Paradise is full of contradictions

The traffic-cam program is dead, but I see more police presence now.

We're going to cap gasoline prices, but raise gasoline taxes for road repairs.

Teachers get raises, but some will lose their jobs.

Lawmakers are raiding funds to make up for poor legislative spending, but we still put the same people back in office.

Legalizing gambling is unholy, but we spend millions in Vegas doing unholy things.

Smoking is bad for everyone, they say, but smoking at the state Capitol is OK.

There are too many cars, but we keep buying new cars. Let's make more roads, they say, but the roads will never catch up with the cars.

Build houses in Ewa/Kapolei and they will come, they said. They came, all right. Now it takes three times longer to get to town, on a good day.

But that's the price we pay for living in paradise. Just roll down your window, and say it like Danny: ALOOOOHAAA!

Thomas Haae
Waianae

Typical of lawmakers to pay off van cams

Thank God the camera vans are gone, along with the stress they created. But giving $5 million to $8 million to the operators of the system to break the contract is insane.

However, having seen how our state lawmakers work for the past 12 years, it seems par for the course. I'm a Democrat and vote as one, but the Democrats in Hawaii have put a real strain on my loyalties.

Norman Chalmers

Gov should explain renaming of tunnels

A good man devotes his career to public service, culminating in a well-deserved honor. More than anything, having the H-3 tunnels named after him made it all worthwhile for Tetsuo Harano.

Then, in a baffling move, Ben Cayetano renamed the tunnels -- without public notice, without informing the Harano family.

That's not right. Nothing against the man whom Caye-tano now honors, former Gov. John Burns. But don't Harano and the taxpaying public deserve an explanation?

I've known the Harano family since childhood, and they would be the last ones to make a fuss over this. But they are terribly hurt.

What's going on, governor? Wouldn't you want to be told if your name was stripped from a project dedicated in your honor?

Dalton Tanonaka
Hawaii Kai

DOE doesn't play fair with charter schools

To say that charter schools are costing the state more money than traditional public schools isn't believable. Even with the latest auditor's corrected allocation, $3,600 per student per year, the amount falls way short of the $6,773 that traditional public schools receive. Plus traditional public schools get facilities that charter schools do not get.

In the last three years, charter schools have brought into the state nearly $12 million dollars in grants and many hundreds of thousands in "in kind" donations. Even Maui Mayor James "Kimo" Apana raised $50,000 in private funds for Kihei Charter High School in his "Tech Ready Campaign."

All of these funds are going directly to educating the children of Hawaii. These are funds that would not have arrived into our economy had it not been for charter schools.

Of the 3,000 students enrolled in charter schools, about 2,200 are in classrooms not provided by the Department of Education. That is 100 classrooms the DOE is not paying for. This added dividend to the state seems to go unnoticed. This is a huge monetary savings to the state and also helps alleviate overcrowded public schools.

Enough is enough, it is time for the people of Hawaii to stop putting up with the excuses for not supporting charter schools and the public school alternatives that the BOE and DOE would like you to believe are a drain on the system, and realize these schools are what is going to bring about the needed change in public education in Hawaii. Charter schools have accomplished much in the last two years of operation and will only continue to succeed where others have not. Is this the problem?

Gene Zarro
Chairman of the Board
Kihei High School
A New Century Charter School
Kihei, Maui

Humane society's ivory sale is inappropriate

Your April 11 article "Char-Ming: A Honolulu jeweler's intricate designs are golden to Linda Lee" stated that the Hawaiian Humane Society was to auction ivory jewelry at its annual fund-raiser last Saturday. I cannot imagine a less appropriate activity for the humane society.

Most ivory comes from elephants in Africa. The animals have to be shot to collect the ivory. Not all are dead when the ivory tusks are sawed off. Most ivory has been taken by poachers. Over the years, many African game wardens have been wounded or killed protecting elephants.

Ivory may appear white and shiny, but it is deeply stained with blood, and there is nothing at all humane about it.

David Duffy
Kailua
Member, Zoological Society of Southern Africa

Not all founding fathers were devout

Contrary to opinions recently expressed in this letters column, many of the founders of our country were not Christians, and were not sympathetic to the teachings of the Christian church.

Benjamin Franklin's resistance to church doctrine is well known, and Thomas Jefferson, as an important example, was a Deist, and specifically omitted reference to the Christian God. He used the term "Nature's God" advisedly in the Declaration of Independence.

Some other Jefferson quotes:

>> " ... an amendment was proposed by inserting 'Jesus Christ,' so that (the preamble) would read, 'A departure from the plan of Jesus Christ, the holy author of our religion;' the insertion was rejected by the great majority ..."

-- Autobiography, in reference to the Virginia Act for Religious Freedom

>> Of the clergy: "They believe that any portion of power confided to me, will be exerted in opposition to their schemes. And they believe rightly ..."
-- letter to Dr. Benjamin Rush, Sept. 23, 1800

>> Of the Gospels: "The whole history of these books is so defective and doubtful that it seems vain to attempt minute enquiry into it ..."
-- letter to John Adams, Jan. 24, 1814

>> "Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law."
-- letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper, Feb. 10, 1814

John M. Flanigan

---

How to write us The Star-Bulletin welcomes letters that are crisp and to the point (150 to 200 words). The Star-Bulletin reserves the right to edit letters for clarity and length. Please direct comments to the issues; personal attacks will not be published. Letters must be signed and include a daytime telephone number. Letter form: Online form, click here E-mail: letters@starbulletin.com Fax: (808) 529-4750 Mail: Letters to the Editor, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 7 Waterfront Plaza, 500 Ala Moana, Suite 210, Honolulu, HI 96813