Curbside should be part of normal city life

Having Mufi Hannemann speak at the recent city-sponsored recycling fair was ludicrous and no doubt tested the morale of those city employees who worked like crazy to make the fair a success.

Perhaps Mayor Hannemann does not realize that curbside recycling is not cutting edge, complicated, alternative or "new" in any sense of the word. Many major cities on the mainland have been curbside recycling for DECADES. It is a given that curbside is a normal city-sponsored service of many big American cities. I'll bet some of those cities even have labor unions and competitive contracts to negotiate and manage to deal with it, unlike our mayor.

Recycle Mufi next election.

Hip, hip, hooray for Paniolo cheerleaders

I want to congratulate the Manoa Paniolo Cheerleaders. They recently entered a statewide Pop Warner cheerleading competition and won second place in the novice division. They now have the opportunity to compete in the national Pop Warner dance and cheer championship in Florida next month.

It's been great to watch these girls develop long-lasting friendships and to see this team come together, in practice and in competition. I also wanted to thank Hawaiian Telcom directories for providing us with an opportunity to earn some extra money that will help us send the girls to Florida to compete. We signed up to deliver Hawaiian Telcom directories on seven routes and the money raised from that, along with our annual fund-raising events, will give us enough money to send the entire Pee Wee cheerleading team to Florida.

Thank you to everyone who has supported the Manoa Paniolo football and cheerleading teams.

Good luck in Florida!

Principal's attitude, aloha keep inspiring

I just wanted to take this opportunity to let everyone in the state of Hawaii know what a great principal they have at Pahoa High and Intermediate School on the Big Island.

Maring Gakusana has been my personal inspiration for more than 10 years, when I first attended Hawaii Community College in 1995. She is very beautiful, graceful and always professional. No matter how busy she is, she takes the time to greet the students and staff, concerned about their well-being. Ms. Gakusana has a very challenging job, yet performs her duties with such grace, aloha spirit and smiles.

I wanted to thank Gakusana, PHIS and the Hawaii Department of Education for giving me this wonderful opportunity to teach the children of our beautiful state. I will never forget what a true honor it is to teach our keikis. I will forever be grateful to Ms. Gakusana for having faith in me, and helping me to realize a lifelong dream. Mahalo nui loa.

Are their laws only for the rest of us?

So let me see if I have this straight: If a public citizen (say, me, or Martha Stewart) doesn't tell the truth to a federal officer, that's a crime, and we go to jail. But if a federal officer (say, Karl Rove, or Dick Cheney) lies to the public, well, that's politics and he just goes back to work?

Win some games, then watch the seats fill up

There is no mystery about why attendance is down at University of Hawaii football games. Fan support is directly proportional to a team's win-loss record and UH has not done well this year. Fans are all tired of hearing the coach explain why his team lost and what mistakes they made.

The only bright spot about this year's team is the offense. It has developed into a potent force that can score against almost any team. But the defense has almost nothing and would have trouble stopping even the Wahine soccer team from scoring.

Their only hope is to gain an exemption allowing them to field 22 men all at one time. This will create an H-1-like traffic jam, which will not allow even a Mack truck from getting through.

Concentrate on developing a winning team and there will be no need to devise ways to increase attendance.