[ OUR OPINION ]
Coach’s contract leaves
questions about the donorsJUNE Jones' eye-popping $800,000-a-year contract as the University of Hawaii's football coach is not out of line in today's major college sports, but questions remain about the half coming from private donations. UH officials should answer concerns about what some see as potential conflicts of interest involving donors whose names are not being revealed.
THE ISSUE
The University of Hawaii has made public football coach June Jones' new contract.
Three months ago, UH athletic director Herman Frazier said $400,000 of Jones' salary would come from private donations from 10 to 12 boosters. The university announced Thursday that the donations would be made through the UH Foundation, which apparently will direct them to the football program.
Bev Keever, the UH journalism professor whose inquiry prompted public disclosure of the contract, suggests the secret donations could create potential conflicts of interest. Keever compares it with the hypothesis of the governor receiving half her salary from private donors. However, Jones does not have large favors to distribute, so potential conflicts are questionable.
Jones' total price tag is not unusual. A survey conducted last year by the Des Moines Register found that the nation's 22 highest-paid college football coaches received an average of $1.2 million in 2001. Most of those coaches were at the 63 universities belonging to conferences comprising football's Bowl Championship Series, a rung higher than the Western Athletic Conference, Hawaii's league.
The newspaper found that, on average, the top-dollar coaches received around 5 to 6 percent of what their teams produced. Jones' salary is likely to be more than 18 percent of the revenue generated by the UH football program. Frazier argues that Jones' positive effect on the state is roughly $28 million.
It may be more than that. Hawaii is isolated from NFL football, NBA basketball and Major League Baseball, and UH must be relied upon to fill the need as best it can. Competing at that level does not come cheap.
"There is an arms race in college sports," University of Iowa athletic director Bob Bowlsby told the Register. "But the only thing worse than being in the arms race is not being in the arms race."
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Douse fire code’s
hibachi provisionPLANNING a weekend barbecue? Here's the program: Marinate your chicken or steaks, dust off the hibachi or Weber, fill it with kiawe charcoal or briquettes. Then dial 911.
THE ISSUE
The Kauai County Council is considering adopting the state fire code.
Also, have the phone number of the nearest fire station handy. You'll have to call them to let them know you'll be starting a fire, too -- at least 10 minutes before you strike the match.
That's what the state fire code says is the ignition procedure Hawaii citizens must follow to legally start a fire outdoors, much to the astonishment of Kauai County Council members.
The county is considering adopting the 1997 fire code so there is uniformity throughout the state. The code deals with serious matters, such as handling and disposing of combustible substances, testing of hydrants in high-rises and hotels and standards for chimneys, incinerators and heating devices.
However, the code, Council members were told, also requires that people notify fire dispatchers at 911 as well as the nearest station before they start an outdoor fire for cooking food or for heating water. On Kauai and in other rural areas, taking a soak outdoors, either in a traditional Japanese furo or a more modern steel tank, is a remnant of plantation days when bath water was heated by an open fire.
The reasoning is that if firefighters aren't aware that smoke is coming from ribs on the barby or a bath-water blaze, they may think their services are needed. Not complying may lead to a $1,000 fine and/or a year in jail.
In Honolulu, common sense prevails, Fire Prevention Chief Lloyd Rogers told the Star-Bulletin's Tony Sommers. The law is not usually applied at picnics and family cook-outs. But when a community group or church is barbecuing chicken for a fund-raiser, firefighters like to know so they don't roll out the tankers on a false alarm.
Kauai Council member Daryl Kaneshiro expressed amazement. "Do I need to call every time I want to take a bath?" he asked. "Accidents happen," said prevention chief Russell Yee, recalling only one incident where a water-heating fire damaged a cabin in Kokee.
A citizen noted that strict adherence could result in an inundation of 911 calls "every Sunday afternoon" when thousands of Garden Island residents fire up the grills at beach parks or backyard imus.
That's not what the Council wants. Members decided that the code needs further study. Indeed, the state needs to rethink that part of the code. If fire officials routinely let the barbecue regulation slide, perhaps it would be sensible to revise it.
