Posted on: Friday, February 13, 2004

Letters to the Editor

DOE troubleshooting effort is disturbing

I was concerned after reading the article in the Feb. 6 newspaper regarding the DOE sending troubleshooters into the schools. My concerns have to do with the timing of these efforts as well as the method.

The targeted schools have been failing for years, and only now when the governor is putting pressure on the DOE to improve our schools do we see some action. Our schools need more than just a quick fix by troubleshooting teams to bring them up to standard; they need a systematic change within the Department of Education.

If the troubleshooting teams are composed of three people per school, that means 75 education specialists with at least a teaching certificate are available to leave their jobs at the DOE central office to help these schools. Why were these specialists not assigned to these schools earlier? What was their function at the central office? Can the central office function without them?

Let's restructure our school system and bring all the specialists into the classrooms permanently to help our children achieve more over the long term, not just for the quick fix.

Parent involvement program progressing

Recently there has been so much negative press about the Board of Education, Department of Education, governor, superintendent, Republicans and Democrats. It's time to spread some good news.Ê

I would like to commend the Board of Education and the Department of Education for their work on parent involvement. It was a year ago that the Performance Standards Review Commission presented its report to the board.

Among their recommendations were to aggressively engage and involve parents in standards-based education and to strengthen the parent involvement component of pre-service and in-service programs. At that same time, cooperating organizations began working together to revise the BOE Family Involvement Policy.

On Sept. 18, the Board of Education adopted the revised Parent-Family Involvement Policy No. 2403. Since then, the department has established implementation guidelines, which were presented to the board on Feb. 10, with training of all schools to begin in March and full implementation for the 2004-2005 school year. Way to go!

Lingle's 'deception' a matter of security

As my unit's anti-terrorism officer, I can tell you that your editorial staff is barking up the wrong tree. Did anyone in Hawai'i get injured or killed by this "deception"? Was anyone injured (other than their pride)? Have you ever seen the face of someone brighten up, when you showed up unexpectedly to visit them in the hospital, or while they were under extreme stress?

Gov. Lingle has more than enough popularity to carry her through another term; she did not do this for the reasons you cite. She did this because soldiers from Hawai'i are deployed in harm's way. She was invited by the White House, and the federal government's policies regarding anti-terrorism demanded the utmost secrecy. You were not invited, and that hurt your pride; get over it.

What Gov. Lingle learned, firsthand, will benefit the soldiers she visited, and especially their family members back home. Had her staff simply told you that she was "off island," your staff would have raised a flag that terrorists would have taken notice of. You'd have done everything in your power to determine where she had gone. What would have happened to the secrecy and security? She will tell you all you need to know upon her return.

I am proud of my governor for going to visit our troops in combat. I served in Vietnam and would have had my morale boosted to see Gov. Burns, even though I never voted for him. Sept. 11 changed our lives forever.

Anti-terrorism efforts are paramount for public figures. Whether you want to believe it or not, the terrorists read your paper, in print and online. Your editorial stance has given them a lot of satisfaction.

You have a great responsibility in the worldwide war on terrorism. Please take your responsibility seriously.

Thanks to Advertiser for local Iraq coverage

Thanks from the wife of a deployed soldier. I want to thank William Cole and Richard Ambo for putting their lives on the line to keep the families informed and close to their loved ones by taking pictures and doing stories about what is going on in Iraq. I am amazed at the amount of aloha The Advertiser has shown at a time like this.

I would like to also thank The Advertiser for making it possible for us to send aloha to our soldiers on a daily basis by sending a share note. It is awesome to see the postcards from Iraq.

I look forward to seeing my husband, Sgt. 1st Class Kevin M. Brown, who left behind a newborn, a 2-year-old and a 3-year-old. God bless the staff of The Advertiser and our troops who give us our freedom. From the proud wife of an infantry soldier, HOOOAH!

At least FCC is taking action against vulgarity

I am saddened that the only letters I have seen so far concerning the "accident" at the halftime show of the Super Bowl have been in a joking manner.

In reality, this incident is a culmination of years of the entertainment industry's attempt to make money by forcing more and more indecent and vulgar shows and songs upon our society. It is ironic that it took the viewing of the Super Bowl to get the attention of the FCC, the sponsors and the public. The one event that symbolizes America's materialistic and corporate greed provides the impetus for a call to morality.

Even Pepsi said it was thinking about pulling its ads from the Super Bowl, not because it was disgusted at the low-quality entertainment, but because everyone was talking about the halftime show and not its commercials. It is all about the money.

What's the big deal?

Hold the presses! The war in Iraq must have ended, the cure for cancer must have been found, poverty and hunger must have vanished, and our fascination with violent entertainment must have abated. At least that is the only way to explain the concern being expressed about seeing a woman's breast on television.

Spending commission is doing its job well

Sometimes we luck out with a government commission and an executive director that do exactly what they were mandated to do — and do it well. This is the case with the Hawai'i Campaign Spending Commission, which has handed out fines totaling nearly $1 million for illegal campaign contributions, and helped indict several wanton violators of state laws.

The tax money that funds this commission is largely drawn from the $2 check-off on yearly tax returns, so it is one of the few times citizens can indicate to the government what they want done with their tax money.Ê

The laws Bob Watada enforces are the very laws passed by the Legislature years ago to set up the commission to be as free of political influence as possible. Now comes along Sen. Cal Kawamoto, who proclaims himself as Mr. Clean even while being investigated for misuse of campaign contributions. Kawamoto now is attempting to dismantle the Campaign Spending Commission and weaken its effective executive director, while attempting to exempt himself from the very irregularities for which he is being investigated. Kawamoto has introduced three bills (SB 2048, SB 2049, SB 2451) to muzzle Watada and the independence of the spending commission.Ê

How long do you think any meaningful checks on campaign contributions and spending would go on if the bills authored by Sen. Kawamoto were to be passed? Kawamoto has collected nearly $500,000 in campaign gifts since 1996 from special interests who have a stake in bills before the Transportation Committee he chairs; his current war chest holds around $300,000.

Why am I not surprised that Kawamoto is responsible for killing or rendering ineffective practically every real campaign spending reform bill during the last few years?Ê

European countries join 'banana republics'

Regarding Dr. Larry A. Gardner's letter of Feb. 11 in which he calls Hawai'i a "banana republic" because the City Council voted to ban fluoridated water: I would like to advise him that we join other "banana republic" countries such as Germany, France, Austria, The Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Luxembourg and Finland (where only one town fluoridated its water) in banning fluoride in drinking water.

There is currently a grass-roots movement in Ireland, also, to ban fluoride from its water.

Fluoride is a pollutant and a chemical that we do not need in our water. It may be OK to brush your teeth with it, but ingesting it is not recommended by many healthcare professionals around the world. Even in non-banana republics.

There's an effective way to combat graffiti

Surprise, surprise. Graffiti is getting worse. Any civilized person would recognize it for what it is — vandalism.

This is one of many problem areas in this state that will only get worse until society recognizes the need to take back its neighborhoods from the taggers. Tagging is a symptom of problems that run much deeper, and unless people begin to take action, it will only get worse, and this little island will be nothing more than another East Los Angeles neighborhood, only surrounded by water.

Solution: All paint cans and markers of any kind need to be locked away, and no minor should be allowed to purchase these items without an adult present. Some would cry foul or say it's too expensive, but it has to be done.

Taking this action has resulted in a major decline in graffiti vandalism in California. Many areas have a program where people are on call and go immediately to paint or eliminate the eyesore graffiti.

Harsh punishment, including billing parents for all expenses of their kids' actions, were created. Punishment needs to be more painful than it is fun to tag. It sends the message that this behavior will not be tolerated.

Cement vs. concrete

Will you please educate your headline writers to the difference between "cement," a flour-like powder, and "concrete," a mixture of cement, water, sand and rocks that is liquid for the first hour of its existence?

Rude crooners ruined long-awaited concert

So, after a hard month at work saving every penny so that I could take my wife out for a nice, mellow evening at the Shell to hear Robert Cray and Bonnie Raitt, we finally made it to our seats, settled in and looked forward to an evening with two of our favorite performers. This was going to be worth all of the long hours and overtime put in just so we could fit this concert into our meager budget.

No sooner had Bonnie started to strum her guitar and warm up the audience when the couple behind us had to ruin the mood and the evening by deciding that everyone within earshot had paid their hard-earned cash to hear them sing the lyrics instead.

Yes, we would rather hear them and their American Idol wannabe act given the gong in the first interview attempt at singing rather than listen to the guitar virtuoso and nightingale voice of Bonnie Raitt. Please! Not to mention the fact that they didn't even have the courtesy and respect to listen to the performers do their thing.

Now, just because your drunk friends at the Karaoke Hut told you that P. Diddy would be ringing you up at any moment to ask you to sign a multimillion-dollar, 10-year contract ... don't believe it. And if my wife and I had wanted to hear your "singing" instead of Ms. Raitt's, we'd have met you in the parking lot of Zippy's and listened for free.

Next time do us all a favor by staying home, putting one of Bonnie's CDs on and attempting to sing along with her till you pass out.

Finally, these posers had the audacity to announce to whoever was forced to listen that they were going to sing every lyric to every song throughout the concert because, well, "it was their right to do so."

Can anyone really be that selfish, self-centered, egotistical and clueless to actually do that and ruin every one else's evening? You bet! Unfortunately, they were sitting right behind us.