The Price of Paradise appears each week in the Sunday Insight section. The mission of POP is to contribute lively and informed dialog about public issues, particularly those having to do with our pocketbooks. Reader responses appear in Thursday's paper. If you have thoughts to share about today's POP articles, please send them, with your name and daytime phone number, to pop@starbulletin.com, or write to Price of Paradise, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana, Honolulu, HI 96813. John Flanagan Contributing Editor

Voucher foes put jobs, not children, first

I get the impression, after reading Joan Husted's arguments against vouchers (Price of Paradise, Insight, Aug. 11), that her priority is keeping union jobs and not teaching children.

"Taking money from public schools" by issuing vouchers is not as much a concern as taking money from taxpayers for one of the worst educational systems in the country. Private schools have proven that they can educate children cheaper and more effectively.

A case in point is Husted's figures. She cites the Cleveland voucher system as costing $9 million for 3,000 students. In contrast, the cost of educating 3,000 Hawaii public school children is around $25 million. Where are the savings?

Sen. Fred Hemmings puts children first by proposing school choice for special-needs children, while the No Child Left Behind Act offers choice for impoverished children.

Laura Brown
Mililani

DOE sees vouchers only as a threat

As a parent who has had to navigate the process getting services for a Felix (special-needs) child, I am not surprised at the opinions of Joan Lee Husted, director of the Hawaii State Teachers Association. The shirking of responsibility for Hawaii's school children is just business-as-usual with the Department of Education.

I have news for Husted: There already are haves and have-nots in the DOE system, and this situation was created and is perpetuated by the substandard public schooling that she guards so vehemently.

Her argument is not based on statistics about how children fair under voucher systems; it is about money. The system she defends is concerned chiefly with maintaining itself in its current state of decay no matter the cost to children.

Why fear vouchers? Because when given the choice, parents know what is best for their children, and it is not the DOE.

Why doesn't the DOE respond to the challenge to compete and be a good option for Hawaii's children?

The DOE needs to be held accountable, both to the taxpayers whose money it wastes, and to the families whose children it neglects. Allowing the "have-nots" the opportunity to attend some of the schools that the "have's" attend, will not hurt anyone other than the DOE. Frankly, the best thing that could happen to this system is for it to crumble in on itself and be forced to begin anew.

Jeanne Wilks
Kailua

Bottle bill will add to store owners' costs

The state has implemented a recycling bill that requires store owners (both corporations and mom-and-pop shops) to operate recycling centers (Insight, July 21). This means that manpower that is not in the budget has to be allocated. It also means that floor space that is now being used as part of the retail operation must be set aside, further cutting into profits. These are for-profit businesses, you know.

The state cannot expect store owners to operate these recycling centers at a loss or even on a break-even basis. They are not in business to serve as a state-mandated recycling center.

The Legislature, in its rush to be politically correct and respond to the vocal minority, passed a bill that was not well thought out. That shouldn't surprise any of us. What is surprising is that some members of the public feel that store operators are obligated to operate state recycling centers.

This law needs to be revisited next year. I hope legislators will come up with something that both satisfies store operators and the vocal minority demanding a bottle bill.

Bill Nelson
Haleiwa

Elderly in care homes need protection

If only the Aug. 13 story "Care home death brings negligence conviction" had been on page one. Had it received such coverage more people in our community might be aware that our loved ones in care homes need every possible means of protection and care.

Congratulations to state Attorney General Earl Anzai and his staff for pursuing yet another elder abuse and neglect case to conviction.

Thousands of frail, elderly citizens are entrusted to more than 500 operators who are licensed as businesses. The majority provide satisfactory care, but some have become a political force opposing unannounced visits by the Department of Health.

Could an unannounced visit have prevented the death that was reported? No one knows. But the means to prevent even one death among this defenseless group of people who cannot voice their own needs, is the least our state government can provide.

Jeanne Paty

Prison plan comes up every four years

Has anyone besides me noticed that every time an election is close there is talk about building a new prison?

But we are always told that no decision will be made until after the election. Then, after another $250,000 is spent and another study is done, the story is dead until the next election.

With all the money spent during the past several years for environmental impact studies on the Big Island, we could have already paid for a new prison.

Ronald L. Edmiston

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