Keiter was a friend to all

I am sorry to hear about the death of Les Keiter, a great man in every way.

I have many fond memories of Les, and was proud to be ringside next to him at a Jesus Salud fight. Being a guest speaker at the Quarterback Club was also an honor, as was being introduced by “;The General.”;

Les was so kind to me from the time I arrived in Hawaii to the time I left seven years later.

He was a humble man despite his well-deserved sports legend status, but I will especially remember him for his generosity and kindness to so many people of all ages and backgrounds. I was very fortunate to have been his friend.

My condolences to Mrs. Keiter, the Keiter family and Les' thousands of friends.

Aloha, Les Keiter. We will never forget you.

Budget cuts decimate school

I am a high school teacher at Hana High and Elementary School in rural Hana, Maui. Because of a lack of funds in the school budget next year, my job is being cut.

I am a certified and tenured high school teacher. I'm sure there are others in my position around the state, but the sad thing is that when you cut a teacher at Hana School, you are cutting a whole subject.

There are only eight high school teachers at the school. Four of them are being cut. That is a 50 percent cut in teachers. The only math teacher is being cut. The only science teacher is being cut. The only P.E. teacher is being cut and the only foreign language teacher, myself, is being cut.

Two elementary teachers are being cut too, along with janitorial and cafeteria staff and educational aids meant to facilitate special-ed students, who are predominantly native Hawaiian

Even after all these cuts the school is still short $50,000 next year. It's incredible that the state government is not filtering the money sent from the federal government down to the needy schools, which was meant to help out situations like this.

The state needs to give at least enough money to the schools so that they can run properly.

Cyclist seeks safer streets

I love to ride my bike, but it has been sitting idle in my storage space for a couple of years because I do not feel safe riding in our streets.

Although I am a senior citizen, this is not to be attributed to my senior citizen status. I run the Great Aloha Run every year and this year came in second in my class. I am not bragging, just making sure you understand that I am a physically fit person.

After almost being hit more than once riding the bike I decided it was just not safe because motorists just do not see cyclists.

I think a “;Complete Streets”; policy like the one contained in SB 718, which is before the Legislature right now, would be something that would really help pedestrians and bicyclists, while not infringing on the rights of the motorist.

I have a 3-year-old grandson and am praying that we will have safe streets for him to ride and walk on when he attends school.

Indexing taxes deserves a look

I read with interest the opinion article by Wayne Tanna (Star-Bulletin,

April 12).

While taxing capital gains is a great way to increase government income, it should be fair.

One way to do this is to index whatever generates a gain. Losses should be deductible from those gains.

Indexing has not been very popular in the United States; one reason is low inflation. While working in Brazil, the cooperative I worked for indexed the buildings after taking the ordinary depreciation. That took care of the extra ordinary inflation there at the time by reinflating the cost of the improvements by the inflation index.

That means the tax is based on what the property has gained in value less the inflation factor. That is fair.