Letters to the Editor

Unified strategy in war on ice needed

I was very disappointed by the lieutenant governor's drug summit last week in Waikiki. For all of Gov. Lingle's talk of making these events nonpartisan, they ended up just being Republican rallies in the dress of fighting the drug problem.

For one thing, Aiona didn't even bother to invite members of the City Council. How does the lieutenant governor think he is going to be successful in the fight against drugs if he doesn't even include the elected officials who have been pioneers in getting the community organized in the fight against ice? Councilmen Nestor Garcia, Donovan Dela Cruz and Mike Gabbard were the ones who took the lead on this issue, not the state.

The only way we are ever going to make headway in the fight against ice is when the city, state and federal governments and the private sector truly begin to work with a unified strategy.

U.S. created Saddam's 'imminent threat'

I found it interesting in your Sept. 19 editorial "When an 'imminent threat' is 15 years old" that you did not mention the name of the country that helped Saddam Hussein obtain the chemical weapons he used on his own people in the 1988 attack on Halabja.

The Washington Post and other sources reported earlier this year that the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush authorized the sale to Iraq of numerous items that had both military and civilian applications, including poisonous chemicals and deadly biological viruses such as anthrax and bubonic plague.

Colin Powell's logic of using this 15-year-old attack to justify the current war is even more disturbing when you realize that it was the United States that helped Saddam become an "imminent threat."

Hawai'i development is getting out of hand

Your first article about the Kona development Hokuli'a mentioned the "environmentalists" winning and that Hawai'i was not a good climate for big business.

Well, I, for one, do not want developers covering our beautiful land with more houses and golf courses, no matter how well-designed.

We need the agricultural land saved for agricultural purposes, or left open and natural. Who wants to visit our Islands, or even live here, if all our land is covered with houses, high-rises, shopping centers and development wall-to-wall? What would be unique about Hawai'i then?

State and local governments want development for more taxes. We all know how much of our taxes is currently wasted. Let them learn to live with the taxes they get now. To heck with big business and its developers. Save our land!

Kamehameha should have lottery system

If one were to read about the life of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, one could not help but come away with the feeling that she had a genuine love and special concern for the less fortunate — especially children who needed extra assistance because they were orphans or disadvantaged due to circumstances beyond their control.

Unfortunately, these are not the type of students who normally get selected by the admissions board at Kamehameha Schools. Instead, the admissions guidelines favor the so-called "better students" — those youngsters who are the smartest and the brightest — the ones who least need a Kamehameha Schools education to succeed in life.

If the princess were alive today, there is no doubt in my mind that she would favor admitting students from the bottom 50 percent instead of the top 50 percent. After all, the smart students can make it and succeed at any school of their choosing. Additionally, the students of wealthy families can also afford to attend any school of their choosing.

In order to be faithful to the wishes of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, I believe a lottery would be the fairest method to select the youngsters to attend Kamehameha Schools. By using a lottery system, wealth, special connections and intelligence per se would not be factors that can be used to deny admission to the students who may not be the brightest and the best but who, nevertheless, can benefit the most by having a Kamehameha education.

A lottery would also help to alleviate the criticism that has been directed against the admissions policy — that it favors the "haves" at the expense of the "have-nots."

Hatred is not part of Kamehameha curriculum

As a Hawaiian, a graduate of Kamehameha Schools and the parent of a Kamehameha student, I take great offense to one letter writer's admonition Sept. 17 that " ... Kamehameha students, schooled as they are in an anti-haole environment, have come to believe that laws forbidding racial discrimination apply only to how others treat them, not to how they treat others."

Nothing could be further from the truth. A racist environment does not exist at Kamehameha, nor are "anti-haole" sentiments tolerated there. Kamehameha is probably the most ethnically diverse school in the nation. Children of every race and ethnic background are represented at Kamehameha. About 70 percent of Kamehameha's children are part-Caucasian; a slightly lower percentage are part-Asian.

Kamehameha's student body has included students of Middle Eastern, African American, East Indian, Native American and Jewish descent, to name a few. True, preference is given to part-Hawaiian children, which is in accordance with Pauahi's will, but no part-Hawaiian child is turned away because of his or her other ethnicities.

At Kamehameha, students are taught Hawaiian values. These values include aloha (love for one another), malama (to care for or to protect), kuleana (responsibility) and ha'aha'a (humility). Students are required to consider how they will apply these values to their own lives. Hatred of others is not, nor has it ever been, part of Kamehameha's curriculum.

Young people: Tune down your rap music

Is common courtesy dead? Is there an unwritten rule that states rap music must be played at the highest volume settings in a car stereo?

I am amazed at how young people have become so discourteous when it comes to car stereos. Unfortunately, it is the majority of rap music listeners who violate the noise laws on our roads, with the bass turned to its max and the volume raised to a level that is beyond belief. It is extremely rare to find Willie Nelson or even Bruddah Iz jacked up on the stereo.

A little common courtesy goes a long way. It is time the nuisance laws start to be enforced. Don't just preach aloha, live it!

Immersion school is being treated unfairly

The No Child Left Behind law continues to treat Anuenue School and its students unfairly. Anuenue School is part of the Hawaiian Language Immersion Program in the DOE. It was identified as a school not meeting progress.

The unfairness occurs when our fifth-grade students are made to take standardized tests in English. Our students are immersed in the Hawaiian language from kindergarten to the fourth grade. In the fifth grade, our students begin receiving formal instruction in English as a subject matter.

Fifth-grade students at other schools will have had English instruction for five years, whereas our students will have had English instruction for only five months. Unless this difference is acknowledged or accommodated, the results will continue to be unfair.

Wisdom and common sense should prevail in educational matters. Strong support and fair treatment of the children should be the main concern. As the saying goes: "The letter of the law killeth; the spirit of the law giveth life."

O'ahu bus service should be revamped

The time is right to discontinue the OTS contract for bus service by the city.

I suggest that the island be divided into three separate areas of bus service: Leeward, Windward and around the island. These areas would be bid on by three separate contractors. The city would incorporate a non-union clause, a no-shut-down clause and a cap on bus rider costs in the contracts.

Buses, equipment and facilities would be provided by the city. The maintenance of the equipment and facilities would be by the contractors. The contractors would pay a Davis-Bacon wage comparable to Hawai'i wages. All contract employee benefits (pensions, health, etc.) would be determined by the bidding contractors, not by the city. The city would provide full-time inspectors who would oversee the equipment, buses, facilities, drivers' timing and route schedules.

This would bring to the bus system a higher level of efficiency, more routes, possibly a 24-hour service, and higher ridership and satisfaction; and, in case of default by one contractor, two others would always be on hand to continue the bus service.

This may not be the final answer, but it would be a step in the right direction.

A new attitude on mental health

Recently, Advertiser health writer Robbie Dingeman shared the latest findings regarding Hawai'i State Hospital services for Hawai'i's mentally ill population. As a long-time player in and observer of mental health services in Hawai'i, I found it heartening to see good things happening at the state level.

Deserved or not, Hawai'i had a reputation as having one of the worst state mental health systems in the country, as reported in Public Citizen Health Research Group publications in 1988 and 1990. The following is a direct quote from "Care of the Seriously Mentally Ill: A Rating of State Programs" (1990, page 176):

"In February 1988, Hawai'i State Hospital was inspected and found to be in abysmal shape — the worst state psychiatric hospital in the United States, according to our 1988 survey. Ensuing cries of 'mea culpa' and promises of improvement by state officials echoed from Barbers Point to Kane'ohe. Such promises are as common as hibiscus leis in Hawai'i — and last just about as long."

About this same time, the U.S. Department of Justice sued the state for neglect of the seriously mentally ill, resulting in a settlement agreement that remains in place to this day, with the Department of Justice setting an agenda for oversight of the Hawai'i State Hospital specifically, and the expectation of improvements to the community-based system of services to support rehabilitation and recovery. The flutters of change that followed seemed unable to take wing, and 10 years later, no major sustainable improvements were evident to the Department of Justice. The heavy hand of the oversight process kicked in, with the ultimate threat of a federal takeover of the system.

Fast-forward to 2003: a new mental health chief, Dr. Tom Hester; a new governor, Linda Lingle, who understands about mental illness; and a new attitude about the importance of a comprehensive, coordinated, consumer-centered system of care for people with serious mental illness. It is assuring and affirming to feel positive energy and change in the air.

We aren't soaring yet, but things are improving. What is the evidence? Clearly, many consumers of mental health services are feeling safe enough to speak out on their own behalf about their needs, providers of mental health services are included in Mental Health Division training and planning, legislators are responding to the obvious need for funding support for community mental health services, communication among professionals in the system is moving from guardedness and distrust to talking together and working together, and when you call, someone answers or calls back.

Years ago, patients at Hawai'i State Hospital spent hours sewing the small 'ilima flowers into those wonderful colorful garlands that were known as the lei of royalty. It was tedious and exacting work, and the lei lasted. At Mental Health Kokua, our hope is that the new attitude that took so many tedious and exacting years to fashion will translate into, if not royal treatment, at least an enduring, healthy statewide system in which people can recover from mental illness. We stand with our colleagues in mental health, committed to working collaboratively in the development and delivery of a statewide recovery-oriented system of service for people with mental illness. The new attitude is a welcome one.