Letters to the Editor
Teachers should give up differential
This may not sit well with some of my fellow teachers, but I hope it does: In light of recent events and the snowballing effects on our economy, I think we should forgo the differential pay for advanced degrees altogether.
Let the state use the money to help the economy, and then when our next contract comes up, we could get it back.
It is still important to raise the pay scale to attract a larger skilled labor force, but right now seems like a good time to give this one back.
E. Hauge
Wai'anae
Legalized gambling won't offset our loss
Gary Edwards' Oct. 1 letter incorrectly assumes that legalized gambling in Hawai'i will offset the economic hit we have taken since the bombing of the World Trade Center.
Unfortunately that is not necessarily true. Las Vegas is currently suffering the same kind of economic downturn as is the rest of the country. Jay Leno recently did a benefit performance in the city that helped so much to further his career, for that very reason.
While not questioning Gary's sincerity in suggesting a possible way to improve our current economic plight, we should guard against any attempts to use the recent tragedy as a means to further personal political or economic agendas.
George W. Iversen
Terrorist threats just more mistakes
Terrorists are greatly deceived by their delusional belief that the West is somehow intimidated by their hollow threats of "jihad" and empty chants of "Death to America!"
We know their capabilities to wage war, just as Saddam Hussein showed us the "mother of all wars." Kuwaiti sands ran red with blood, all right, but it wasn't ours.
Their idea of "bravery" is to whip children into a religious frenzy and strap bombs on their tiny bodies before sending them out to die for their misguided fanatical cause, or to hijack a plane filled with hundreds of innocents and use it to sneak-attack a building crammed with thousands more unsuspecting innocents. This brand of "bravery" does not intimidate us — it nauseates us and gives us an unbendable will to squash them like the cockroaches they are.
They incorrectly perceive our democratic public debate as division.
They mistake our patience, compassion, magnanimity and material generosity as weaknesses.
They wrongly believe our sincere thirst and unceasing efforts toward building lasting peace and achieving justice for all to be a fear and an unwillingness on our part to fight the just war.
Mark Johnson
Kailua
Hawai'i police should be aboard our flights
Sea Link of Hawai'i, the Maui-Moloka'i ferry, proposes that everyone in the tourism industry request that our governor place Hawai'i's police officers on every domestic flight to and from Hawai'i today.
If it is decided that they should not be armed, then provide the officers with "tazers" or stun guns. Even if they only had billy clubs, they would provide a strong and visible deterrent to villains and bolster the confidence of our visitors.
After approval, the next step would be to promote the program. The news coverage would provide Hawai'i with millions of dollars of free publicity and promote our Islands to all travelers.
Let us not be victims and do nothing waiting for the federal sky marshals. Let us act now.
David Jung
President, Sea Link of Hawai'i
Our constitutional rights are at risk
Today, as in other times of crisis and hysteria in our nation's history, constitutional rights and freedoms are at risk.
We see the Bush administration expanding the government's right to wiretap residences and detain people; dark-skinned males are removed from airplanes with no proper cause.
If American freedoms are diminished or lost in the days ahead, the terrorists will have won their greatest victory.
Noel Jacob Kent
Kama'aina discounts for military services
In these times of stress, I would suggest that Hawai'i businesses should extend their kama'aina discounts and tours to our calabash cousins: the U.S. military, including National Guard and Coast Guard, by putting together a "Mahalo Card," a credit card backed by the proper procedures, to be used by military personnel and their families when they vacation in what is their best destination.
Convenient to bases for all service branches, Hawai'i has proven to respond well to every possible crisis, meeting the challenges of possible disaster with kokua and aloha. I encourage congressional and state leaders to remind the heads of the various branches of the nation's services that Hawai'i ought to be at the top of the approval list when military personnel and their families take much-needed R&R.
Retirees should also be encouraged to visit Hawai'i, to lend their views and wisdom to the young generation visiting the USS Arizona and the USS Missouri along with the Bowfin Museum and other historic sites.
Chris Lee
Take action, yes, but spare innocent lives
I feel President Bush should take necessary actions against whoever is responsible, but I also believe that we must fully investigate who did it before taking such actions.
I know it is terrible that the United States had to suffer such horrific and cruel acts involving thousands of innocent victims. I would consider it worse if the United States caused the same suffering to another country that was innocent.
I am very disturbed by the violence directed at Muslims in our country. They should not suffer because of their race, appearance or religion.
When the United States finds whoever is responsible for the attacks, then we should give them, and only them, what they deserve and spare innocent lives.
Rick Oania
'Aiea High School, age 13
Stranded passengers should be given help
Just a suggestion to the Hawai'i Tourism Authority and the state Legislature: One reason Japanese visitors are showing signs of reluctance in visiting Hawai'i stems from the comments in the Japanese news media from those who were stranded here after Sept. 11. The primary complaint was the additional expense the tourists incurred while waiting for a flight back to Japan.
Maybe a contingency fund should be set up to provide some relief to a stranded visitor (whether from Japan or elsewhere) or substantial discounts on the hotel rooms would be in order to allay the concerns of those contemplating travel to Hawai'i.
Additionally, if a fund is set up or a plan put in place, dissemination of this information to the potential visitor through the appropriate advertising avenues would be necessary.
Russel H. Yamashita
Ban on extra pilots is counterproductive
The FAA has now banned off-duty, commuting or deadheading pilots from riding in spare cockpit jumpseats. This not only deprives the operation crew of the benefit of their additional vigilance during normal operations, it effectively removes them as a buffer between the cockpit door and the flying pilots should the unthinkable happen again.
This is in direct contradiction of recent recommendations from the FBI and the Secret Service. Both agencies feel that an extra pilot in the cockpit jumpseat is a significant safety and security resource. The FAA's restriction is especially ill-conceived and dangerous given the fact that the airline industry and the aircraft manufacturers (with the approval of the FAA) have all but eliminated the three-pilot cockpit in today's airline operations. Sadly, all four of the aircraft employed by the terrorists on Sept. 11 were two-pilot designs.
I hope our valued passengers take note of this fact the next time they fly. Airline consumer advocates and organizations need to insist that the industry place additional qualified personnel on each aircraft.
Misguided but well-meaning airport security personnel are now confiscating everything in pilots' flight bags that we might use to defend ourselves and our passengers; meanwhile those "in charge" of the big picture are considering issuing us weapons. So very soon we will be allowed to carry a gun but not our tweezers or shaving cream. Does anyone see anything wrong with this picture?
Capt. Jack M. Schmidt Jr.
U.S. special forces need a subscription
Your front page on Sept. 28 loudly announcing "U.S. ground troops hunting bin Laden" made for gripping headlines, and the accompanying righthand column story told of the elite troops of special operations forces having been inside Afghanistan for two weeks searching for bin Laden and having difficulty in finding him.
Well, they should have had a copy of The Advertiser because the lefthand column told of a delegation of Islamic leaders from Pakistan flying to Kandahar, Afghanistan, to meet with bin Laden to persuade him to leave and stand trial.
Maybe the elite special forces should receive a copy of The Advertiser every morning instead of high-level intelligence briefings from Washington.
Charles S.J. Davis
Kailua
Security checkpoints need to be upgraded
At Honolulu Airport, we have friendly and very nice people at the security checkpoints. However, they are very poorly paid, with little or no motivation to do a proper job. When we go through agriculture inspection, we are greeted by highly trained, well-paid and also very nice inspectors who do an excellent job.
I would prefer to be on a plane with a papaya loaded with fruit flies than some idiot with a weapon.
Robert Anderson
Let's get EPA approval to eradicate frog pest
Your Sept. 28 paper reports that the coqui frog is multiplying "too fast" to stop on the Big Island. Earlier, you reported that efforts to eradicate the frog on O'ahu are stalled, pending an EPA approval of the use of caffeine.
Our tourist industry would be badly hurt if that noisy frog takes over here. I would think our U.S. senators or representatives should immediately contact the EPA and obtain immediate approval. Then, substantial funds should be used to employ the caffeine spray to rid ourselves of having to live (and try to sleep) with 90-decibel choruses roaring all night.
Robert B. Bunn
Kissinger provides guidance for Hawai'i
Until we take Henry Kissinger's observation to heart and do the soul-searching needed to "penetrate the deeper meaning" behind the fact that we've allowed Hawai'i to fall into such a shameful state of economic and educational malaise, we are highly unlikely to get the kind of leadership of which Bob Dye, David Heenan and Chatt Wright speak (Focus, Sept. 23).
The fact of the matter is that our very best thinking and acting in the past have gotten us legislators who have given us among the most top-heavy public service systems and the worst public school systems in the entire nation. (Our university, as we've recently had confirmed, isn't doing much better.) Our present governor's best thinking got us "TV beach bunnies."
The fact that "Hawai'i is several thousand miles from the nearest national capital" will only "promote an objective view" of the "potentially explosive situations of the world" if and when we take off our rose-colored glasses and take a long, hard collective look in the mirror at our own "potentially explosive situations." What we will see is a reflection of Kissinger's "deeper meaning": a populace that has acted as if it doesn't really care, a populace that has gotten just what it deserved.
Until we open our own eyes to our own accountabilities as voting citizens, we are highly unlikely to get anything resembling "a governor with a global vision" or "smart legislators."
Irv Rubin
Race officials killing the sport of paddling
I was a participant in Na Wahine O Ke Kai this past weekend, as I have been many times before. All paddlers should be commended for a job well done and be proud of themselves.
I have only one area that is a little bit of concern to me. Through the years it has become more costly with less recognition and fewer rewards for the paddlers. I find it distressing that race officials stay at Moloka'i Ranch for $300 a night per person and have airfare and meals paid for. Obviously our higher fees are paying for this. If you race in California, Australia or Tahiti, it is all about and for the paddlers.
Maybe the paddlers should officiate and all the officials paddle the channel. Maybe then they would see what is involved. If this fantastic Hawaiian sport dies out, blame its demise on the officials. They are killing the sport.
Adrienne L. Wilson-Yamasaki
Education columns restore confidence
I want to commend Alice Keesing for her outstanding "About Our Schools" columns. With all the bad press schools receive, her columns help to restore confidence in our public schools.
Keesing was able to capture the essence of our recent interview. She is truly a professional whom I enjoyed meeting and I look forward to working with her again in the future.
Haroldeen Wakida
Principal, Ali'iolani School
