Posted on: Monday, December 13, 2004

Letters to the Editor

Swirling trash on TV is an embarrassment

We were unable to attend the game on Saturday and watched the thrilling Warriors' victory over MSU on ESPN. However, it was so distracting and downright embarrassing to see so much trash swirling around the field — and on national TV! It felt like I'd invited friends to my home and didn't clean it up. Yikes!

Folks, let's not do this for the Hawai'i Bowl. Win, yes. But no trash, please!

Beach would erode if paper had its way

So The Advertiser has proclaimed the mayor's plan to renovate the Natatorium "illogical." Please enlighten us to the logic in tearing out the pool of the Natatorium and having the entire beach at Kaimana hotel wash away due to wave erosion.

I think the editors of The Advertiser are being less than honest by omitting the fact that major shoreline construction would be necessary to realize the dream of replacing the Natatorium pool with a "stretch of sand."

City government has failed to deliver

I disagree vehemently with your editorial board that "It is now up to the policy-makers at City Hall and in the Legislature" (Editorial, Dec. 7) to provide the public with a rail rapid transit system. The policy-makers at City Hall have failed three times. Three strikes are out.

I recommend that, with the concurrence of the city, the state Legislature, by joint resolution, add rail transit to the responsibilities of the state Department of Transportation, and that the name of the Highways Division of the Department of Transportation be changed to the Ground Transportation Division of DOT. If a change in the state Constitution is needed, start it.

Prewar Ford Island a schoolboy's dream

Thank you for the story on Ford Island. I wonder if anyone remembers the island before World War II.

I ask this because, in the fall of 1937, I went to school in the fourth grade at a small private school on the island. Does anyone remember that school?

My father was a Marine warrant officer (gunner) in charge of the 30 Marines at West Loch Naval Ammunition Depot. Every school day we went by open Marine launch from West Loch to Ford Island. What a thrill it was for a 9- or 10-year-old kid to see the fleet come in, to see the PanAmerican clipper land at Pearl City, and to see the PBYs trundle down the ramp into the harbor! Does anyone remember those old times?

My mother didn't like the headmistress of the school, so I finished fourth grade at August Ahrens School in Waipahu. I have stories to tell of that too, but nothing can compare with the daily round trip on the open water amid the great ships and planes.

After Felix, nothing's left for AP students

Speaking of special-ed teachers, here's a group of under-represented students in the public school sector: advanced-placement, or AP, students.

As a proud '99 graduate of McKinley High School, the buzz around education improvements in my upperclassman days was compliance with the Felix decree. "Special-ed-teacher-to-student ratio, the famous Judge Ezra and full-time development counselors" was all there was.

Instead of the mentally challenged students, has anyone thought about those mentally-challenge-me students? Whereas mentally challenged students require sometimes 1-to-2 or even 1-to-1 teacher-to-student ratio, the AP students tried to get an AP physics class to even be offered, but it required 12 to 15 students. How did they figure that? You'd expect the school to say it is worthwhile to spare a teacher for a dozen brilliant kids.

Is the public school really going down the path of giving special treatment to the mentally challenged but no treatment to the bright and brilliant? Remember some of us AP-bound students have not the resources to attend Iolani or Punahou. Who's going to lead the world of tomorrow? The private school students? Is that the message of the state DOE as well as the intention of equality by the Felix decree?

We pay taxes too.

Noisily filled container with toys for tots

In response to Justin Hahn (Letters, Dec. 9): If your recent Sunday morning was disturbed by the Toys For Tots motorcycle parade, may I make a few comments?

Recent studies show there are more than 5,000 homeless families in Hawai'i. That "bombastic antic" filled a Matson container with more than 5,000 toys for children who would not have any. It wasn't just "a hundred or two hundred" people. It was more than 2,000 giving of their time and love.

The parade will be held the same Sunday next year. Perhaps you could enjoy a leisurely brunch with friends and avoid the "thundering cacophony" of the morning. As for your inconsiderate neighbor, I suggest you and he hold a "meaningful conversation" where you could make your feelings known. But I would avoid comments like "idiot" and "fool" during that talk. Some people might take offense.

Come on board; the ride is wonderful

I want to thank Mayor Jeremy Harris and the Department of Transportation Services with all of my heart for the new transit bus E-Express route.

Several people I know have mentioned how wonderful this new bus route is. It takes us directly to places that were inconvenient for us to get to before, such as Ward Centre, Ward Warehouse and Aloha Tower Marketplace, without us having to walk several blocks. And the buses are super comfortable and smooth to ride.

If more people got out of their vehicles to ride the buses, we wouldn't have the transportation problems we have here in Hawai'i. When I sit waiting for a bus on Kapi'olani Boulevard,

95 percent of the vehicles that pass me on that busy street have one person in them.

Witnessing a triumph of the human spirit

I am not a true fan of the University of Hawai'i football team. I cheer and praise them when they win. I boo and criticize them when they lose. That's the nature of my personality. There, I said it.

As a fan in general, I am drawn to sports because once in a while something happens. It's an intangible that cannot be measured by numbers or statistics. You cannot see it, yet you watch it unfold before your very eyes. It makes people sit up and take notice. It brings a lump to your throat and a tear to your eye. I am talking about the human spirit.

I have seen this spirit in the past. The 1969 New York Jets, the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team and, just recently, the Boston Red Sox. This spirit manifests itself when teams overcome great odds or adversities — when they are given no chance, yet somehow they pull off the victory.

The Warriors did not accomplish a feat equal to these teams, but their spirit was just as willing. How can a team humiliated by Boise State and Fresno State on national TV win their final three games? How did they come back and win two of those games against Northwestern and Michigan State, two teams from the powerhouse Big Ten Conference?

I attended the Michigan State game. I saw this team overcome a 21-0 deficit. I saw Timmy Chang run for first downs. I saw Chad Owens score four touchdowns against defenders almost twice his size. I saw a defense rise up in the second half and shut down an offense that manhandled them in the first half. How do you explain this? You can't. And that's the beauty of sports.

On Dec. 24, I will be there at the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl. I will cheer them on, win or lose, and be happy. Why? Because the Warrior football team gave me a pretty neat Christmas present, a triumph of the human spirit.

H-Power is much more than just an incinerator

Let's stop calling H-Power an incinerator.

H-Power has these specific qualities that an incinerator does not have:

• Production of electricity for 40,000 O'ahu homes every minute of the day.

• Advanced, and extensive, pollution-control (elimination) treatment equipment.

• Extensive, continuous emissions-monitoring equipment to ensure clean emissions.

• Efficient energy recovery.

• Tens of millions in revenue annually, which makes it a proven sustainable economic public works project.

• Highly trained and skilled operational personnel knowledgeable in applied engineering principles.

• More complex and diversified equipment and machinery than any industrial facility in the state of Hawai'i, and possibly all of the western U.S.

By the way, H-Power also recovers, and markets, over 20,000 tons of metals annually.

The sole purpose of an incinerator was to reduce something to ashes. As all residents, and especially taxpayers, should realize, H-Power does much more.

Over 9 million tons of municipal solid waste have been converted into useful energy since starting operations at H-Power. It is a proven modern process and technology.

H-Power should also be considered as a renewable energy source, as we use municipal waste as a fuel instead of fossil fuels like oil or coal. We create waste every day and it took eons to create coal and oil.

H-Power converts about 40 percent of our waste into useful energy.

Coping with aging: articles just a start

I was featured two years ago in the Executive Office on Aging's caregivers newsletter with the title "better said than done." Your articles ("Coping with the toll of aging," Dec. 5) regarding caregiving is a start, but the reality is the great difficulty of coordinating services, and the cost.

I have my master's of social work in the area of geriatrics and an advanced certificate on aging from the UH Center of Aging — but none of my case work prepared me for being a full-time caregiver. Consider:

• Daycare: $625 to $1,000 per month (limited hours for the average working caregiver).

• Renovations to your house to make it handicapped-accessible.

• Respite care: $125 and up per day (when you have to go out of town for business).

• When trying to get help with bathing a non-ambulatory person the only available help is to pay for a nurse's aide.

• Transportation via Handi-Van: $4 a day with limited hours. (Once, my mother left Wai'anae at 3 p.m. and got home to Mililani by 6:30 p.m. So someone has to stay home to wait for the Handi-Van to receive the person.)

• Clearing up a collection bill for a doctor's appointment in Seattle. (She was living in Hawai'i.)

• Getting medicine when Medicaid automated its system. My mother was listed as a prisoner and was in an institution so I could get her medicine.

The list goes on and on.

I spent hours and hours on the telephone trying to get services for my mother and was limited because of cost. The Alzheimer's Association could help me with a stipend but if I had someone come to the home I would have to pay their Social Security tax, payroll tax and workman's comp.

I called almost every service listed in the Senior Guidebook and for some reason or another my mother didn't fit into their criteria for services. Simple questions had no answers, like: Catholic Charities Elderly Services gave me a list of names for respite care but couldn't tell me the going range of rates per hour. Also the people who are on the list are not bonded so I would have to take that chance. I was sent letters dropping me from their service because I didn't use anyone from their list.

I spent so many hours dealing with my mother's affairs, it left me little time for myself. My mother went to the doctor, but I didn't. Paying for my mother's services, medicine, food, etc. came first. I was so caught between my children, husband and work to support the whole family that I am still trying to pick up the pieces in my life. I still feel funny sitting in the front seat of the car (that was my mother's place). I went on vacation with my daughter and still have panic attacks about arranging for care for my mother.

Financially I am still trying to get things paid off. I still wake up in the middle of the night worried about her care; I still walk into Costco and stop when I'm by the shelves of adult diapers, Ensure, wipes, etc.; I still walk into Wal-Mart, Longs, etc. and compare prices on things my mother needs; I stopped going to the caregivers support group because I am no longer a direct caregiver but a long-distance one with a 91-year-old father in a nursing home in Seattle.

I, like many ex-caregivers, have been forgotten because we are no longer actively caring for someone.

Picking up the pieces has been hard because I have missed so many things in the past five years — my daughters growing up (once my daughter said I did more for grandmother than for her) and lack of time and neglecting my own health, but life goes on.