Letters to the Editor

DOE does not have a hiring freeze on

I was troubled by the July 23 letter from Cory Ahn that stated "according to the DOE, there is a freeze on hiring of new teachers." The letter questioned why this freeze "only applies to new teachers from Hawai'i."

I asked the Department of Education if this were true. It said no, and that it had no record of this person on the applicant list for the DOE.

Ahn also stated that he was "a recent graduate of the University of Hawai'i." I then asked the University of Hawai'i to assist in locating him. Unfortunately, it was not able to help. The Admissions and Records Office (which is systemwide), the UH Foundation Office, as well as the College of Education checked and had no listing on this individual.

Let's clear this up. If Ahn or any other person feels frozen out by the DOE, please let me know.

Bus system must have uninterrupted service

We need to put in place a system that will, by design, keep the buses running without interruption. Such reliability is critical for the economy as well as for the well-being of our people. There is no need to argue about how this strike is setting our economy back.

As for the social side of the issue: Try being a not-so-gifted, uneducated, single mother with three children — a mother who cannot drive and so depends totally on the bus to get from the Wai'anae zone to work at a minimum-wage job. Her children are often home alone or on the street getting hurt or learning to hurt — and they really do starve now and then.

For this family, life is already hard. Now throw on them this greed-induced strike. For them, this strike is not just a mere inconvenience. Now multiply this type of pain and suffering by the thousands.

With this in our faces, can any of us still say that this is just a mere inconvenience?

Don't blame bus drivers for making what they do

Mayor Jeremy Harris and the company running TheBus are making a big issue on how the striking drivers are making more money than police officers, firefighters and teachers. The public should realize that it's not the bus drivers' fault that they are making more than our public servants, it's the fault of the mayor and our City Council and state Legislature.

Our police officers and firefighters cannot strike; their negotiated contracts, if not remedied at the table, are decided by arbitration, which is final and binding.

The public should realize that not only are the bus drivers making more than our underpaid public servants, but so are all unionized carpenters, painters, mechanics, plumbers, electricians, etc., topped off by the longshoremen who work the piers; they are making upward of $100,000 a year. More power to them.

Of course Hawaiians should protect culture

In response to Robert Rees' Aug. 31 column: Yes, there are definitely differences between the situation in the South of the 1950s and Hawai'i today. Every one of us are Americans because we are on American soil, but from the Hawaiian point of view, I could see a comparison to the Indians.

Across America, we have Indian reservations and acknowledge that we were not the first to inhabit the land we know as America. We don't have a reservation here. However, we do have a will from a wonderful lady named Princess Bishop who did want to preserve a part of that life. She put it in her will for Hawaiian children to be able to gain a quality education experience because she wanted to see her culture continue to succeed through a very high-standard school. It isn't wrong for a people to want that, especially if their culture is becoming limited to what they learn about it in an hour-long class in public school.

Substantial evidence accepts homosexuality

Steve Williams of Waikiki has informed us that "Mitch Kahle's claim that a person's sexual orientation is not a choice (Aug. 25) is dead wrong."

There is real and substantial evidence suggesting that homosexuality is, indeed, inherent and essentially immutable. Holding this position are the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association and the American Psychiatric Association. All of these organizations with their many scientists in human behavior and, finally, the overwhelming majority of the gay and lesbian community — after all, who should know better? Arrayed against this simple truth we have Mike Gabbard and Steve Williams.

That he goes on to describe my life, now 48 happy years with the same person in harmony and love, as being a "strange, lopsided perversion" is merely vile and offensive. The default in our secular republic must be that our citizens are free to live their lives in any harmless way they see fit and to love as they see fit free of malicious busy-bodies.

A community that is not pono will find no peace

Today the 'ohana and friends of Kamehameha Schools will join other groups to march for what we believe is pono: justice for the legacy of Bernice Pauahi Bishop and justice for the Hawaiian community and the state of Hawai'i. We stand for that dream of justice for all.

As beneficiaries of Princess Pauahi, we intend to respect her beloved spirit as we walk together in peace. Pauahi's aloha, compassion, generosity and tolerance for all people move us to affirm this spirit. We urge all participants and onlookers to act in kind.

As students, teachers, staff, parents, alumni and friends of Kamehameha, we will march through Waikiki — the sacred lands of our ali'i — with dignity and aloha. We will also walk with heavy, hurting hearts: Justice delayed is justice denied, and we have waited too painfully long.

It is time we take our stand. A community that is not pono will find no peace. We ask all members of our community to join our call for justice for Kamehameha and recognition of the legal status of the Hawaiian people.

As Pauahi put it so many years ago: "Times will come when you feel you are being pushed into the background. Never allow this to happen — stand always on your own foundation. But you will have to make that foundation. There will come times when to make this stand will be difficult, especially to you of Hawaiian birth. But conquer you can — if you will."

I mua Kamehameha! E Ku i ka Pono!