Letters to the Editor
Aquariums would drain resources from Hawai'i
Unbelievable: two new state fish tanks instead of one. Is this the age of aquariums, or another self-serving effort to enrich tax credit prospectors for landowners and foreign contractors?
What great works our state Legislature provides its people: pickled promises of job training. Not to mention state revenue sharing in the 17th year, by which time the tanks will be leaking and depreciated.
If this passes, we, the taxpayers, will be captured, put on display and will remain subject to the feeder. Final bill drafts must disclose humane warning to the throngs of whales, sharks, dolphins and fish that will serve the cause.
The sad fact is, Hawai'i's economy will be hard-pressed to maintain essential services in light of the size of state government, dwindling revenue and looming international conflicts. Imagine one day we might fully fund our basic needs vs. sheer nonsense.
Perhaps the sale of municipal bonds for the war on fire ants, frogs, weeds and fish tanks. Funding a private conservation corps of statewide unemployed for environmental remediation. Better than Band-Aids!
We could then bill our biggest sewage-filled swamp as a fresh-smelling open waterway, attracting tourists to purchase time shares on the beautiful shores of Lake Wilson. And save a private aquarium in Waimanalo, preserving state lease income.
Unfortunately, sustainability remains an unknown commodity in Hawai'i's future.
Bobby Carter
Puna, Hawai'i
It was a pro-peace, not anti-war, stance
I was featured on the Feb. 16 front page in a photograph with the unfortunate erroneous caption, "Kimo ... protested with his anti-war sign ..."
For myself and many others, our intention is purely to promote peace, rather than protest a war that has not even begun.
The peace sign held up two fingers, which is an easily recognized international sign of peace, rather than the middle finger that was frequently and angrily presented to us as we peacefully marched. The words on the sign were carefully chosen — "Vote for peace candidates," and on the other side, "It's a good thing" — to present positive steps toward realizing peace.
If the media continues to sensationalize and label this simple embryonic grassroots peace movement as "anti-war," with "protesters" and other Vietnam-era clips, then an incorrect perspective is presented to the public and our many friends presently serving in the military.
I became sensitive to this when I was spit upon as a naval aviator returning from Vietnam. Fortunately, I quickly got over my upset when I realized that the flower children really loved me and only hated what I was doing — killing hundreds of people with a push of a button.
My sorrow will never bring them back, but hopefully testimony by veterans for peace will show where some, choosing to be the arm for our politicians, are headed.
Kimo Jadrnicek
Kailua
Science symposium for girls was fantastic
As an eighth-grade teacher at Niu Valley Intermediate School, my primary goal is to motivate and excite my students in the field of science.
I saw an ad in the paper a few weeks ago about a science symposium for girls sponsored by Sacred Hearts Academy on Saturday, Feb. 15. Saturday is usually a very busy day for me, but who cares? I decided to take my students. Besides, it was free.
What a great choice! We joined at least 400 junior high girls for a morning of math, science and technology. Keynote speaker Dr. Michelle Thaller, an astrophysicist and practicing astronomer from the Space Infrared Telescope Facility at the California Institute of Technology, made the world of Star Wars come alive to the all-girl audience.
My students participated in sessions led by an engineer, pilot, architect, veterinarian, meteorologist and more. They learned why planes fly, even the ones that carry tons of cargo; how astronomers make invisible light visible to reveal the mysteries of the universe; and how to design skyscrapers and super-speed highways.
The parent session with Emma Pavich on how to work effectively with girls was attended and enjoyed by about 200 parents. All in all, it was a fantastic morning for my students and me.
On behalf of about 400 young junior high students and 200 adults, please help us thank Sacred Hearts Academy, First Hawaiian Bank, the Augustine Educational Foundation, Department of Education's Safe and Drug-Free Schools, Coca-Cola and Frito-Lay Hawaii for financially supporting this worthwhile and exciting morning of science, math and technology.
Darah Hee
Pali Highway area has dangerous dip
Has anyone in the Department of Transportation or your road maintenance division noticed that the Pali Highway is collapsing just above Kapa'a Quarry Road in the right-hand, Kailua-bound lane? There is already a big dip in the road as it is slowly slipping toward Maunawili Valley.
If the city wants to avoid a lawsuit from any potential victim of this hazard, then I suggest it get serious about fixing it — not to mention the traffic nightmare that would follow if it does slide away.
Ned C. Wiederholt
Kailua
Local boards must have real authority
I understand the Legislature is feeling pressured to create local school boards and to decentralize the DOE. There is now a bill that makes it look as if the Legislature is responding to requests for local control. However, the people of Hawai'i should not be fooled.
People want local school boards that have real authority and control — school boards that establish education policy in their communities, have authority to approve their school district budgets and provide a check on the district operating schools in their communities.
We should all voice opposition to our representatives regarding House Bill 289, which would create local advisory school boards. These advisory boards would have no real power, but would cost us about the same as having real local school boards. Essentially, we would get nothing for our money. It would actually take money away from education because the "advisory" boards wouldn't have any real authority to improve education.
We want reform that gives our communities the right to improve the education in our districts. I oppose this bill because it would not enact the real school reform we need. I do not want to pay for the appearance of local control — I want the real thing.
Cindy Siok
State pothole patcher typical waste of money
Jim Dooley's Feb. 26 article "State pothole patcher a bust" was mind-boggling. What a total waste of taxpayers' money.
Would anyone in his right mind purchase an expensive machine without knowing how the heck it works? Duh!
Martin Okabe, chief engineer for O'ahu's state highways division office, commented, "We didn't do a good job of researching. I'm not too happy with how things turned out. We screwed up."
Typical!
Dina Martinez
Kane'ohe
Extra 10 percent tax on gasoline needed
Since the rest of the world pays at least double what we do for gas, I believe we should add a 10 percent additional tax to the price of fuel that would be dedicated to alternative sources of energy specifically devoted to transportation.
Of this revenue, at least 75 percent should be earmarked for small, innovative companies with under 1,000 employees. All funding should be based on proposals solicited semiannually, with no efforts lasting over three years, including annual options.
The law should also limit the percentage of this revenue used for federal management at 10 percent.
Fritz M. Amtsberg
Portable classrooms nothing to bother about
The Feb. 6 article about portables in Mililani Mauka followed by test results and letters from the school's principal and others make me wonder what people like Laura Brown have to complain about and why The Advertiser continues to provide her an audience.
Does Brown have a child attending Mililani Mauka? I do.
I had the pleasure of walking my third-grader to his portable on his first day of class. He was thrilled. Why? Well, because it was new, different and "close to the bathroom." With the school year more than half gone, he has not voiced a single complaint about the portables.
Needless to say, I am proud of my third-grader. He is one of those high-achievers who led the state with the highest percentage among public school third-graders (58.9 percent) meeting or exceeding math standards. His group of students repeated the honor with fully 80 percent meeting or exceeding the reading standards. All while being taught in a portable.
Certainly, there are major issues facing our public education system, and we should focus on them. Portables isn't one of those issues.
Jeffrey Nagashima
Mililani
Community spirit improves park for all
Thanks are due to the two couples who walk around Kapi'olani Park on Sunday mornings pulling down all the illegally posted handbills and keeping the place looking neat.
And to the wiry, fit older man who interrupts his morning run —going out of his way to pick up rubbish in the park and place it in trash cans — mahalo.
They all set a good example. Too bad the litterbugs and law violators are not up early enough to see this community spirit.
Ken Kiura
Tsai's column was wonderfully human
Michael Tsai's March 3 column concerning his reflections about his mom and her plants was the most sensitive, compassionate, humanistic writing I have read in your newspaper for many, many years.
Tsai has a most wonderfully human, self-effacing touch. What soul! And to top it all off, he looks like "just a kid."
How rare his gift is in this day of talking and writing "heads." How wonderful it is to have "discovered" this rare orchid in the desert of contemporary journalism.
Toshio Nagatani
Performance standards are not in place in Hawai'i
The self-serving pap of Board of Education member Shannon Ajifu (Letters, Feb. 24) must not go unchallenged.
As a public school teacher, I can say with assurance Ajifu's statement that "content and performance standards are in place" is utterly false. The so-called content standards are vague, generalized mush that clump several grades together in a loose amalgam that defies assessment.
As for performance standards, there are no measurable performance standards. Zip. Nada. Nothing. No doubt that is why Ajifu finds it necessary to add this weasel qualification: "Evaluation instruments for these standards are being designed and implemented."
Should one wish to know why these "evaluation instruments" were not provided long ago, the answer is simple. Neither the BOE nor the DOE has yet seen fit to define an academic curriculum. Without a curriculum, there can be no real assessment of either student progress or teacher effectiveness. The result? Chaos. Worse, deliberate chaos. Worse yet, manufactured chaos.
Were measures taken to reduce order from chaos — defining a curriculum, measurable performance standards, a common grading scale — the hideous head of accountability for results would inescapably arise. Careers might be put in jeopardy. In the DOE, with the obvious approval of the BOE, it is careers, not kids, that matter.
Ajifu offers soothing assurance that "state and school complex personnel are poised to provide leadership and assistance." Poised? If, after decades of chaos, the so-called leadership is now merely "poised," a change in both structure and leadership is clearly overdue.
There is no way this lumbering, dysfunctional, bureaucratic snake pit can heal itself. It must be replaced by a system of local boards and local districts from which parents and other taxpayers may expect — and should demand — real accountability for measurable results instead of the taffy now being distributed by those who loathe to relinquish their power.
Like many who find themselves in a desperate situation, Ajifu finds it necessary to resort to half-truths: "Our schools are in need. They are not broken." Part one is true. Part two is false.
Thomas E. Stuart
Kapa'au, Hawai'i
