful to growing children, has not proven to provide any benefits for adults. While it is noble of the state to want to help the kids of Hawaii receive fluoride, why does it have to be at the expense of an ever-increasing aging population?Hawaii has the world's best- tasting water. Our residents are lucky enough to not have to purchase gallons of water or expensive filters. I'm sure that carrying around the bottled water, as our mainland friends do, is not entirely a fashion statement but more of a reflection of the taste of their H2O.
The filtered and bottled waters arriving on our store shelves cannot even compare to what flows out of the faucets. Fluoridation would ruin the beauty of our drinking water.
I agree that the teeth of the children of Hawaii are in a sad state but there are other solutions for furnishing them with the much-needed fluoride. One of them would be to put fluoride in the milk or juice that come with their school lunches. Another would be to distribute the ever-fashionable bottled water containing the daily requirement of fluoride. Or how about chewable fluoride pills?
Hawaii's lawmakers have good intentions, but I urge them to think about this further.
Roy Gushiken
TEACHERS' DISPUTE DRAGS ON
For the first time in my short teaching career, I am thinking of leaving the profession. I feel betrayed by the governor I helped elect and by the teachers union.
Love of teaching isn't enoughEducation is my second career. I am a retired licensed electrician who went back to college to earn a teaching degree. I knew I would not get rich, but I expected better working conditions.
The Hawaii State Teachers Association has always supported Governor Cayetano, yet teachers have been left for three years without a contract, without raises, without resources and without support from the man they elected.
If the governor and his head negotiator -- the one that doesn't read what he has agreed to -- were to shadow me for a day, I am willing to bet they would sign that contract. I arrive at school about 6 a.m. with students waiting outside my classroom. I teach life science to classes with 25 to 29 students, many of whom are special education children who need more attention. I also plan lessons, counsel and assess each child. When classes are done, I hurry to the part-time job I took to pay for my teaching degree. I return home around midnight, go to sleep and get up the next day to do it all over again.
I am sick of the HSTA leadership who sends us back to work without a signed contract. I am an elected union representative, but I do not have the time for foolish union meetings that lead to nothing.
I love my students. I love teaching. But our public schools have fallen behind other school systems and the situation will only get worse.
Ernest Holler
Aiea Intermediate School
State officials need character education
It seems the height of irony that as the public school system has instituted character education, our state government has decided to show its collective lack of character by failing to honor the contract negotiated with the Hawaii teachers after a 19-day strike.It is time to stop parsing words and hiding behind loopholes. Instead, showing good faith in the assumption that the two-year negotiation applied to all areas of the contract unless expressly outlined otherwise would be the best course.
Why? Because character is important -- more important than portraits of the governor, for example, and other ways our taxpayer money is wasted. Because education is important -- it is time for the state to pay money rather than lip service. Because it is time to make tough fiscal choices -- our legislators and state executive officers should sacrifice their affluent pensions and plan retiring on Social Security, IRAs, 401Ks and annuities just like their constituents do and stop siphoning our money away to the lawyers because everything must be litigated.
If the state government made an error in negotiations, then it is time to face the music and learn for the next round of negotiations. If the state negotiators were disingenuous in contract negotiations, then shame on them. Because character does count, we need new state negotiators if this is the cause of the problem.
It is shameful and wasteful to drag this process out and advance the tone that the teachers and students are not important. Honor the contract and pay the teachers without further delay.
Ruth Brown
Did supernatural forces lead to dispute?
On reading your Aug. 22 story, "Teachers union says bonus was for 2 years -- Officials were to ask the Legislature for funds, union says," one might begin to believe supernatural forces have been unleashed for a wicked purpose.Sandra McFarlane, the Department of Education personnel director, was quoted: "When we went back to check on the numbers of who had a master's degree related to their area of teaching, per the superintendent's request, then the numbers started getting larger."
How shocking! Knees buckle at the very thought!
Picture it now: innocent DOE officials beavering away in the bowels of the Liliuokalani Building late at night in response to an urgent request by the superintendent. Suddenly they throw open the door of a little-used office and what do they discover? Dreadful numbers growing like slimey green mold on desks, chairs, file cabinets, shelves, on the very floor itself!
One can only suppose there was nearby a nefarious Greek chorus of (gasp) public school teachers clothed in black, dancing and chanting, "Grow, grow!" while clapping their erasers and tracing pentagrams in the chalk dust within which they stepped to protect themselves from demons thus summoned up out of the vasty deep.
Pity the DOE officials and the governor's negotiating team. The poor things never stood a chance against these unanticipated forces of statistical menace. Thank heavens we have a governor who will bravely "dig in his heels" -- as you headlined it -- to ward off these teachers and their spells.
What will these hideous teachers resort to next? Sticking pins in a Cayetano doll?
But for McFarlane and the Star-Bulletin, we might never have known. Hush now! Is that the flapping of wings I hear in the dead of night?
Pass the garlic.
Thomas E. Stuart
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii
Rules are needed to maintain reef fish
The Department of Aquatics Resources is scheduling meetings throughout the state to hear opinions about proposed fishing regulations. Many fish available to shore and reef fishermen will have new size and catch limits. Many minimum sizes will be increased and the number of fish allowed to be taken will be reduced.Regulations are long overdue. The current limitations are not sufficient for the fish to reach a maturity level for reproductive purposes.
Before these rules are implemented, methods of mass harvest, primarily net usage, must be reassessed. On a commercial basis, there is no limit on the amount of fish that can be taken from the reef. Length of net, size of the net eye, method of use, and even more stringent seasonal useage need to be addressed.
The bait fish that come into reef areas and bays -- akule, opelu and nehu -- are netted in whole schools (in some cases by the tons) and taken out of the food chain of the reef. This affects the whole reef system. This is a very efficient process just as clear cutting a forest is efficient to the logging industry.
I am not a biologist. I am just a fisherman who catches fish to feed my family and people who can no longer fish. I do know that more bait fish available on the reef will allow more of the other species of fish to prosper. The ocean resources of other states have crashed and as they got serious about their resources, they placed restrictions on catch sizes and catch limits. But one common thread was the serious restriction on net useage and mass harvest.
The ancients had a system called the kapu. In times of limited resources, the kapu would be enacted. In my mind, the mass harvest techniques would have been first on the kapu list. This would not be a popular choice, but it would be the right thing to do to save the reef.
Collins Tomei
Hilo, Hawaii
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