Brainstorm! Challenge

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Put local school boards question to a vote

The chairman of the Board of Education claims the bi-partisan CARE committee recommendation to adopt local school boards does not "represent the majority" (Star Bulletin, Dec. 16). This is flatly untrue.

A 2003 survey found 65 percent of Hawaii residents favored local boards. A 1992 survey found that 92 percent of parents, students, teachers and principals did not favor the BOE. The 1998 Economic Recovery Task Force, the 1992 Task Force on Educational Governance and the House of Representatives just a year ago supported local boards.

The "majority" the chairman refers to consists of my fellow BOE members, which isn't surprising given that local boards means we would lose our positions.

If the chairman is convinced that the majority does not support local boards, then let the question be placed on the ballot for the people to decide. If voters decide against it, I will bow to their wishes and work with board members to make this the best, and only, statewide school district in the nation.

It is time to put this perennial question to rest. Place the issue on the ballot and let it be decided so we can move forward as directed by the true majority of the people.

Laura H. Thielen
Board of Education member
CARE Committee member

Abercrombie forgets his radical roots

Why does Rep. Neil Abercrombie support the Stryker Brigade coming to Hawaii (Star-Bulletin, Dec. 16)?

Has he forgotten his political roots? Have he forgotten "Stop the War!," peace and freedom, the resistance, SDS, American Friends? He wants to forget the anarchists and socialists that helped him in his first congressional attempt. But what about the other anti-war activists and sympathizers, the liberals, the people from churches of all denominations, the "brown-shoes," the peaceniks who supported him because he was one of them?

Why would anyone bring to Hawaii more military equipment and activity when historically the military has repeat- edly destroyed the aina?

Mervyn Chang
Hauula

Many cultures accept same-sex couples

Letter writer Steve Klein is misinformed ("Gay weddings defy ancestral tradition," Star-Bulletin, Dec. 1).

Many traditional societies throughout history have honored and accepted same-gender unions. He need look no further than the beloved host culture of Hawaii.

While traditional Hawaiian society has opposite-gender unions, expressing love was not limited to this. The "Aikane" relationship male with male, female with female, the "Punalua" relationship of individuals of the same-gender sharing a common partner of the opposite gender and "Po'olua," the child of two fathers and one woman, to name a few, were accepted and normal within traditional Hawaiian society.

These are examples of diverse family relationships that were welcomed and accepted because of the aloha, respect and responsibility that people within these relationships gave to each other.

Perhaps the Pandora's box that Klein speaks of is really the one that tries to make all individuals conform to the same pattern, imposing certain values on others instead of allowing people to experience and celebrate their lives.

Our society is a pluralistic one and civil protections need to be enacted to guarantee that people be allowed to express their love, respect and responsibility for each other and not be forced into Klein's box.

Keola Akana
Honolulu

Be they gay or straight, families are the same

I don't know what the intended point of Jim Borgman's Dec. 19 cartoon on the editorial page was. It showed the greeting card aisle in a store with cards for all occasions from gay marriage to gay bar mitzvah.

However, I know what point I took from it: Gay and lesbian families face all the same joys and challenges that heterosexual families face. Plus one more: a peculiar form of socially acceptable bigotry.

I have performed same-sex wedding ceremonies for more than 25 years. I have kept about the same degree of touch with those couples as with the other kind. My impression? The only difference between them is that "plus one."

I've also never seen a single traditional marriage threatened by a same-sex one, including my 42-year traditional marriage. Just lucky I guess.

Rev. Mike Young, Minister
First Unitarian Church
Honolulu

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[ BRAINSTORM! ] What should the city do with the elegant old sewage pump station? It's empty and fading, and now it's taking a beating from all the construction going on around it. The O.G. Traphagen-designed sewage pump station on Ala Moana Boulevard, more than a century old, is a monument to the glory days of municipal architecture, when city fathers took such pride in their community that even a humble sewage station became a landmark structure. Millions of tourists drive by it every year, and it's an embarrassing reminder of how poorly Honolulu treats its historic landmarks. Over the years, dozens of uses and excuses and blue-sky speculations have been suggested for the striking structure. Now we're asking you, Mr. and Mrs. Kimo Q. Publique, what should the city do with the elegant old pump building? Send your ideas and solutions by Jan. 15 to: brainstorm@starbulletin.com Or mail them to: Brainstorm! c/o Nancy Christenson Star-Bulletin 500 Ala Moana 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210 Honolulu, Hawaii 96813 Fax: Brainstorm! c/o Nancy Christenson 529-4750