Kama'aina Kids issue should be put to rest

Kama'aina Kids cares for more than 7,000 of Hawai'i's keiki daily. This is not a responsibility that I take lightly. We have the opportunity to provide enrichment and educational activities for children statewide. I am proud of the reputation we have earned over these last 17 years and the service we provide.

Recent media coverage regarding the incident at our 'Ewa preschool location has given all of us the opportunity to reassess the job that we do and look for even better ways to ensure the safety of these most important of Hawai'i's residents. We held companywide training to reinforce concepts already taught. We have met with state licensing personnel to ensure compliance, and we have openly discussed this issue with all involved.

We are a better company today. It is time to put this issue to rest. Those involved have been punished, lessons have been learned and we are trying to move forward.

Keeping this incident alive in the media because of the crusade of one single parent is not healthy for the teachers and children. By continually covering an event that took place last summer, it is keeping alive a negativity that serves as a cancer in our company's ability to move forward. It diverts our employees' attention from the very reason we are in business, and that is the children.

I am asking your help in putting to rest the continual coverage of this incident so that all of us may move forward toward a common goal, which is to provide a safe and nurturing environment where children can grow and develop under the guidance of nurturing and caring childcare professionals.

Letter writer digging potential hole on China

Jeff Pace wisely points out the shortcomings of prominent academics vis-à-vis the foreign policy of the United States in his letters to the editor (June 10 and Dec. 23).

I agree with Pace on Iraq. Yet there is a potential inconsistency between his June 10 letter and his Dec. 23 letter on North Korea: Earlier he had counted China as one of a dubious list of "allies" (the quotation marks are his), and he noted that depending on China and Russia, among other world powers, was a guaranteed "short road to failure" — at least on Iraq.

Now he writes of "the inevitable need to use Chinese leverage to back North Korea away from its nuclear ambitions." The threat (or lack thereof) of pre-emptive military force that Pace ascribes to Graham Allison goes back to President Harry Truman's Jan. 5, 1950, announcement that the United States would not get involved in the dispute of the Taiwan Strait. Of course, when the Korean War broke out on June 25 of that same year, Truman declared the "neutralization" of the strait. The Inchon invasion was made legal only because of the Soviet Union's U.N. boycott over the recognition of the People's Republic of China. There is no excuse for Pace not knowing or acknowledging the passage of the anti-secession law passed by the mainland Chinese since his earlier letter.

Vice President Richard Nixon during the 1960 presidential debate — seen by a television audience of 80 million — charged that Sen. John Kennedy would not use military force to protect Taiwan's forward positions, Quemoy and Matsu. Would Pace?

Classified research a civic responsibility

Classified research is a sacrifice for the scientists and engineers who choose to carry it out. Their work cannot be communicated to the academic community, so their ability to benefit their colleagues and gain recognition for their work is eliminated.

Because classified research cannot benefit from the free flow of ideas, the results are of lower quality, and workers must cope with inferior data and methods. The bureaucratic burdens of security are extreme and compromise the productivity and satisfaction of classified work.

But the existence of classified research is based on the idea that the safety of a nation and its citizens is aided by creating capabilities unknown to its enemies. If you believe that national defense is important, then it is proper to consider that support of classified research by the university might be part of its duty to society.

The question is not whether classified research is a burden; it is. Rather, the question is whether the university chooses among its civic responsibilities the direct support of the defense of the nation and its citizens.

Planting 400 trees along Kuhio wrong

There is no way for even a self-proclaimed "environmentalist" to justify planting 400 trees along Kuhio Avenue!

As you can see for yourself, trees do not fare well when planted too close together, which means that the contractor is guaranteed future income replacing dead and dying trees.

Just total up the weekly cost of maintaining and replacing those 400 trees and you will wonder no more why your property taxes will be paying for Harris' "improvements" for many years to come!

Organ donors should not make stipulations

This letter is regarding Mr. David J. Undis' Dec. 20 letter requesting that organs go first to those people willing to donate them themselves and further creating an exclusive organization of donors and potential recipients.

I am an organ donor for one reason. The word "donor" means "to give." Giving doesn't come with stipulations, contingencies and strings attached. I hope that my organs will be used by the persons with the most need at the time of my death — whoever they are.

Bus riders forcing higher tax take

Assessments announced recently send chills down the spine of every property owner who wants to forecast the property tax cost of owning his home. While property taxes should be of concern, of equal concern should be how the City and County spends the property tax revenue it receives.

During the last budget hearings, it was noted that bus fares should be set to cover no more nor less than 27 percent of the cost of running TheBus. Because the City Council is unwilling to raise fares beyond this artificial level, TheBus requires a yearly subsidy of approximately $100 million to pay for the 73 percent of the costs that are not covered by the bus fares collected. I suspect fuel has increased the costs (and therefore the subsidy) during most of 2004. 

If you take a property tax bill of $2,000 per year and divide that into TheBus subsidy, you will find that it takes the property taxes of over 50,000 taxpaying homes valued around $500,000 each to keep the bus riders subsidized. Is it better to have cheap rides and tax homeowners out of their homes, or is it better to have homeowners who can afford to live in their homes and bus riders who pay the full cost of their rides?

Cataluna's column on Harris uncalled for

Auwe, Lee Cataluna.

How disappointed I am in your column pertaining to Mayor Jeremy Harris' book ("Mayor's book just a fantasy," Dec. 21). You mentioned several issues regarding photos of Magic Island, a park and Hanauma Bay.

Do you realize our tourists read The Honolulu Advertiser and many of them take a copy home with them? Your negative attitude toward Hawai'i and Mayor Harris reflects on each and every one of us in our Aloha State. These tourists spread uncalled-for printed issues like wildfire when returning home. We have so much heartache in this world with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Also, not everyone is perfect.

KidSpot hits the spot

I love the KidSpot in Island Life. It's lots of fun trying to solve puzzles and problems. I am looking forward to more during these holidays. Thank you, happy holidays.

P.S. My little brother also likes it.

Mass transit? Try using pods

Trains are an economical means of transporting huge amounts of cargo and large numbers of people over long distances. That was their design centuries ago, and the needs still exist today. But, come on, folks. This is an island. And not a very big one at that.

Is a rail system really what we want for Hawai'i? These things are noisy, cumbersome behemoths of iron and concrete, and once built, they would be here for ages.

They are efficient only in carrying and dumping pools of folks at a few locations, most of which are inconvenient for our needs.

Given our year-round friendly climate, our dependence on tourism and the dire need to get the cars off the roads, the solution is not to build a train, transporting folks by the hundreds to and from a few locations, but to employ a more futuristic transportation system in line with our unique situation.

Imagine a ski lift, islandwide, with stops every block or so, going to every major shopping center, every industrial park, every beach, every school, where every ride is a scenic view of this beautiful island. You ride in a Plexiglas computerized pod that seats two to four people, suspended near treetop level. There's no stopping to pick up other folks since you ride the main line to your destination. As you approach your stop, just push a button and the pod leaves the main line and slides to a stop at ground level. Go shopping, to work, school, visit friends, beach, Aloha Stadium, Pali Lookout, a concert, out to dinner.

This would be a huge draw for tourism. No more crowded buses, and easy access to all the sights, shows and shopping. Families wouldn't need that second or third car. The savings the average family would get on purchasing another vehicle, auto insurance, gasoline and maintenance could be diverted to obtain higher education for the kids. Traffic deaths would be rare. We would save hundreds of millions on road improvements and repairs. Air and noise pollution from existing traffic would be drastically reduced. We could tear up many existing roads and put that land to better use.

Leave the freight hauling to the trucks. People need freedom — freedom to come and go as they please, where they want to go, when they want to go. We don't need to comply with a schedule, be herded into cattle cars and dumped all at once into a waiting crowd at the train stop.

Forget the train as mass transit. The future could mean hopping in a glass pod, floating above the trees, relaxing in the silence and enjoying the view. Let's step forward into the future and build a transportation system that would be the model for generations to come.