Letters to the Editor
Strike or no, parents are always responsible
Why are so many news stories concerned about how parents are "coping" with having their children, special needs or otherwise, at home?
I am a parent with seven children, three of whom are affected by this strike. One of these children is special needs. When I had children, I assumed I would have responsibility for them at all times — not just when it was convenient.
Who takes care of these children during summer vacations, spring break, Christmas break and other holidays? Teachers are supposed to "educate" our children, not raise them. That is a parent's responsibility. Parents, not teachers (or schools), should be responsible for child care, medical needs being met, etc.
Instead of lamenting the fact that teachers aren't doing the job of parents during the strike, we should be helping parents shoulder the responsibility of teachers so our kids don't fall even further behind.
Melanie Cameron
La'ie
Politicians' kids should attend public schools
Local publications have pointed out in recent months that Hawai'i has the highest percentage of high school students enrolled in private schools and that enrollment at the University of Hawai'i is falling.
I propose that all elected officials be required to enroll their children in public education. Their children should attend grade school from K-12 or attend a University of Hawai'i campus. Perhaps then our decision-makers would have a vested interest in making meaningful improvements to public education and the state university.
Sheri M. Gon
University of Hawai'i at Manoa lecturer
Education in Hawai'i needs to be reborn
Years ago, automobiles imported from Japan became well-known for their quality and reliability. The words "American made" connoted poor workmanship and questionable reliability.
Then the unheard of happened. The autoworkers' labor union and the automobile manufacturers began projects that put them in partnership. As a result, they began to build better products. In so doing, they saved their industry, their communities and their livelihoods.
If the teachers' union, the Board of Education and the Department of Education can come together in partnership, identifying long-term goals, setting priorities and implementing workable plans, Hawai'i's public education system can also experience a rebirth.
I implore our leaders to begin this work, which will truly bring forth positive change in our schools so they may once again be centers of light and knowledge. It can be done. It must be done.
Neal H. Ikeda
Can state stand new 'education governor'?
Please tell me the report that Mayor Harris is running for governor with education as his No. 1 priority is a joke. We are winding up eight years with an education governor; I'm not sure the state can stand another.
Oh, well, the state will vote the party line one more time. Unfortunately, the teachers and other unions voted the party line the last two times and, guess what? They are getting the same treatment accorded the faculty union that did not support Ben Cayetano.
Maybe it is time to actually look at the candidates and what they stand for, rather than following the party line.
Don Chambers
Make that 'pashmina' for Diana Krall kudos
Having enjoyed the same Diana Krall concert as your reviewer, I would not disagree that it was "the best jazz concert in Honolulu ... " etc. However, the reviewer's analogy to a "pashima scarf" is doubly flawed.
First, the word is "pashmina," not "pashima." Second, her explanation that it is "a blend of silk and cashmere" is also incorrect. Pure pashmina scarves (or more usually, stoles) are made from a cashmere-like wool; the pashmina/silk blend is wonderful, but a poor imitation of the 100 percent pashmina.
So please give Krall the justly earned accolade of a pure pashmina.
Steve Grossman
Kailua
Think about the traffic if bus riders drove
The other day I was driving along Kapi'olani and feeling irritated by all the traffic, especially the big, slow buses. Then I realized that if all the 30 to 50 people on the bus were driving cars rather than taking the bus, there would be an additional 30 to 50 cars on the road. Then the traffic would really be intolerable.
Everyone on this island curses the traffic. So next time you get upset with a bus, a bicyclist or a moped rider, try to think about it this way: They're making life easier for the rest of us drivers.
Christel Olson
St. Louis' Spiker deserving of kudos
Congratulations to Jonathan Spiker of St. Louis High School for becoming a "world" champion wrestler in his age group on April 8 in Reno, Nev., as reported in your April 10 edition.
As a former high school wrestler myself, I can appreciate Spiker's hard work and determination. It's a proud moment for our state when a "local boy" performs so well at the international level.
Jonathan Spiker's victory proves that discipline brings success.
William Stonebraker
There's no defense for keeping 'Jap Road'
Regarding Adam Toguchi's letter of April 15, in which he makes reference to Lee Cataluna's column of April 10: The former Hawai'i resident presently living in Austin, Texas, wrote: "The road name 'Jap Road' in Fannett, Texas, should remain unaltered. It is deplorable to sanitize and rewrite history simply to make us feel more comfortable. Reality is often harsh and offensive, and such relics memorialize the endurance of past generations."
My response to my fellow Okinawan is that, say, if in place of "Jap Road" it reads "Nigger Road" or "Kike Road" or even, say, "Spick Road," do you believe that this would sit well with the NAACP or the Jewish Anti-Defamation League or La Raza or any other civil rights organization?
Would you then say the same? I doubt it.
Bob Akamine
Hilo
Ben Kau saw war from inside prison
One of the last surviving prisoners of war of the Japanese capture of Wake Island died April 14 in Tripler Army Medical Center.
Benjamin Xanwah Kau was a teenage civilian, working on a defense project at Wake Island in December 1941 when the Japanese attacked the military garrison on the tiny island. The first attack was repulsed, with heavy loss of life to the invading forces.
Kau, in recalling the wartime incident, said many dead Japanese washed ashore, and he and others, having no other way to dispose of the bodies, set massive bonfires to cremate them. The second wave of Japanese overran the island on Dec. 22, and Kau and other survivors were herded onto the airstrip, where they were forced to strip and be searched. They were left that way for two days before being moved into barracks.
Two weeks later, they were moved at bayonet-point to a waiting Japanese ship, which took them on a 13-day trip to Shanghai, China. Kau said none of the prisoners were fed for 12 days, but finally got a can of salmon on the final day out of Shanghai.
Despite the wintery weather, the prisoners were made to stay on deck, unable to talk or move about without facing possible death or a bad beating. He recalled that some who complained were clubbed and dropped bleeding into the ship's hold.
It would be four years before the prisoners got relief from their captors. Kau said only two or three of his fellow prisoners emerged alive.
Life in the Shanghai prison camp was a living hell, with hot temperatures during the summer and freezing cold in the winter. Few blankets were available. Prisoners fought among themselves for any form of shelter.
He recalled that one of his fellow prisoners was a Marine sergeant major who refused to bow to the Japanese despite constant beatings and harassment. Kau also was beaten and tortured and forced to work as a laborer in moving large piles of dirt around the prison compound. Although he collapsed several times, the guards did not kill him, as they did with many of the other prisoners.
He had malaria and dysentery, along with exhaustion and despair, but said later that his faith in his Maker kept him from giving up.
He was not freed until the Japanese surrender in 1945. Was he eager to seek revenge? No. Kau told friends shortly before he died that he held no bitterness toward his captors.
"Today, I'm happy I'm alive," he said. "I cannot go to Japan and look for revenge ... I wouldn't do it."
Charles Turner
Sen. Ihara is tilting at windmills
We write in response to the April 6 letter "Open Hawai'i's budget process," by Sen. Les Ihara Jr. and Rep. Charles Djou. Their letter epitomizes why politicians are called creatures of convenience who believe the public so easily forgets that inconsistent positions can be taken with impunity.
In 1999 when we first assumed office, the majority of us were permitted to sit on the Senate Ways and Means Committee. It became evident the committee chairs would not allow us to review the budget worksheets without being supervised by the Ways and Means staff, nor were we allowed to take copies to our office.
In addition, we were not told what was contained in the worksheets or how they compared to the Senate's financial plan. This meant that Ways and Means members would be required to vote on the good word of the chairs and not be allowed to look at the work produced.
This was one of the issues that led us to rebel. We were called the "freshmen" back then, and the Senate leadership was appalled that we would raise these concerns.
Of note is that one of us also served as part of that leadership structure and was probably the most vocal in opposition to the "protectionist policy" of the Senate Ways and Means chairs. Sen. Ihara was the Senate majority leader at that time and probably the most gallant knight who raised his lance to ward us off to defend the honor of the Ways and Means chairs and what he now finds to be such an offensive process.
Ihara, who has now morphed himself into the spokesman of open government, was in his role as the majority leader the gatekeeper for the Senate establishment.
Under the new organization, the budget process has made great strides. The members of the committee reviewed the worksheets and were given briefings as to how to read them before we began. You must know that under the system that Ihara reserved and protected, you were not told what the symbols were and the staff was not permitted to speak or explain it to you.
The public should also know that if Ihara continued in his position of Senate majority leader, it would have seen the continuation of the same. For Ihara supported a Senate reorganization that continued his role as the gallant knight and the same king and queen of Ways and Means.
The public has had a right to view the budget worksheets. And just as important, so have the committee members before they cast their vote.
Let the gallant knight explain why he raised his lance against us and now seems to have charged into the arena to joust against his own image of yesteryear.
To Rep. Djou: We are probably the ones who understand what you may be trying to say; but be careful of your collaborators and look in the dictionary as to what a collaborator means. Collaboration for your information is one of Ihara's most favored words.
Sen. Jan Yagi Buen, D-4th Dist. (W. Maui, Moloka'i, Lana'i)
Sen. Jonathan Chun, D-7th Dist. (S. Kaua'i, Ni'ihau)
Sen. Colleen Hanabusa, D-21st Dist. (Barbers Point, Makaha)
Sen. Bob Nakata, D-23rd Dist. (Kana'ohe, Kahuku)
Sen. David M. Matsuura, D-2nd Dist. (Hilo, Puna)
