to the Editor
Give us all a brake on speedy car ads
In one of this week's news magazines I read this Road Test report about a new 2004 car:"The GTO has a spectacular V-8, 350-horsepower engine and a sport-tuned exhaust that belts out a sonorous grumble. It's fast (0 to 60 in 5.3 seconds ..."
Isn't this an invitation for speeding? Or isn't it glorifying it? This nonsense should be stopped.
That'll save lives.
Dieter Thate
Honolulu
Systemic change is needed to fix schools
In her speech to the Legislature, state Schools Superintendent Pat Hamamoto said that one of the goals for the Department of Education's reinvention of itself is for kids to be able to read by third grade. That is an incredibly low standard.How about learning to read by first grade? My wife and I homeschool our oldest girl (age 4) and she is beginning to read already. Children are capable of learning far more than the DOE is giving them credit for.
This problem is within the department and can be fixed only with complete systemic change. Please, no tinkering.
Rep. Bud Stonebraker
(R) Kalama Valley-Hawaii Kai
Hamamoto's reform plans are flawed
State Schools Superintendent Pat Hamamoto spoke about public education before the Legislature last Wednesday, two days after Governor Lingle's State of the State address, which also emphasized public education. It's only natural to compare the two speeches.Lingle and Hamamoto agree that Hawaii's education system is not working well, but they disagree on key points. Lingle's reform plan ensures accountability by shifting decision-making to principals and giving elected district boards the responsibility of monitoring their performance. Hamamoto would give elected school councils the power to develop schools' academic plans and budgets. She also said that she should be given the power to make education work. Under this three-way distribution of power, accountability would be ambiguous. If things go wrong, the principal, the council and the superintendent could blame one another.
It is curious that Hamamoto is only now calling for an education summit to come up with ideas. She has been in her position for more than two years. She already should have created and should be implementing a blueprint for school reform.
John Kawamoto
Honolulu
School-year proposal is needless, expensive
Schools Superintendent Pat Hamamoto's to-do list (Star-Bulletin, Jan. 29) has points with which I disagree.Rearranging school days does not empower principals; freedom to do their jobs the way they see fit is empowerment.
Her comments about the school calendar were misleading. Year-round school does not mean better education, or even more or different education. It is just a way for educators to lengthen their contracts without having to do anything for any additional days. Year-round school is harder on family life, does not result in higher academic achievement, is more expensive to operate and is harder on kids when they have to attend school during the hot summer months. Traditional calendars do not have these problems. Why change?
Schools exist to teach children, not as a jobs program for education majors.
Donna Rewick
Kaneohe
Civil Defense can't predict every hazard
John Toillion of Mililani criticized the Hawaii State Civil Defense for not implementing "plans to preclude possible injuries by encouraging people to stay home and off the roads during terrible weather" (Letters, Jan. 16). He referred specifically to the damaging winds of Jan. 14.As Toillion pointed out, "The National Weather Service had warned residents for three days about expected high winds." I'm sure Toillion would agree that Hawaii's news media did an excellent job of getting these warnings out to the public.
I believe that allowing a well-informed public to make individual decisions about dealing with the weather would cause less disruption to people's lives than recommending the mass closing of schools and roads.
I thank Toillion for the feedback. Perhaps someday technology will be able to help us predict which communities would be isolated because of tree and utility pole blow-down and which schools would have to close due to a power failure. Perhaps someday technology will help us accurately predict the specific effects of down-slope winds on Windward Oahu, the Wahiawa plain and other parts of the state.
Ed Teixeira
Vice director
Civil Defense
Accused car thief also a victim of past wrongs
Lisa Kaina, an heiress of a chiefly Hawaiian lineage, was shot to death in Paia, Maui (Star-Bulletin, Jan. 24). She was cornered in a stolen rental car, unarmed and with a bullet hole behind her ear.The Maui Police Department has two officers involved in the shooting on leave with pay. The victim's remains were taken into custody for drug-testing. Her privacy has been brutally violated, her dignity appears trampled.
It is unclear whether the officers, whose identities have not been disclosed, will be required to submit to drug-testing. It is believed that they shot the victim either in self-defense or in defense of "public safety," but eyewitnesses disagree.
Many island inhabitants are reeling with shock, outrage and utter disbelief. Others suffer from exhaustion and depression due to the incredible amount of mental energy they have been forced to expend to stave off the harmful effects of the extreme, sometimes lethal doses of social conditioning permeating the Hawaiian islands since 1893.
Lissa Kahiamoe
Haiku, Maui
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[ BRAINSTORM! ]
Can you design a quarter that represents Hawaii??Some states have issued collectible quarters that commemorate their entry into the union. The front of the coin looks the same but the eagle on the back has been replaced by something that represents that state. For example, Georgia's quarter has a peach on it. If you could design Hawaii's quarter, what would it look like?
Send your ideas and solutions by Feb. 17 to:
Or mail them to:
Brainstorm!
c/o Nancy Christenson
Star-Bulletin
500 Ala Moana
7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210
Honolulu, Hawaii 96813Fax:
Brainstorm!
c/o Nancy Christenson
529-4750
