Letters to the Editor

Hawai'i should hold nation's first primary

I propose that our state legislators create the first presidential primary in Hawai'i. The HTA and HVCB would love it and endorse it.

Imagine great shots of the politicians surfing with the locals on the North Shore, eating malassadas in Mililani and hanging with da braddahs in Wai'anae. While the rest of the country is thawing out, visuals of sunny Hawai'i would be on every television set throughout the U.S. of A. The value of this exposure would be measured in the tens of millions of dollars.

If the first primary were in Hawai'i, candidates' entourages would grow larger, and politicians who weren't even running for president would come just to endorse their candidates. They don't do that in zero-degrees New Hampshire.

This is a win-win scenario for everyone — for our state's economy, for our national image, for the well-being of the candidates and, dare I say, for every man, woman and child in America.

Real change won't come through decentralization

It was refreshing to read the straightforward writing of Joseph Gedan's Island Voices column of Jan. 23. He rightly questioned whether creating seven elected school boards and dissolving the principals' union would improve educational achievement. Linda Lingle's Citizens Achieving Reform in Education (CARE) advocates these changes.

Mr. Gedan lists three factors as the primary determinants of educational achievement: (1) parent involvement, (2) effective and masterful teachers, and (3) financial resources, including smaller class size and better pay.

Several years ago, I surveyed the general-education and special-education teachers: "List two things that you believe would actually improve the education of the students in your classroom based on realistic demands of your job every day." Those results were also published in your Island Voices: (1) smaller class size, (2) parent involvement and (3) behavioral problems/discipline improvement. Empowering principals and teachers with solutions to behavioral problems would probably be seen as contributing to educational achievement.

Almost every day, there are letters to the editor being written by supporters of CARE who claim every education problem can be cured by multiple school boards. Never mind that School/Community-Based Management and parent-teacher associations give all parents the opportunity to get involved at the school level where real change takes place. The CARE mantra is that the Department of Education has failed — give us power. They want to establish seven political bodies of policy-making.

I tend to believe that multiple school boards will only promote more name recognition and political office stepping-stones for those with political ambitions.

There's a better way to upgrade our sewers

In the Jan. 27 Advertiser, I found portions of the article "Sewer upgrades to cost $1.6B" to be of interest. What I don't understand is why all the counties as well as the state agencies don't specify high-density polyethylene (HDPE) as the material of choice for both sewer and water lines as do most of the major countries and cities in the world.

HDPE, when properly fused, has no joints and therefore no intrusion of storm water through "leaky joints," is non-corrosive and does not get brittle. HDPE is extremely easy to repair in the unlikely case of breakage (which probably will never occur), lasts virtually forever, and can be easily slip-lined through old existing pipes, horizontally drilled or micro-tunneled, thereby eliminating the tearing up of streets and the disruption of traffic.

There are virtually no negatives to the use of HDPE with the exception of resistance to change by governmental agencies and a few engineering firms that have not taken the time to update technology.

Our firm has installed over 200 miles of HDPE pipe in Hawai'i in sizes from 1 inch up to 42 inches and has never experienced a break or a leak. Just think of the money that could be saved by simply using newer and totally tested and proven technology.

Who knows, a few hundred million dollars saved by simply using technology that already exists might be worth exploring.

Demoting officers only advances killer

I understand that an organization such as the Honolulu Police Department has its protocol. However, I think the demotion of Lt. Bill Kato and Det. Bruce Swann is unwise. Just when the case of Shane Mark killing officer Glen Gaspar is finally settling down, it does quite a bit of damage to the HPD's image.

Kato is an amiable spokesman and brilliant investigator who has served the department extremely well. He believed the mother of Shane Mark's daughter when she told the HPD that Mark would not bring a gun when visiting his child.

I hope everyone at HPD learns that criminals meeting their kids will probably carry guns. These demotions mean the HPD is handing Shane Mark a satisfying victory. How many careers, families and lives must be ruined?

Why not start ticketing anyone for anything?

Robert Jackson's letter ("Just start ticketing everyone who drives," Jan. 30) is a great idea, but I would take it one step further.

Since ticketing is actually nothing more than a randomly administered tax on driving that is levied upon some unlucky drivers who happen to be exceeding ridiculously low speed limits on certain days, and since ticketed drivers are presumed guilty until proven innocent, why not just stop anyone anywhere and give them a ticket for something? Presumably, everyone who drives has done something illegal or annoying sometime. If not, they probably will later this week or next, or sometime in the future.

Many people would just pay the fines rather than spend half a day in court only to have their guilt confirmed by a bored judge who would rather be somewhere else, and then have to pay for the police officer's appearance as well as pay a larger fine.

This is the way things are done in many other Third World locales, so why should we be any different?

UH providing quality college basketball

Congratulations to the Rainbow men's basketball team, Coach Riley Wallace and his staff for a great first half of the season.

I envy everyone back on O'ahu for being able to head out to the Stan Sheriff arena, grind on some garlic fries, catch the cheerleaders and dance team giving some top-notch entertainment in the breaks, and watch some truly high-quality college basketball with a Hawai'i team featuring two local boys making significant contributions.

There aren't many environments better than the Sheriff when it fills up and the 'Bows are winning. Great food, great cheerleaders, great arena, great team, great atmosphere for folks from 5 years old to 95.

Kudos to Herman Frazier for taking steps to get the students involved. Here's hoping for a string of sellouts to finish out the season.

Coach Wallace and Rainbow basketball at the Sheriff: one more reason, lucky you live Hawai'i.

Inouye motives suspect

Your blowing about Sen. Dan Inouye getting so much money for Hawai'i: Where do you suppose the money comes from? I can see why he has not answered mail about the retirement program for Congress — he's too busy trying to glean a few more bucks and votes.

Big Island smoking ban won't harm restaurants

Drew Kosora of Honolulu (Letters, Jan. 27) claims that the new Big Island smoke-free ordinance will be unenforceable and weaken the economy, but these arguments are patently false. No properly conducted scientific study has ever concluded that restaurant smoking bans decrease sales revenue.

And the idea that the new law will require excessive police involvement is preposterous. Refraining from smoking during a meal is hardly prohibition; signs, removing ashtrays and simple reminders to patrons who light up are likely the bulk of what is needed for enforcement.

But here's what the law will do. My sister, who lives in Kona, has literally had a list of restaurants to which she has refused to go to for the past year. This is because she does not want to expose her 1-year-old daughter to secondhand smoke, nor does she personally enjoy eating in a smoky environment. Starting in February, people like my sister can start going back to those places that they really wanted to have dinner at.

My sister has had a choice to go to restaurants or not. Restaurant workers do not have that choice. They go because it's where they earn a living. As a result, waiters and waitresses across the nation go to work and suffer from a lung cancer rate 50 percent higher than any other profession. For them, secondhand smoke is not just a nuisance — it kills.

Data from Honolulu shows that most nonsmokers and even 50 percent of smokers support smoke-free dining. It's also been 18 years since the U.S. surgeon general released his report concluding secondhand smoke causes lung cancer. The National Restaurant Association has recognized secondhand smoke can cause health problems that leave the employer liable.

The Hawai'i County Council made a wise decision that has been a long time coming — recognizing the public will, then moving to protect employee health and reduce employer liability.

The DOE must be reformed

As a newcomer to Hawai'i, I arrived with no preconceived notions about Hawai'i's education system. However, having been involved in education for decades as a teacher, principal, associate superintendent for the Arizona Department of Education and a strong supporter of public education, I am following the debate regarding local school boards with great interest.

It does not take long for newcomers to hear over and over that if they want their child to receive a quality education in our state, they had better start checking out the private schools and saving money for the tuition.

The ineffectiveness of Hawai'i's public system is clearly not due to the lack of funding. Spending is sky-high. A recent analysis by Bruce Cooper and Bill Ouchi claimed the total per-pupil expenditure last year was $10,422, with only 49 cents out of each dollar reaching the classroom.

Although the student population has not increased, the state education budget has tripled since 1987, and student achievement remains extremely low. Hawai'i ranks last in the nation on the SAT and consistently finds itself in the bottom quarter in other national rankings, alongside Mississippi and Louisiana.

Nor is this poor performance due to a lack of dedicated and highly qualified teachers. I have had the opportunity to talk with teachers and principals who work long hours but feel frustrated in a bureaucratic state system where they lack authority to help make important decisions regarding their own schools and students.

Most recently, I have read and heard comments blaming the students and their parents for low achievement in Hawai'i's public schools. Please do not blame our children and their parents for the ineffectiveness and inefficiency of a state system that no longer meets the needs of our schools and communities.

The fact is that less than 27 percent of the DOE employees are in classrooms doing the crucial work of our schools — teaching. What are the other 73 percent of the DOE employees doing every day to affect learning? The DOE is huge and has proven over and over that it is incapable of reforming itself.

The current system must change. Teachers and principals must be empowered so they can determine what works best for their students in their schools. Clearly, this will only happen when there are local school boards.

I hope the Legislature will let the people of Hawai'i decide the future of public education by putting the question of local school boards on the ballot.