Posted on: Tuesday, October 8, 2002
Letters to the Editor
Lingle's position on college was misstated
Let me respond to N. Kimura's Sept. 26 letter, which incorrectly states Linda Lingle's position on the West O'ahu College.
Linda Lingle has always supported additional educational opportunities for every resident of the state, and that includes building the West O'ahu College. What she has been against are people who are willing to say anything just to get elected.
Four years ago, even with the state's poor economy and the obvious lack of funds, politicians made promises to build the college. Linda stated at that time that no one should promise what he or she had no intention of delivering. Four years later, the college remains just a promise.
Let's not be fooled again by people who are willing to promise anything. Instead, let's begin by restoring funding that has been taken away from the University of Hawai'i system over the last 10 years. Then, with a clear vision, a solid plan and adequate funding, let's build a university in West O'ahu we can all be proud of.
Lloyd Yonenaka
GOP should drop 'Catch the Wave!'
The Republican Party has disseminated a letter with a logo depicting a tsunami wave and the words, "The Republican Tsunami — Catch the Wave!" I am concerned about the portrayal of a tsunami with the phrase "Catch the Wave!"
As a survivor of the 1946 tsunami and founder of the Pacific Tsunami Museum in Hilo, I know firsthand the dangers of tsunamis. More people have been killed in Hawai'i by tsunamis than all other natural disasters combined. In 1994, during a tsunami warning, there were an estimated 400 people in the surf waiting to "catch the wave." Fortunately, the wave did not materialize, as it would have resulted in a tragic loss of life.
The tsunami mitigation community works tirelessly to publicize tsunami safety. I would hope the Republican Party would concur with the importance of conveying a responsible message regarding tsunami safety. As a concerned citizen, I request that the Republican Party revamp the logo, eliminating the phrase "Catch the Wave" and make a public statement emphasizing the dangers of attempting to surf a tsunami wave.
Those interested in learning about the history of tsunamis can visit the Pacific Tsunami Museum in Hilo (www.tsunami.org).
Jeanne Branch Johnston
Lingle showing she is already a leader
It seems Mazie Hirono is whining and "playing" this election tit-for-tat against Linda Lingle. Instead of proving her worthiness as a Democratic opponent, she is showing me that she is really not a powerful, nor worthy, candidate at all.
A Sept. 26 article showed that Lingle brought up facts where our economy and education are concerned. She also raised a point that Hirono has been in government for 20 years and in higher office for the past eight years. All Hirono could come back with were "take it personal" comments as if Lingle is out to "attack" the people of Hawai'i. It is about time we have someone in office who is willing to honestly look at where we are at so that we can move forward toward brighter days. It is common sense. The fact is, our economy is not thriving but falling, our education system is in dire need of change, and we need leadership with a "new attitude."
Hirono stated that "We need a governor who believes in the people, who says we have the head and the heart to make positive changes, the real changes that are going to help our community, help our businesses, help our working families." I don't need my governor to tell me that I have the head and the heart to make positive changes — I know I do, and I know Hawai'i's people do; we just need the governor to allow us to rise up and contribute to our state. We don't need the governor to do anything but lead with clear vision, hear with an open mind, allow with a discerning eye, reach out with an open heart.
I really believe Linda Lingle is doing that. And my emphasis is on the word "doing."
Focus on education includes collaboration
The two gubernatorial candidates tout education as a priority. One has mapped plans for restructuring the DOE system. One has stated that she is an advocate of education.
Has either candidate even considered asking Pat Hamamoto how she and the new governor could work best collaboratively to empower the DOE so that it can become one of the best in the nation?
Collaboration with the people directly involved in the DOE and who understand how the system works would benefit all concerned.
Charlene Hosokawa
Upbeat assurances now seem suspicious
Patsy Mink, may you rest in peace.
I voted for you in the primary. We in Hawai'i respected your right to privacy in recent weeks. We accepted your family's and your political party's assurances that you would soon be healthy again. Despite your confinement in an intensive-care ward and complete disappearance from public view, we voted for you once again.
Sadly, your family's and your party's prognosis was wrong. Indeed, now their upbeat assurances seem suspicious. It now appears that those closest to you may have intentionally misled us. Indeed, the timing of your unfortunate passing created an aura of scandal that will forever dim your legacy — unless the truth is promptly aired.
Sen. Daniel Inouye is right. It's ghoulish to speculate about who knew what and when in the weeks leading up to your passing. That's why we need the truth. I hope those who loved you and know the truth will share it with us. I hope that they will permit independent verification.
As a public official, you know that your right to privacy is necessarily limited by your oath to serve. The seminal question is when did your family or your political party know you were too ill to continue to serve in the U.S. Congress?
We who are citizens of Hawai'i and the United States are owed the facts. Indeed, if we taxpayers must pay for a multimillion-dollar special election, we are entitled to them.
May God bless you and yours in this difficult time.
Mike Rethman
We need more data on education situation
Jim Shon's facts on the Department of Education in his Oct. 3 Island Voices piece are incomplete. He says that classroom teachers comprise 60.7 percent of all staff.
Hawai'i reportedly has 11,000 teachers, and so, mathematically, should have 7,000 administrative staff, or about 28 nonteaching administrators per school.
Who are those people besides the principals and vice principals?
We need more detail to fill in the equation. How many classrooms are there statewide? Who is considered a classroom teacher? Do district resource teachers, librarians, student service coordinators and counselors count as classroom teachers? How many educational officers are there, including those in adult education? How is per-pupil expenditure calculated?
A $1.4 billion education budget divided by 183,000 students equals $7,650, not $6,391.
If there are 11,000 teachers, their salaries would amount to about $400 million. How is the other $1 billion spent?
The public deserves to know all the facts.
Laura Brown
Ballot Question No. 3 should be rejected
Little has been said in the media about Ballot Question No. 3, which will appear on the Nov. 5 ballot. This ballot question could have devastating effects on our citizens.
Ballot Question No. 3 will read: "Shall Hawai'i's constitutional provision regarding the initiation of criminal charges be amended to permit criminal charges for felonies to be initiated by a legal prosecuting officer through the filing of a signed, written information setting forth the charge in accordance with procedures and conditions to be provided by the state Legislature?"
Question No. 3 has been drafted in broad, misleading terms to encourage "yes" votes. The "constitutional provision regarding the initiation of criminal charges" mentioned in Question No. 3 refers to the long-established grand jury and preliminary hearing. The word "amended" really means abolished. Further, "information setting forth the charge" means hearsay information from the police. Last, "in accordance with procedures and conditions to be provided by the state Legislature" means nothing because there are no procedures and conditions in place or even proposed. If anything, it means that the state Legislature will figure it out later.
A yes vote will take away our constitutional rights without any set of procedures or conditions in place and will give the prosecutor and police unrestrained power to haul our citizens into court or to imprison them. A "yes" vote will take the people out of the process. A "no" vote will preserve our constitutional rights by leaving the current system untouched and by requiring the prosecutor and police to show sufficient grounds in court before filing serious criminal charges against our citizens.
David Sereno
Bring back van cams to control the speeders
The people who travel on our highways need to take control of the way they drive. We have speed-limit signs that few pay any attention to. We cried about the van cams while important people were cited for breaking the law by speeding. Then the state increased the speed limit in certain areas of O'ahu.
The H-3 is one where they increased the speed limit from 55 mph to 60 mph. Have any of our city or state officials monitored the speed that the majority of drivers travel on H-3 going into town or traveling into Kane'ohe? There are drivers traveling anywhere from 75 mph to 85 mph.
Then we have those individuals driving hot-rod Hondas.
I think the city and state should do something drastic to prevent stupid behavior on our highways. Perhaps the return of van cams would be the answer, or we could provide for more police to cover our highways and freeways. Doesn't the safety of our citizens demand more protection?
Forget the crybabies who got tickets for speeding and forced van cams out of existence.
Curtis R. Rodrigues
Hawai'i ranks poorly in the New Economy
I was recently doing some research at the Progressive Policy Institute for our Think Tech Hawai'i radio show on the state of the New Economy in Hawai'i. The institute has completed a study on the New Economy, or Digital Economy, and ranks states according to several criteria. Hawai'i, as in most other studies, comes in near the bottom of most of the meaningful categories.
One note that was interesting is that we ranked first in foreign investment, but this includes nontechnical investment and so is not a good measure of the digital dollars being spent here.
On to the rankings: Overall in 2002, we ranked 35th, which is down nine spots from 1999's ranking of 26th. In the categories that matter, our rankings are as follows: percentage of the population that is online, 40th; digital government, 40th; high-tech job creation, 46th; IT jobs as a percentage of overall jobs available, 37th; managerial, professional and technical jobs as a percentage of all jobs, 44th.
Probably the most meaningful of all rankings is the investment in research and development, in which Hawai'i should rank high with the University of Hawai'i and the amount of R&D that takes place there. We rank a paltry 49th. In Hawai'i we have perhaps the largest natural laboratory in the world, and all of it is within easy reach for any scientist, which makes this ranking even sadder. Two bright spots were the workforce education ranking, in which we ranked 10th, and the amount of broadband use as a percentage of population, in which we ranked 19th.
The interesting note about workforce education ranking is that it does not measure our education within our schools but the amount of degrees possessed by working professionals.
What can we glean from all of these figures? We can see that if we do not concentrate on fixing our schools and luring tech businesses here, we will face the same non-opportunistic forecast we have seen for the last 12 years. I, for one, hope to see this change with the next election.
Don Mangiarelli
Press secretary, Linda Lingle campaign
Kailua
Lisa Shozuya
Kane'ohe
Mililani
Wailuku, Maui
Kane'ohe
Technical adviser
Think Tech Hawai'i
