Posted on: Friday, April 9, 2004

Letters to the Editor

Second-guessers on education are no help

Imagine if Coach June Jones had to discuss with fans what plays to call, when to accept penalties and when to rotate players in a football game.

As the game progresses, he gets on his cell phone with these fans, continually checking to see what action they wanted to take. Even if the fans were 100 percent correct in their calls, the opportunity for miscommunication would be unreal. What would be real is this patchwork of Monday morning quarterback decisions would not likely rise to 50 percent effective.

Speaking of questionable ideas, consider the governor's plan to fragment the Board of Education and let the people choose the system they want. If we really want superior education for our children, experts in the field of education should provide the game plan, not wannabes without successful professional educational backgrounds.

To keep good people, we must pay them well

I agree with our Gov. Linda Lingle that in order to find and keep good people, we need to pay them adequately. We don't want the private sector to rob us of the "best and brightest" of her executive Cabinet.

But wait ... isn't that what the teachers are saying? Are teachers saying that in order to recruit and retain quality educators, we need to compensate them adequately? I wonder if the teachers would accept an $18,000 to $25,000 pay raise?

Regents' evaluation is just a political vendetta

The recent evaluation of UH President Evan Dobelle's performance made by Gov. Lingle's appointed Board of Regents (Advertiser, April 3) is the unfair product of a political vendetta waged by Lingle against Dobelle simply because he exercised his constitutional right to support Lingle's opponent in the last gubernatorial election.

The regents' evaluation distorts Dobelle's record by omitting his many positive contributions to the university while stating many unsubstantiated critical opinions, such as "arrogant," "disrespectful," "condescending" and "lavish spending."

The accusation of "lavish spending" refers to Dobelle's hiring of top administrators at competitive salaries. How else could Dobelle induce competent people to leave their respected positions on the Mainland and come to Hawai'i, where the cost of living is among the highest in the nation and its university is under a feudal system of governance?

The Board of Regents also accuses President Dobelle of not honoring his commitment to raise faculty salaries, which are widely recognized as being inadequate. This criticism is partly valid. For, although Dobelle does not have the authority nor the means to grant raises to the faculty, he does have a bully pulpit whereby to sway the public's and legislators' opinions in favor of reasonable raises.

Dobelle should have condemned the deceptive proposal for faculty compensation. He could not have incurred Gov. Lingle's wrath more than he already has.

Regents' effort to reign in Dobelle backfiring

The University of Hawai'i's Board of Regents seem devastatingly intent on letting Dr. Evan Dobelle know who's boss no matter what happens to the university.

The vast majority of students I've talked to have made positive statements concerning the UH president, his accomplishments and what he stands for. He certainly doesn't pussy-foot. He's a man of action, as his record demonstrates.

The highly intelligent regents must open their eyes and see that they are harming a fine university, an honorable man and, most of all, the state of Hawai'i.

At least Kelley gave us the truth about costs

My sincere thanks and kudos to retired Outrigger Enterprises hotel magnate Richard Kelley (Focus, April 4) for his insightful analysis of the Legislature's efforts to provide substance-abuse training and insurance against the medical costs of substance abuse for workers.

Kelley unabashedly announces that any and all costs government places on private enterprise are directly transferred onto their customers through an equal increase in the cost of goods and services. I say "thank you" to this earnest and successful businessman for enlightening us with his insights into "free markets."

Kelley's words help put the lie to that old classical (or if you will, neoliberal) economic chestnut about businesses competing among themselves in the marketplace to provide consumers with the most value possible.

I think I must agree with Kelley's logic that companies really only "compete" to create the greater profit to shareholders, consumers be damned. Therefore, legislators' mandate must be protection ofÊconsumers, aka citizens, so long as our nation fails toÊuphold the wall between commerce and state that the founders originally established.

Wilson Tunnel work must be done earlier

I am in absolute agreement with Tom Earle's March 17 letter stating that work on the Wilson Tunnel should be done during the summer months when schools are on break. It will otherwise be a complete nightmare for me and my husband and the many other Windward commuters who trek daily into town; there will be severe traffic jams, stress and inconvenience.

To shut down both sides of the Likelike Highway during the busy month of September when UH and other schools go into fall session is really poor timing.

I, too, plead with the Department of Transportation to reconsider the timing on this project. If it has to be done this year, have it done in July or August before back-to-school September.

New teaching method can save kids from TV

It's about time government research linked TV-watching with the longtime speculated negative effects on young children's brains. The April 5 article by Lindsey Tanner ("TV may 'rewire' children's brains") reported overstimulation creating mind habits that hurt children's attention. This is an awesome threat to reading performance.

In over 30 years as a reading specialist, I have seen a shift from auditory processing problems with our alphabet language to severe dysfunction in developing vision systems. Antibiotics and antihistamines have diminished phonetic difficulties in auditory perception.

The millennium ill, vision imperception, is now confirmed because electronic technology is bombarding children's developing brains. Special training of the visual "wiring" in the brain to prepare it to develop reading and writing abilities is required for many children. Little is implemented in early schooling. New knowledge and reading teaching techniques are a must.

In the millennium, this frightening problem is called the "hidden disability." The symptoms mimic attention deficit disorder.

The good news is that a new kind of reading training can save young children from this escalating stress disorder. Vision therapy techniques connected to reading and writing must be part of early instruction. It's the new reality.

Five voted to shield convicted sex offenders

On April 6, Rep. Eric Hamakawa, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, led his committee in favor of shielding convicted sex offenders and pedophiles. Rather than protecting the rights of law-abiding citizens and their constituents, Hamakawa and his cohorts made it easier for these convicts to hide from the community. The irony is that some of these convicts can't even vote for the representatives who are protecting them.

In recent surveys, most of the public says the Legislature is failing in its duties.

Well, it's time to replace some of those legislators. Remember these names on election day in November. They voted to protect convicted sex offenders and pedophiles: Eric Hamakawa of Hilo, Blake Oshiro of 'Aiea and Pearlridge, Kirk Caldwell of Manoa, Jerry Chang of Hilo and Joe Souki of Maui.

Give credit to Harris for Waikiki outhouse

Amid the many negative criticisms concerning City Hall's project to redo Kuhio Avenue, I fear that some mayÊhave overlooked one positive element in the work — the outhouseÊnow installed at the intersection of Kuhio and 'Ohua, in the middle of the road.

No doubt it will not only be a convenience (in every sense of that term) for tourists and residents alike, but eventually a possible contender for the Guinness Book of World Records; after all, how many cities can boast of an outhouse right in the middle of a busy, four-lane thoroughfare?

Credit where credit is due: Let's name it (with a suitable inscription) The Jeremy Harris Memorial Lua Li'ili'i.

Who killed Jesus? Senseless query

In the book of John, the journey so gruesomely, brutally, violently portrayed by Mel Gibson, beginning at Pilate's judgment hall and ending at the place of the Cross on Calvary, takes all of three verses (John 19:16-18), and fewer than 60 words. How does one inflate that to a movie over two hours long?

In the Gospels, abusive action is not graphically described. Simple declarative sentences suffice: they spit on him, they put a crown of thorns on his head, they scourged him, they rent his garments and mocked him. Blood and gore are absent. Only in John 19:34, with Jesus already dead on the cross, a Roman soldier pierces his side with a spear, and we are told blood and water came forth. This event appears only in the book of John.

Mel Gibson said, in addition to emulating the book of John, that he was representing the 14 Stations of the Cross. Each of the 14 stations depicts an incident on the way to and during the crucifixion. Only seven of these incidents appear in the Gospels. The other seven not in the Gospels are said to be traditional. Three of the traditional stations depict Christ falling under his burden; in another he meets his mother, Mary, along the route; another has Simon of Cyrene helping him carry the cross; in another a woman wipes Christ's face; and the last of the traditional stations is the presentation of Christ's body to his mother. None of these seven events are described or even mentioned in any of the four Gospels.

In Matthew, Mark and Luke, Christ does not carry the cross; the man called Simon of Cyrene is commandeered from the crowd and compelled to bear the cross for Jesus (Matthew 27:32, Mark 15:21 and Luke 23:26). In the book of John, Jesus does bear his own cross, but does so without aid. However, the Stations of the Cross borrow Simon of Cyrene from the other Gospels to aid Christ in carrying the cross.

Who killed Jesus? A senseless question. Christ knew of and foretold and mentioned the inevitability of his death several times. In foretelling, did he pre-fix the blame? In asking forgiveness for his killers, do we suppose we were not to do the same?

Has the Christian church been anti-Semitic? In the 2nd century A.D., a Christian bishop from the city of Sardis delivered a vitriolic sermon on Easter attacking the Jews, in particular laying upon them the blame for the death of Jesus. In the centuries following, Jews were persecuted, subjected to inquisition tribunals and forced conversions by the Roman Catholic Church. During the Crusades, Jews were massacred in great numbers. The Protestant Reformation in the 16th century brought no relief.

In 1938, alarmed by what he saw arising in Nazi Germany and Italy, Pope Pius XI prepared a papal encyclical condemning anti-Semitism. He died in February 1939. His successor, Pope Pius XII, possibly did not share the sentiments of his predecessor; the encyclical vanished from sight. In 1965, the Vatican II council convened by John XXIII finally declared that it deplored "all hatreds, persecutions and displays of anti-Semitism leveled at any time or from any source against the Jews." However, not all Roman Catholics accept the edicts of Vatican II. Mel Gibson is among them.

I believe that Christ would prefer we remembered him, not for the agony of his death, but for the love and compassion and teachings he urged upon us.