Beach brunch was fun weekend bonus

I was in Waikiki the weekend of Nov. 20-21 for a ukulele workshop. An unexpected bonus for me was that it also happened to be a "Brunch on the Beach" Sunday. I was more than impressed. It was amazing to me how the city was able to turn Kalakaua Avenue into a high-class banquet room, even adding the touch of carpet covering the street. The food was wonderful, and the music was perfect.

The total ambience was outstanding. What a perfect setting.

The brunch was the first thing I told my wife about when I returned home, and I promised, "I'm going to take you to brunch in Waikiki after the first of the year."

Warlike sounds shatter early morning

Five a.m., my dog jumped on my head.

"What's that?" my husband whispered. We sat up in bed, the dog huddled between us.

"Sounds like bombs?" I wanted to panic, but tried to keep cool.

"Yeah," my husband answered gravely.

His response hit my panic button. I flew from bed imagining horrific images of 9/11. If under attack, our elderly neighbor across the hall would need help. "Damn bin Laden," I thought.

In darkness, we ran from our bedroom through the kitchen, I stubbed my baby toe on a chair and limped to the balcony.

A helicopter hovered. Police? Fire? Military?!

"Tracers," like in TV reports from the Middle East, reflected off windows in distant buildings. Though these looked more like the illegal mortars that are abundant in Oahu neighborhoods on New Year's Eve.

The sounds of bombing and rapid gunfire finally ceased. Avoiding the "tracers," the helicopter forged toward the echo of heavy arms.

"What was it?" I asked.

My husband bravely muttered, "I dunno."

Our dog calmed, we crawled back into bed and gradually drifted into restless sleep.

Morning headlines: "Runners hit road for Honolulu Marathon."

Teachers should be drug-tested first

Before we get ourselves into a lather about whether to install Deputy Dawg in schools to sniff out dope, booze and munitions brought to school by students ("Drug policy should be set before dogs come to school," Dec. 15), a more pressing matter is at hand.

We need all public school teachers subjected to a regime of random drug testing. There is no room in any public school classroom for any teacher who uses dope. As a classroom teacher myself, it is my belief such misfits should be driven from the profession. They are role modeling the wrong behavior at the very time our communities are withering under the curse of ice and dope of all kinds.

In this perilous environment -- one that is especially threatening to children -- the so-called "right" of privacy must yield. No one has a "right" to teach. Teachers who value their privacy over the well-being of children in this regard should seek another line of work, one where their influence will be less destructive.

If we are serious about ridding our communities of dope, it's time we quit fooling around. We cannot afford to coddle unfit adults in our classrooms merely because they whine about their precious "rights" to do exactly as they please.

For recycling to work, it should be easy

On a recent morning I watched as the rubbish truck picked up the dumpster from a Mililani restaurant/bar. It was a mixed bag of rubbish, including everything a restaurant might discard, but the sound of bottles falling into the truck as the dumpster was overturned was unmistakable.

From the sound there were many empties, and I assume all had the 5-cent deposit paid. The state of Hawaii is reaping a profit of 6 cents on every bottle that goes into the trash. Based on the number of restaurants, bars and individuals who find it inconvenient to recycle, the state must be making a ton of money.

People either recycle or not based on their convictions and the ease with which the recycling can occur. The city's plan to make recycling as easy as throwing away trash is a better option than the state's deposit plan. I will continue to recycle in the same way I always have, by dropping my cans and bottles at the nearby school. When the city's plan begins, it will be much easier for me and others to recycle and many more people will participate. Most people I know would not bend down to pick up a nickel from the sidewalk much less wash, hold and deliver a bottle or can to some distant place for the same amount.

Keeping it simple and convenient is the way to expand recycling.

Rumsfeld's response shows indifference

Just when you hope things couldn't get any worse for our soldiers in Iraq and for our local Guard troops who will join them shortly, we are again astounded by the cavalier retort of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to Tennessee Guardsman Spc. Thomas Wilson's heartfelt request for minimal protective vehicle armor.

Again, the administration reveals its tragic indifference to the thousands of lives lost and the thousands of broken bodies disfigured by shrapnel. Again, we are tragically reminded of this administration's poor planning for winning the peace and failed strategy for leaving Iraq quickly in peace. Again, reminded of the thousand lives lost and eight thousand bodies maimed.

Moreover, one would hope that Rumsfeld would be more circumspective or gracious in his reply, especially given the intractable mess his leadership has wrought us in Iraq. So, Mr. Rumsfeld, while it may be true that "you go to war with the army you have, not the army your want," it is equally true that when the lives of our soldiers are at stake, we must also do whatever it takes. Any less is unacceptable, immoral, and nothing else will do.