Letters to the Editor
Police officers aren't using their seat belts
I am writing regarding the seat-belt enforcement campaign that just ended. I am admittedly a bit of a fanatic about the use of car seats and seat belts.
I am pleased with the effort to get everyone traveling more safely in their vehicles. I feel bad for those who had to pay large fines, but glad for any opportunity that gets people to buckle up and save lives.
Since this campaign began, my family did informal research, watching all of the police cars that pass us on the road. We saw from two to four police vehicles daily. We saw only one officer during this entire time using his own seat belt.
This is not giving a good message, especially to the children. Please, officers, lead by example.
Mary Osorio
Gift of books doesn't insult state librarians
Does state Librarian Virginia Lowell and University of Hawai'i Librarian Diane Perushek believe that the public holds librarians in such low esteem that donating a book is an insult to their profession?
No, Virginia (and Diane), the public has long stopped believing that all librarians wear glasses, are unmarried and women.
Also, Maeda Timson's remark that accepting books from the general public by the library is like letting your next-door neighbor put a cast on your broken leg is an insult to the intelligence of the public and the worse case of logic and reasoning I've ever heard. Since when have the skills of a librarian been equated with that of a doctor?
Whenever I've donated a book to the library, no one has asked me if I had a degree in library science before the book could be accepted.
Could it be that when I turn my back, the librarian sneers and says to her fellow "scientists": "The nerve of that guy; to come in here and just give us a book that hasn't been specifically chosen and approved by a professional, highly trained member of our elitist group of library scientists."
Is my book then thrown into the library's "Banned and General Public-Donated Books" burn bin?
It sounds as if the real reason the donated books to the Kapolei Library aren't being accepted by Virginia Lowell is to send a message to the state Legislature that, "If you don't give me what I want, then I don't want anything at all."
Sounds more like a child with hurt feelings than the attitude of a professional librarian.
Charles Morel
Kailua
Donated books don't create a library
I write this in response to Lee Cataluna's column, and letters by Clarence Chin and Cless McFarland.
It is very easy to say "Yes" to accepting donated books in order to get Kapolei Library up and running. It should be this simple, shouldn't it? But these writers miss the other aspects of libraries and librarianship.
McFarland could point to his bookshelf and call it a library, but when someone else comes calling and wants something specific, something he doesn't have, would he know how to find and retrieve it?
A public library provides access to databases. A librarian knows how to find information in these databases and elsewhere. Simple information is something the public libraries provide in addition to books.
Second, if and when the state finally provides operating funding for Kapolei, would Chin understand how to select books — or would he just go to Borders and buy a copy of every title he found interesting? He also doesn't understand that the Baker & Taylor book-buying fiasco he refers to was foisted on the librarians by former state Librarian Bart Kane.
Rather than selecting books haphazardly — which anyone can do and what the motley collection of donated books effectively amounts to — librarians are constantly reading book reviews and trade journals in order to maximize their materials acquisition budgets. They don't want to buy junk or books that do not circulate.
Yes, books are very important to a library, but suppose the people of Kapolei don't want to read the donated books — they are the ones who donated them, after all — what then?
James Ko
State making it harder for disabled to park
Recently there have been many letters pertaining to disabled parking stalls and permits. Beginning this year, the state is requiring a driver's license, a tax-exemption form or a state identification card in order to obtain a disability parking permit.
The result is that many disabled people are unable to obtain the permit.
Often a disabled person using a wheelchair cannot obtain a driver's license and relies on caretakers who have the driver's license. Also, many disabled residents of Hawai'i do not have a state ID or a tax-exemption form. This is particularly true of elderly disabled persons who are unable to get a state ID card because they do not have a certified copy of their birth certificate.
When questioned about these new requirements, the state responded that a residency requirement and proof of Hawai'i residency was necessary in order to obtain a disabled parking permit because nonresidents would abuse the system by parking in disabled parking stalls. Disabled parking stalls should be for the disabled person, not just those individuals who are able to obtain the required identification.
Additionally, residency requirements have been found to be unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, unless there is a compelling state interest. If a disabled person is visiting from another state, he or she should be able to use the disabled parking stalls. The criteria to use the stalls should be a person who has been certified by a doctor as disabled, not whether or not he has the proper identification establishing residency.
Presently, the rules pertaining to the requirements for obtaining a permit are in the process of being amended.
Daphne E. Barbee
Attorney at law
Cliff Slater is right to carp on problems
I write to comment on the June 10 letter by Todd Shelly, who complains about columnist Cliff Slater being a broken record.
As I know something about records, may I point out to Shelly that the reason for Slater complaining about the same problems over and over for years and years is that in all those years, no one, not one single person in the Democratic government, in power for the past 40-plus years, has done anything about fixing them. We still have them.
"Slater was disgusted with the Department of Education on April 13, 1994 ... and he's still disgusted in 2002." Mr. Shelly, may I respectfully submit that this is because nothing has been done to correct the problems? We still have one of the worst educational systems in the nation, and no one has tried to do anything about it except raise the union pay scale. My wife had 37 pupils in her class; now some teachers have 15 and they still graduate uneducated students.
They want to spend billions of dollars we don't have on bubble-headed transportation ideas from the same guys (DOT) who brought you the "scamera" tax system, and then they will raise your taxes again to pay for it, in one of the most taxed states in the union.
Shelly doesn't seem to understand that if something is wrong, you should keep pointing out to people that it's wrong until it gets fixed. With the type of politicians we have, it always takes years to get anything done correctly.
Don McDiarmid
Kailua
What you can do about spam e-mails
Regarding the June 12 story "With no laws, no limits on unwanted e-mail ads": Vicki Viotti draws attention to the frustration and costs experienced by Internet providers and recipients of "spam" or UCE (unsolicited commercial e-mail).
This year, an attempt was made to add Hawai'i to the list of states with anti-spam laws. SB 2379 and a section regarding "Misleading Electronic Mail" in SB 3061, SD 1, provided the means for the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, as well as individual consumers and Internet providers, to financially penalize spammers and their e-mail providers. Unfortunately, that section was deleted by the Senate Committee on Ways & Means.
A few suggestions:
• Most of us receive forwarded e-mails of jokes, stories and lists from our friends, relatives and associates. Most senders fail to hide the e-mail addresses of their recipients, thereby broadcasting your address to scores of strangers. This is a ripe source of e-mail addresses for spammers.
Ask your e-mail correspondents to stop forwarding such messages to you, or at the very least, to clean up the messages before forwarding and hiding recipients' e-mail addresses in the blind-copy (bcc) field.
• The Federal Trade Commission actively targets Internet fraud for action. Forward spam e-mails with full headers showing to: uce@ftc.gov
• Most Internet service providers investigate or filter unsolicited commercial e-mail reported by their customers. Check your ISP's Web site for information on how to report UCE.
Miles Matsumura
Will teachers ever learn about elections?
Will Hawai'i's teachers every learn?
Every four years, the HSTA endorses a candidate for governor. In a process somewhat akin to professional wrestling, the outcome is decided in advance. Then varying amounts of huffing and puffing occur to imitate a contest before the chosen winner is actually announced.
Who really believes this year will be any different? In four years, the students learn their lessons and graduate, but teachers get their lessons over and over, every four years, and never learn.
It goes like this (correct me if I'm wrong): For three years and nine months, teachers complain how education is being neglected, then for three months they fight to keep it that way. I have watched this cycle repeat itself for 30 years. It's like hostage psychology, where the captives come to identify with their tormentors. There is endless talk of escape, but no one seriously tries.
A friend of mine said, "Just because the union endorses them doesn't mean I vote for them." So what? They have your good name, they have your money, they would like you to vote, but two out of three will do nicely, thank you. The weaker-willed even wave signs for candidates they don't support.
Teachers have a short window of opportunity to make a difference, to make their union serve them and their students. Their union will only operate as a monarch as long as they allow it.
Why not poll Hawai'i's teachers before their leadership decides what they will think? To the rank and file, there should be no chosen candidate, and there are four candidates left to consider. If anything is to improve, they must act now, not just complain later.
Mike Mentnech
Hilo
Commentary spoke for Felix children
Regarding the June 10 Advertiser Counterpoint commentary "State is sloughing off Felix": I want to thank Robert Rees for being the voice of children and families who are not able to speak for themselves of the injustice or "deliberate indifference" that still continues around schools throughout Hawai'i.
I'm sure the federal court, attorneys, legislators, Departments of Education and Health, and agencies are growing weary of the Felix Consent Decree. Probably (without meaning to) many of them feel great contempt for our children with special needs. They are all so worn out, in fact, that these policing envoys are tired of "baby-sitting" or are turning a deaf ear on even the most obvious discriminations that prevent our children from getting a free, appropriate public education.
Many well-meaning school staff are greatly confused about what to do. One day there will be no Felix Consent Decree, but the wrongdoings will continue because Hawai'i did not care enough. Some families will continue to advocate for their children, but many worn-out and stressed parents will not because the government failed their keiki.
Mahalo, Mr. Rees, for not deserting our children.
Sing Vista
Pukalani, Maui
Stop putting down our public schools
I had read several articles and letters from your newspaper commenting on the Forbes magazine article about doing business in Hawai'i. I am happy that you gave our governor, Ben Cayetano, space in the June 9 paper to tell the other side of the story.
When you only want to look at negative things, you will find plenty of them, regardless of the city, state or even a person. I was not born in Hawai'i, but I have always been proud to call Hawai'i my home. Yes, Hawai'i is known for its high cost of living, but I would rather live here and eat only rice with shoyu than live elsewhere and eat steak and lobster.
I agreed with the governor regarding people trashing Hawai'i's public school system. Please stop putting down our school system and the people who run it. I am proud to be the product of Hawai'i's education system — Kaimuki High School, to be exact. After I got my high school diploma, I was able to go to college and graduate with honors at Boston College, class of 1983.
There are many other successful individuals who are products of Hawai'i's public schools.
Sang T. Le
