Letters to the Editor

Local school board rejection deserved

Congratulations to the Democratic leaders in the House for resisting political pressure and voting down the proposal for local school boards.

Like many of the current governor's initiatives, this proposal was at best a sound bite and did little to advance meaningful discussion of the problems facing our schools.

Public policy is a world of complexities in which issues often have several facets, and silver bullets are few and far between. We elect legislators to do the homework, openly deliberate the options, and act in a manner that does the greatest good with the least harm. This is representative democracy, and I'm glad that it worked in this instance.

For the "let the people decide" camp, take a look at California, where initiative, referendum and recall have resulted in a system that has been hijacked by special interests and has compromised the environment, the economy and the quality of life.

It's time to move on to the real education issue

The House of Representatives saw House Bill 2332 as the smokescreen that clouds the real issues in education. They should be commended for their courage. It's time to move on to the real issue — what happens in the classroom.

Change must occur to improve our educational system, but the current debate places all the emphasis on seven boards instead of improving teaching and learning through supporting curricular change and teacher improvement.

Principals are recognized as being critical links as leaders, and the debate rages around empowering with accountability. There has been no discussion of the flexibility necessary to lead, or of granting a true ability to manage at the school level.

I hope that the community will realize that improving education is a collective responsibility. All participants — parents, students, teachers, school staff and state leaders — must ultimately take responsibility.

Homosexuals are also a part of this country

The Feb. 24 letter from Bill Stonebraker Sr. truly shows the ignorance of some people. I agree in a government that should be "for the people," but aren't homosexuals people, too?

Homosexual activists and willful legislators are not out there just for the satisfaction of "subverting people's will for their own." Just because the majority of people disapprove of gay marriage doesn't mean it's right. Try looking back decades and centuries ago; African Americans weren't accepted by a majority of people; in fact, that majority even went so far as to resort to violence. But it's because of those activists and willful legislators that they won some freedom for themselves and even other minority groups in America.

This country is the land of the free and equality, right? Homosexuals are just as much a part of this country as the next person; they deserve just as much freedom as heterosexuals to marry the person, regardless of gender, of their choice.

Chief Donohue's vision falls short of reality

Regarding Chief Lee Donohue's opposition to a highway patrol, expanded training academy and police "bill of rights": The chief, like any politician who is protecting his turf, leads with arguments and vision that fall way short of reality.

He would deny his own officers legal protection because the unions should bargain for that protection.

He would deny a state training academy, which would benefit all of Hawai'i, because of space limitations.

Last, he would deny a highway patrol because he thinks there is enough enforcement in place, but his own divisions always seem to put highways last.

There is more to Hawai'i than O'ahu, Chief.

Go look at a forest fire through a tube; the unburnt sections look OK, don't they? A narrow vision means standing in a firestorm, but insisting everything is fine, kind of like saying your city is the safest in the country.

Leadership must always take the long view and see the possibilities for the future, not just the here and now and not just a little piece.

North Korea should not be given an ultimatum

Richard Halloran's "N. Korea should be given ultimatum" (Feb. 22) is mistaken.

Certainly, the North Koreans are difficult, if not plain exasperating, to deal with. But to threaten an ultimatum — promising offensive military action — would only reinforce North Korea's idiosyncratic, isolationist and belligerent behavior.

As Halloran points out, this is the first time in its 55 years of existence that the People's Republic of China has played a leadership role in such a challenging multilateral negotiation. Delivering a U.S. ultimatum to North Korea would diminish China's ability to cajole North Korea and it would create a Chinese security concern.

As slow and as tedious as diplomacy is, all diplomatic approaches need to be exhausted before issuing any ultimatum.

City should protect public, not abet 'robbery'

So the City Council has decided to sell Block J to Pflueger even knowing that more public parking will be lost in the downtown area. As it is, public parking is at a premium, and with this sale, only one-third of the existing parking will be saved.

There are two other facets to this that have been lost in the shuffle. One: If memory serves me correctly, the proximity of the Block J parking was used in favorably calculating the floor-area ratio for several of the nearby high-rise buildings. That public parking obligation will now be irretrievably lost if this sale goes through.

Two: Another loss, that I have noticed, is that many buildings in the downtown area that were committed to providing public parking spaces have gradually decreased the number of stalls. Some of their stalls have been converted to storage or other uses and then they took over the public ones. The end result is that the public suffers while the property owners gain.

The City Council and the city's Department of Planning and Permitting should protect us and not abet this robbery.

Hawai'i should follow Australia, New Zealand

I appreciated Jan TenBruggencate's Feb. 23 article on the red imported fire ant threat to Hawai'i and the detection of a recent incursion in New Zealand.

However, one statement emphasizing the use of volunteers was a bit misleading as to the level of commitment by the Australians, who are currently combating a red imported fire ant incursion in the area of Brisbane. There, the national government and the government of Queensland have jointly committed $112 million over a five-year period, which started in mid-2001. They are indeed using "Fire Ant Watch" volunteers, but they currently also have 650 paid workers involved in the eradication effort; 335 tons of bait have been used; and 98 percent of the known red imported fire ant-infested properties are now red ant-free. See www.dpi.qld.gov.au/fireants/.

This type of response in Australia and New Zealand should help alert us in Hawai'i to the urgency involved for preventing and detecting the red ants early. We had better be prepared to respond quickly.