Promises mean nothing to students
The "Corky's Hawaii" cartoon on the front page of the Oct. 16 Star-Bulletin, about the education system in Hawaii, is right on! I have been living in Hawaii since 1980 and have seen the education system go from bad to worse, not only in the ability of students to perform at national levels but in buildings that look so depressing I can't see why a child would want to go to school. With every election the ruling party keeps promising better and I can see that it is just words.Maybe this election people will wake up.
Larry Williams
Democrats had their chance to fix schools
I just watched the Mazie Hirono/Matt Matsunaga television commercial that says, "Education is not our promise, it's a priority. Hold us accountable."Let's do just that. While Governor Cayetano said the same thing in 1994 and again in 1998, education proved to be just about the last thing that he had as a priority. Maintenance and repair of schools has deteriorated to a $600 million backlog. Hirono's solution is a state tax refund contribution that has accumulated a whopping $250,000; now we're only $599,750,000 short.
Mazie/Matt can make up all the campaign promises about education they like but, since they have been in office during the last eight years, they could have done before what they say they are going to do now. Why have they waited so long to do it? Yes, hold them accountable.
Garry P. Smith
Ewa Beach
Lingle should leave commissioner alone
I was shocked at Linda Lingle's comments in the Oct. 20 Star-Bulletin regarding the insurance industry's concerns about the insurance commissioner and the need for change.This raises questions about the performance of Insurance Commissioner Wayne Metcalfe. What is the evidence that he has not been fair, as Lingle suggests? Lacking any, does this mean that she is already listening to the insurance companies, which resent consumer protections built into the law in recent years?
As a consumer advocate during the past 10 years, it has been my privilege to intimately observe the operation of the Insurance Commission. For the first time, consumer input has been taken seriously.
Lingle's suggestion that changes are needed in the appointment of the insurance commissioner is frightening. The current commissioner is a shining example of a public official who truly represents the public. Who is Lingle listening to?
Ruth Ellen Lindenberg
President- Kokua Council
Voters must consider the big picture
As a Hawaii resident for more than 50 years, I've seen the legacy of the Democrats in keeping people dependent on government and in building bigger government.I believe Linda Lingle's "New Beginning" plan will touch all our citizens, whom she will use as resources in solving our unique problems on each island.
To not vote for Lingle based on one issue rather than looking at the whole picture would be like cutting off your nose to spite your face.
I will vote for Lingle and know my future and the future of my children and their children will be part of an island with a vision that will include them, one that they will be proud of.
Pat Dang
Kihei, Maui
OHA wasn't created to back sovereignty
The Star-Bulletin's Oct. 14 editorial "New role in push for autonomy marks new start for OHA" is based on the mistaken premise that it is the role of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to push for "autonomy" or a Hawaiian nation.This is a democracy. Every citizen is entitled to the equal protection of the laws. No person, merely because of his or her ancestry, may be given more autonomy or political rights than others. The 14th Amendment prohibits any state and its agencies from doing that.
Committee reports at the 1978 ConCon did refer indirectly to self-determination and self-governance. But when the proposed OHA amendment was submitted to the voters no such intent was disclosed. The voters did not endorse self-government or self-determination or sovereignty or nationhood.
OHA was sold to the public without full disclosure. It should not be encouraged to waste more public money and resources trying to carve up Hawaii into racial enclaves. It should be abolished.
H. William Burgess
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America has no room for runaway racists
To the person or persons who dumped the "literature" at the Honolulu mosque ("FBI and police probe hate leaflets left at Oahu mosque," Star-Bulletin, Oct. 22): If you are truly American, show your face. Americans have never been cowards, and we fight for our freedom -- something you have never done and will never do.Charles W. Santiago Jr.
Wahiawa
Hawaii's paramedics provide optimal care
Thank you, state health director Bruce Anderson, for finally giving credit for a job well done by paramedics in Hawaii (Star-Bulletin, Oct. 18). It's just too bad it took an audit critical of management in the Emergency Medical Services and Injury Prevention System to elicit the pat on the back. I have worked for Honolulu's EMS for nearly 17 years. I am not surprised by the audit's findings, just that it took so long to uncover. It will be interesting to see what deficiencies and problems are found at the city level.Despite poor management, the level of care rendered by Hawaii's para-medics has been extremely progressive. The public can be assured that paramedics in Hawaii will continue to provide the best medical care possible. The audit's revelations are old news to us; in spite of it, we are dedicated to serving our community. We just hope that the direction of EMS won't suffer further because of poor management.
Kelly R. Yamamoto Fuentes
Paramedic
Neighborhood can't handle 'superblock' traffic
The forward march of Wal-Mart and Sam's Club into the Ala Moana area will cause gridlock on all the streets surrounding the project. In the four years since the last traffic study, ratings on all of the immediate intersections surrounding the "superblock" have deteriorated. Three of the intersections directly affected by this development are already at the gridlock stage. The remaining intersections will be at gridlock rating within months, if not weeks, of completion.There will be no need for a parking garage, since the streets will become parking lots. This project is in the middle of a high-density residential area. But not once has the city administration or Department of Transportation Services addressed the traffic concerns of the neighborhoods around this development.
The mantra has become, "We can't do anything." Why not? The City Council can restrain development in inappropriate areas. It is time for our Council to limit development to only one retail operation at this site.
Joyce Kurtz
Dueling columnists offered balance on Carter
Thomas Sowell's gratuitous attack on Jimmy Carter, on the occasion of Carter's receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize, could not have had a better response than Molly Ivins' accompanying article (Star-Bulletin, Oct. 15). Though Ivins is criticizing a similar attack on Carter by columnist Bob Novak, her words are the perfect response to Sowell: "(Carter) has done immeasurable good in the world, and no mean-spirited attack from a petty pundit can diminish him."Mark Wilson
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