Letters to the Editor
State must not pay for undergrounding lines
The state must not give money to the for-profit Hawaiian Electric Co. to underground its electrical lines. HECO can cut back its profits and invest its dollars in undergrounding transmission lines. Undergrounding is inevitable.
Electrical lines are a City and County issue. Granted it is expensive to underground lines. However, if HECO would work with the other utilities, the cost would be shared. No one utility needs to carry the whole load.
HECO, which has the main responsibility to bury lines, will be able to use the safest technology to encase EMF radiation. A HECO staff can coordinate with the other utilities to develop a plan of when and where each project will dig up the road. All utilities will bury their lines when that puka is made in the road. Working together will make overhead lines a thing of the past. It is reasonable and it can be done.
Carolyn Walther
Medical reasons argue for diplomacy with Iraq
Letters to the editor and articles have discussed many reasons why our administration should treat Iraq the same way it is treating North Korea and insist on a diplomatic solution. One reason not yet discussed is to avoid sickness and death of our own troops.
American military policies were more dangerous to our troops than were Saddam's armies in the Persian Gulf War, as is documented in publications such as the Journal of American Medical Association and Science. It is estimated that about 25 percent of the military personnel involved in that war are sick with Gulf War Syndrome.
No one has fully determined the reasons for Gulf War Syndrome, but included as likely candidates are items such as the vaccines administered to our troops, the flea collars that some of our troops wore and the many drugs they took as a precaution against possible chemical attack.
Most dangerous of all, however, for our troops was their exposure to American-made depleted uranium. Depleted uranium shells are preferred by military planners because of their superior penetrating power. However, successful use of these shells spreads low-grade nuclear waste — which directly affects the lives and health of our troops, as well as being a long-term disaster for the area in which they were used. If there is another war, our troops could be traveling in the areas that are contaminated, and so the cycle of sickness and death would continue.
I urge your readers to contact our president and urge him to follow the same diplomatic path with Iraq that he is doing with North Korea if only in consideration of the lives and health of our troops.
John Casken, R.N., Ph.D.
Modular classrooms sturdy, comfortable
Hawai'i public schools are relative latecomers to the modular-building phenomenon; nationally, in climates subzero to hot, school districts save millions and a lot of time by using modular construction.
Hawaii Modular Space Inc. supplies the Department of Education with modular classrooms that are sturdy and well-designed. Modular solutions for schools are economically sound, fresh and comfortable for our children and desirable for teachers.
Children are in state-of-the-art, fully wired modular buildings equipped with central air-conditioning and insulated to comfortable temperatures. Noise is kept out. Many teachers prefer the modular units to other classrooms.
There are junk portables out there that should be replaced with these comfortable units. We are concerned about the well-being of Hawai'i's students and will continue to work with the state to improve the quality of their surroundings.
Hawaii Modular Space's own corporate office is made of modular units connected by site-built sections. We just finished a branch for Bank of Hawaii. Chaminade University used our modular units to blend beautifully into its Spanish-style architecture, getting several buildings up and occupied in record time within a reasonable budget.
Both Chaminade and the Bankoh branch units are excellently designed, attractively appointed and fit well in their environments. Hawaii Modular Space has several projects that have won national awards.
Mike Fox
President, Hawaii Modular Space Inc.
Improving education doesn't have to cost us
Public schools in Hawai'i have an opportunity to raise the bar of excellence in education. There are some ideas that don't require additional money.
For example, improving math education could be accomplished by starting each year with a comprehensive review of math before advancing to new material. This would give students stronger fundamentals and better math ability.
The best things in life are free. Improving education does not have to come out of our wallets.
Michael Chandler
Education reform bill needs input from UH
The silence from the University of Hawai'i on the education reform bill is deafening. President Dobelle promised us a university that leads. Where is the university when our legislators need them or we need them to pressure our legislators?
My remembrances of education research points to the principals as the key to reform. They cannot be subject to union pressures and at the same time be creative models and leaders. Communities, let alone a state, that are leaders in education rarely contain principals as members of the teacher's union. They were expelled by the teachers from my union knowing that a conflict of interest was inherent in the two positions.
Of course principals do not want to leave the union. Their protection, financially and intellectually, is dependent on merging with the herd. Find an outstanding principal, and he or she will want independence from the union and from the BOE.
The education professors could supply more than adequate research on the crucial role of principals in reform, particularly in their need for an independent bent. Hopefully, they will.
Dan Berman
Retired educator
Hawai'i's people are simply marvelous
Hawai'i can be very proud of two of its very fine citizens, Buddy and Leilani Apana of Waimanalo.
We, four senior citizens from the Mainland, were driving along the highway just past Sunset Beach when we were struck by another vehicle, sustaining various degrees of injury.
Buddy and Leilani came by shortly afterward, called 911 and gave us physical and moral support until the police and ambulances arrived. They took possession of our personal property (boogie boards, beach bags, etc.), gave us their telephone number and told us to call them from the hospital. One from our party was admitted to Castle Medical Center and three were released after treatment for various bumps and bruises.
We called our new friends, and they came with our belongings and drove us over the Pali to the Island Colony Hotel in Waikiki. We tried to reimburse them, but they firmly refused and settled for a kiss, hug and handshake.
In addition to the above, we were most impressed by the universal kindness and friendliness of everyone we came in contact with. The police were courteous and helpful, the EMS and hospital staff could not have been more supportive or sympathetic, and the hotel staff was simply like family in their support and offers to help.
The Hawai'i people we know are simply marvelous.
David Baldwin
Fairlawn, N.J.
