Letters to the Editor

Letter criticizing teachers out of line

I'm writing in response to Jon Hunter's letter ("Blame teacher union for school problems," April 22). It's obvious to me that Mr. Hunter isn't a teacher nor is closely associated with one.

Waiver days are for professional development and are set aside for teachers to work on things such as testing strategies, curriculum and standards. They are both mandatory and essential. These functions are sometimes held off-campus, so that's why you may not see them around.

As for the part-time allegation, you're way out of line. Teachers work countless hours year around. Who do you think plans and supervises after-hour school functions? How about grading papers? Try correcting assignments for 30-plus kids every week during your free time and see how long that takes you.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Part of their summer break is used to prepare new lesson plans, clean up their classroom, inventory books and other necessary things to get ready for the upcoming school session.

You shouldn't assume a teacher isn't doing work after the bell rings. Teachers have a tough job and are accustomed to making lemonade out of lemons. They are passionate about their profession and often treat their students like their own kids.

Mr. Hunter, you may want teachers to earn your respect, but they have mine.

Palestinians were offered compensation

After reading Walter Mead's opinion piece in Thursday's Advertiser, I am left to wonder if he was off planet during the last few months of the Clinton administration.

Mead suggests compensation for Palestinians who can't return to their homes (never mind compensation for Jews forced to exit Arab countries like Iraq during the '48 war). Well, Mr. Mead, part of the last peace proposals included a compensation package for the Palestinians.

Mead understands that Israel will need some areas beyond the '67 borders. That, too, was part of the peace plan. Israel also offered up some of its own territory as compensation to partly offset those territories.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak had accepted all of the elements of the peace proposal outlined by Mead. Yasser Arafat called for an intifada to put pressure on Israel in an attempt to force even more concessions. And now we have the mess we have today. It wasn't Israel or the United States that ended negotiations. Those ended with the first homicide bomber.

In an interview with Brit Hume, Dennis Ross, Clinton's point man on the Middle East peace process, said, "On the issue of refugees, there would be a right of return for the refugees to their own state, not to Israel, but there would also be a fund of $30 billion internationally that would be put together for either compensation or to cover repatriation, resettlement, rehabilitation costs." Yet Mead goes on as if that never happened.

So is Dennis Ross lying, or is Mead simply ignorant?

Younger generation can think spontaneously

Kudos to The Advertiser for carrying Dave Shapiro's paean of praise to UH-Manoa writing instructor Lorna Hershinow and of his own strategies for getting started at a writing project (Volcanic Ash, April 14).

I, too, have been a guest at the advanced argument writing class and also found the students intelligent and challenging. I thought myself a flop at defending my thesis but learned much of how the younger generation can think spontaneously. Now let us hope that they will register to vote and participate in the work of citizenship.

'Garbologists' know to recycle, reduce, reuse

We are "garbologists" who study science facts about garbage. Think about your future. Do you want a landfill to be in your backyard? You can't put it just anywhere because some land is over our aquifers, and we will not be able to drink water that is polluted.

Did you know that one-third of all the rubbish in our landfills is extra packaging? It takes 3,000 years for a glass bottle to biodegrade at a landfill. Our H-Power can produce enough electricity for 40,000 homes in Honolulu, but the ash that's left goes to the landfill and it's poisonous.

Now we know why it's so important to recycle, reduce and reuse. Recycle that newspaper, aluminum and cardboard. Reduce cans and make less trash. Reuse plastic bottles, glass jars and plastic bags. These are some messages for today and for our future. Remember: Recycle! Reduce! Reuse!

Expand purchasing pool on prescription drugs

As lawmakers who have worked hard to bring prescription drug relief to our state, we are very encouraged by the news, announced by the state administration, that Hawai'i will join Michigan, Vermont, New Hampshire, Alaska and Nevada in a multi-state purchasing pool to lower the cost of prescription drugs for people in Medicaid.

Hawai'i should get involved in this first-of-its-kind multi-state agreement to lower the cost of prescription drugs for our poorest citizens.

Medicaid spending continues to rise, with no end in sight, and is a huge burden to Hawai'i's state budget. Prescription drug spending for people in Medicaid has risen about 20 percent a year over the last several years, and the skyrocketing cost of prescription drugs is the primary reason. However, we can and should do more.

We strongly encourage the administration to include the 300,000 people who will be eligible for Hawaii Rx Plus in this purchasing pool agreement. Hawaii Rx Plus is scheduled to begin on July 1, and this agreement will allow Hawaii Rx Plus beneficiaries to receive deeper discounts and rebates on the cost of their prescription drugs.

The formula is quite simple — the more people who are in the purchasing pool, the better chance the states will have to negotiate the best discounts and rebates.

In addition, we strongly encourage the administration to bring state workers into this agreement.

Jasmine's uniqueness is to her advantage

Before everyone gets too wrapped around the mike stand regarding Wednesday night's "American Idol" results that sent Jennifer Hudson packing, it would be good to consider this: Jennifer, Fantasia and LaToya are easily among the very best performers in the competition, yet America voted them in the lower tier of three.

However, you couldn't slide a song sheet between any of them when it comes to a discernable difference in their style of singing. They simply split the vote for that style and it had the odd impact of placing them at the bottom.

America voted for diversity, and that is exactly what it got. Jasmine adds her own unique style to the mix. That's good for her and good for the show as well.

Latest Woodward book shows Bush's crimes

Bob Woodward's new book, "Plan of Attack," and his appearances on every talk show I'm sure sent shock waves through the Bush administration, as well as all Republicans. It's been 30 years since Woodward and Bernstein unveiled a corrupt Nixon White House, leading to the president's resignation and the incarceration of his staff.

In focus, and on center stage, Republicans are scurrying around making sure their stories match up.

Once again, Colin Powell and Condi Rice are hauled out to defend Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld against allegations that certainly reach the watermark of "high crimes and misdemeanors."

On face, the ousting of Saddam just trampled the Fourth Amendment. However, Bush & Co. have sidestepped the U.S. Constitution by siphoning $700 million from an appropriation to one war for another, Iraq — all behind the backs of that little body representing the American people: Congress.

Talk of war characterized by a "slam dunk," "take it to the bank" and "done deal," all before Powell went before the U.N. Security Council, diametrically opposes the "diplomatic statesman" Bush & Co. portrays to the public.

If Watergate's cover-up brought down Nixon, and Clinton's dalliance with a willing intern brought impeachment, then this doozy should give Bush a front-row seat in the slammer.

Shower stalls needed in retirement homes

Why don't all retirement care homes include shower stalls as well as bathtubs? It is very difficult for elderly and disabled people to step in and out of bathtubs. Many people have been injured in falls from bathtubs.

Perhaps this should be a requirement to receive a permit to build those homes.

Don't delay start of bottle bill

Oregon passed its bottle bill over 30 years ago. The Hawai'i bottle bill, which will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2005, was passed almost two years ago. Unfortunately, some people still aren't getting it and are not ready for change, mainly the beverage industry, which has spent more than 30 years trying to defeat bottle bills in Congress as well as in each state.

Yes, the bottle bill is a tax. It is a tax to equally distribute the responsibility of disposing over 800 million beverage containers a year in Hawai'i among distributors, retailers and consumers. The 1- to 1 1/2-cent handling fee paid by distributors will be used to pay recyclers for getting the empty containers to recycling markets and to the Department of Health to run the program.

Consumers who recycle containers can get their nickel back, people who do not recycle will lose their nickel and people who collect discarded containers are rewarded a nickel. Only people who do not recycle and litter are taxed.

No, retail stores are not being forced to take back dirty, sticky containers that will drive the cost of beverages higher and trigger the need to hire additional employees. No, not all retail stores are required to become redemption centers.

The experience of the other nine states that have bottle bills shows no difference in pricing nor a drop in sales when compared to non-bottle bill states, just a significant increase in recycling rates.

What the bottle bill attempts to address is the disturbing trends in the beverage industry. We are seeing an evolution of drink packaging, from glass bottles to cans and now to plastic. We are experiencing a growing market for individual size, to be consumed-on-the-go beverages from soft drinks, ice teas, water, sports drinks and juices as well as beer and other mixed alcohol drinks.

According to a September 1996 Beverage World article, bottlers and retailers reap larger profits through changes made in packaging. This change has aggravated into a solid waste nightmare. Still, the industry refuses to take responsibility for its choice of containers that have little or no recycled material content and are very difficult to dispose of.

This article exposes a root cause of Hawai'i's growing solid-waste problem and why many other areas of the country are cutting back on curbside recycling programs. From 1994 to 1999, the number of plastic beverage bottles sold in the United States increased by 79 percent, from 23 billion to 41 billion. The number of aluminum beverage cans sold nationally decreased during that same period. With the exponential sales of single-size beverages and the increased use of plastic, these containers end up in our landfills. High-value aluminum cans that once subsidized recycling programs are being taken over by low- or no-value plastic containers.

Before the Legislature is a bill to make technical amendments to the bottle bill law. Unfortunately, some in the beverage industry see this as an opportunity to urge legislators to delay putting the bottle bill into action. So if you support the bottle bill, call your legislators and tell them to make the fix and no delay.