Letters to the Editor
Humane Society made the correct decision
I applaud the Humane Society's decision to try to rescue that dog adrift at sea.
I have taken care of more then 30 dogs, not for the money, but for the love an animal will return to you. They all have great homes now. And then there is the one very special cat in my life, Sasha, which I got from the Humane Society 15 years ago. She still makes me laugh.
We need to remember that a lot of times an animal is a godsend to a person. Those dogs were a godsend to me. They gave me more to care for than just me.
Thanks, Humane Society.
Ray Richards
Rescue liner should have rescued dog
I've never sent a letter to the editor of any paper about anything, but I just read about the dog Forgae on the doomed oil tanker Insiko.
They could have found a safe, warm and dry place for a 40-pound dog that would not have interfered with the safety or health of the passengers or crew of the rescue liner.
I hope I'm not the only one upset over this cruel action. Saving the dog would have given them a heart-warming story for advertising; now they just look like a cold, heartless company.
I don't have two nickels to rub together, but I would have found a way to save a helpless animal.
L. Kranz
Mexico, N.Y.
Educational system overhaul is needed
The ultimate responsibility for K-12 education should reside in the governor.
The governor should appoint representatives from different geographical areas and employment backgrounds to the single state school board, which should in turn select and appoint a qualified educator as the superintendent.
The position of superintendent should not be a political appointment. Functions of the state board should be limited to policy matters.
Funding for K-12 education should be a fixed percentage of the general fund budget and should be provided with few legislative restrictions, allowing the DOE and the school board to determine how resources can best be utilized for the benefit of all students in Hawai'i.
The annual plethora of legislative bills that affect education has helped to create the very problems with the DOE system that the Legislature now criticizes.
Roberta Mayor
Slom cast aspersions without having facts
Sen. Sam Slom recently stated that the Hawai'i State Public Library System wouldn't need to close libraries if we just went out and collected outstanding fines and fees, amounting to $4.3 million.
As Paul Harvey has always said, "And now, the rest of the story."
The $4.3 million the senator cited is reported in a 1997 auditor's report. This report resulted in the library system contracting with a highly regarded, locally based collection agency. In the ensuing years, MEDCAH has collected $2.6 million on our behalf, and it continues to do so. MEDCAH is recovering between 30 and 35 percent of outstanding fines and fees, and it advises us when it determines that accounts are uncollectible.
With this advice from our collection agency, we sought permission to write the uncollectible amounts off. However, the attorney general's office has advised us that it is illegal to do so; therefore, these amounts remain on the books. Although uncollectible, these amounts are reported to the credit bureaus and remain on the patron's credit record.
The Hawai'i State Public Library System works diligently to collect its fines and fees. Our success rate is well within standards. We are following accepted practices, and we meet the accountability requirements for publicly funded institutions.
For the senator to cast aspersions on the library system in 2002 based on data lifted out of context from a 1997 report is shortsighted, to say the least, and we take offense at the gratuitous aspersions cast on our reputation in our communities and with our public.
Virginia Lowell
Hawai'i state librarian
Sewer, new paving are sorely needed
I agree with your editorial on the disgrace of the streets and sidewalks of Waikiki. They need some damage control, badly.
They could start with Lemon Road, which is perpendicular to Kapahulu (opposite the zoo). When we have a downpour, this street looks like "Swan Lake," except the inhabitants can't walk on water or fly away. I think the last time this street got paved was when Hawai'i became a state. It needs a sewer for the water, and it's screaming for a paving job.
The sidewalk for the Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel, Paoakalani, has about 50 patch jobs, and the curb is crumbling in places, which was fixed about three years ago.
The sidewalk and curb of the Marriott Hotel on Kalakaua (both ends of the street, Paoakalani and 'Ohua avenues) have not been retiled since new lighting was put in two years ago.
Tourists walk on these three streets all the time. I wonder what they think of these shoddy streets. I doubt if this mayor has ever walked them. I hope the next mayor will take his cue from the ex-mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani, and get to know the people and streets of this city.
Fred Cavaiuolo
Motorized scooters must be silenced
I agree with Dean Hegg (Letters, April 3) that a bark park is a lot more peaceful than these motorized scooters terrorizing the otherwise quiet Mililani neighborhoods.
Where are the parents? Do they realize that these motorized scooters are a noise nuisance and a safety hazard on our sidewalks? I cannot for the life of me understand how the parents of these kids allow their children to choose this type of "fun."
We need to have our representatives work on either eliminating these noise nuisance toys or demanding the installation of some kind of muffler to silence the engines.
No one seems to be able to curb the noise and hazard.
B. Poei
Mililani
Homosexuality claims are lacking authority
In response to the April 5 letter by Phillip C. Smith, Ph.D., professor of sociology: It is interesting that he references a study of homosexuality to support his belief but doesn't give the name of that study, where it was done, by whom and with what credentials.
Considering that he claims a "scientific report" somewhere claims a 2 to 3 percent rate of practicing male homosexuals (which is actually estimated at 10 to 12 percent), his assertion that "practicing" homosexuals are 10 times more likely to molest would appear to be as unfounded as the rest of his unsubstantiated statements.
I do agree that protecting children from unwanted sexual advances should be a priority in our schools and homes.
"Making schools as free as possible of sexual awareness" is called the ostrich approach. Lack of education is never the answer.
Dann Perrin
Defense Department could help our schools
A solution to the state DOE teacher and money shortages is to turn over the operation of schools on military bases to the Department of Defense Domestic Dependent Elementary and Secondary Schools (www.odedodea.edu).
This is the same agency that operates the schools on military bases overseas and in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Guam and Puerto Rico.
State employees assigned to the military-based schools can be cross-leveled to other public schools off base, helping in the personnel shortage, and the state monies used to maintain the military-based schools can be diverted to other off-base schools.
Local teachers would have the opportunity to apply for the federal teacher jobs, which start at about $30,000 plus cost-of-living allowance (Hawai'i is 25 percent).
This looks like a win-win situation for the state, teachers and state taxpayers. My wife is a teacher at Pearl Harbor Kai Elementary.
Lionel Payes
Waipahu
We don't need Waihee, we've got Anderson
So someone suggests that ex-Gov. John Waihee would make a good candidate in the primary race for governor. That's a very desperate statement from the Democratic Party.
What has John Waihee done for the state, the party and most of all for the Hawaiian people?
I think D.G. "Andy" Anderson is the real deal because his heart and the way he thinks are not like those of an attorney or politician, but like an ordinary working person. He is a real braddah.
Kalani Kinimaka
Lahaina, Maui
Each child deserves preschool education
A preschool education is a healthy tool of development that every child should be entitled to — rich or poor. We applaud Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono for her leadership in spearheading the new Pre-Plus program.
Through it, thousands of underprivileged children will now have access to early childhood education, something previously reserved for those who could afford the high cost of preschool in Hawai'i.
As parents of a 4-year-old boy, we have seen the tremendous advantage that a preschool education can offer a child. We are fortunate that we are able to send our son to preschool and feel every child should benefit from it.
Not only do young children nurture social and creative needs at an early age, but they also begin to form fundamental values, such as trust and sharing before entering kindergarten. Preschool helps to nurture that learning process. We have seen it in my nieces and nephews, too.
Pre-Plus is laying an excellent foundation for early childhood education — one we can all be proud of.
William and Reyna Kaneko
'Iniki was good lesson
The legislators who want to raid the hurricane insurance fund should talk to all the folks on Kaua'i who could not get insurance after 'Iniki. We had our homes at risk from fire and hurricane for many months. A direct hit on O'ahu would be magnified tenfold.
Robert Flynn
Koloa, Kaua'i
Politicians see ERS as their private bank
From 1953 to 1959, I was a deputy attorney general of the Territory of Hawai'i and the attorney for the Employees' Retirement System. In that position, I witnessed bad loans and investments made by the trustees of the system at the behest of the politicians.
One loan was made to finance a small hotel in Waikiki in which a senator was a principal owner. With poor management and very little chance of success as a hotel, it became a center for prostitutes and drug dealers and eventually ended in bankruptcy.
Nearly 50 years later, the politicians are still treating the retirement system as their private bank instead of a trust fund to pay the pensions of retired government workers. Legislators have already confiscated all earnings of the retirement system over 10 percent, and now they want to mandate the trustees to become risk capital lenders.
One state senator reportedly said, "We have found the Employees' Retirement System doesn't invest in Hawaiian entities." The reason for this is there are very few good investment opportunities in Hawai'i that are not already financed by legitimate venture capital lenders.
The trustees have the ultimate responsibility of protecting the trust fund and refusing to make imprudent loans and investments.
A few years ago, one of the most respected trustees, the late Justice Edward Nakamura, resigned in protest over the decision of the majority of the other trustees to buy an exclusive private golf course on the Mainland. The real estate broker who was to get a personal fee out of this deal was a personal friend of many Hawai'i politicians and the other trustees.
The paramount rule for all trusts and trustees is to make prudent investments and to protect the principal of the trust fund. Apparently, Hawai'i's politicians and the trustees of the state retirement system do not know or do not respect this rule.
If the Legislature passes a law requiring the trustees to make loans and investments in "Hawaiian entities," there will be many more bad decisions by the trustees and more losses to the trust fund.
Robert K. Fukuda
