Letters to the Editor
Mainland may lure more teachers away
Once again it appears the value of Hawai'i's teachers is being undervalued by our inept state leader. It is no wonder so many talented teachers are heading to the Mainland to look for jobs.
I am on summer vacation in Iowa, and the school climate here is much more appealing. The pay is roughly the same, yet one is able to purchase a home starting at about $60,000.
The most important reason I remain in Wai'anae is the talented students with whom I have been fortunate to work for the last five years.
If the governor continues to play games with us, more teachers will head to the Mainland. Unfortunately, I may be one of them.Ê
Erich S. Smith
Chemistry and biology teacher, Wai'anae High School
Bickering OHA: Keep out of Waimea Valley
It looks as if OHA leaders are at war with each other once again, with more infighting, scorning of each other and intimidation of office workers.
OHA is sure to bring this same dark spirit to our sacred Waimea Valley. Please don't. Try go purchase Kaho'olawe or Makua where you can manage some real fighting ground. Don't bring your mana'o 'ino out here to our beautiful peaceful valley.
Ron Valenciana
Hale'iwa
Bush tax cut isn't addressing problems
James Ko, in his June 14 letter, is wrong in stating that the government is not in the business of redistributing income.
We have a progressive income tax, which favors the poor; regressive payroll taxes, which favor the rich; Medicare and Social Security, which favor the elderly; and free public education, K-12, which favors our children.
In his second inaugural address in 1937, Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke of one-third of a nation that was ill-housed, ill-clad and ill-nourished. Unfortunately, those problems are still with us. There is still hunger in America, there are some 40 million people with no health care and the number of homeless attests to the lack of affordable housing.
The Bush tax cut is going to make solving any of these problems much more difficult. And has anyone heard any discussion of the national debt lately?
Joseph Nash
Vicious guard dogs should get training
Not much thought was given to the situation with that pit bull.
Keeping a guard dog that attacks to kill intruders is like setting up a booby trap to shoot an intruder who opens the door. The dog thinks its master has given him a new territory to guard. The friends become intruders in this territory. Its job is to attack and kill intruders. It tries mightily to carry this out, finally slips its collar and carries out its assignment.
Its master obviously had no idea what it was doing. The incident was classified as a home accident, as when somebody is shot dead and the friend who did it "didn't know the gun was loaded."
People own dogs and know hardly anything about them. Dog owners need the training responsible gun owners get.
Dogs can be trained to simply chase off intruders without attacking unless the intruders turn on them. They can be trained never to bark unless an intruder actually enters the property (think how quiet things would become), making them really valuable guard dogs.
A guard dog that barks like crazy at passers-by or when other dogs bark is useless. The owner never investigates the barking.
Ted Chernin
Pearl City
'Macy's Liberty House' would be good idea
Regarding the sale of Liberty House to Macy's (Federated Department Stores): The inevitable has happened.
However, to us kama'aina, the spirit of Liberty House is in its name as well as in its long-time service to the island community. I would hope the name "Macy's Liberty House" would be used so that we would not feel we are losing another Hawai'i landmark identity. Instead, we are gaining a "Macy's," thereby making the connection to New York's famous department store while retaining an Island tradition.
This would also make it less costly to convert the Liberty House imprint — with "Macy's" above the "Liberty House" image-name. I could live with that.
Suzanne Teller
Stupid racers, boaters should feel the pain
Street racing is stupid.
Operating a boat without proper safety equipment is stupid.
This isn't the first time incidents have happened in these two areas, and people don't seem to be getting any smarter. I suggest it's time to protect the rest of us from stupid people.
I suggest that if you are caught street racing, it's an automatic forfeiture of your car, loss of your driver's license for three years to give you time to mature, plus a $10,000 fine to discourage you from going out and buying another car. No exceptions, no excuses.
For boaters, I suggest that if you are operating a boat without the proper safety gear and the Coast Guard has to come out and rescue you, then it's an automatic forfeiture of the boat, plus you are responsible for the cost of the rescue (installment plans available).
The ability to operate a motorized vehicle is a privilege, not a right. People who do stupid things shouldn't be allowed to continue to put themselves and others in danger.
Robert Becker
