Also, local taxpayers may pay to educate military dependents. Federal impact aid covers only 20 percent of public education costs in Hawai'i. Already, we pay $190 million for the 30,000 dependent students here. Seven hundred to 1,000 more students of parents who pay no local taxes means we will pay $6.5 million more for education (Page 4-100).

I am not anti-American. I just believe in informed decision-making. News must be balanced. Strykers pose scary threats to public health. Read it: www.sbcteis.com.

Forget diversity, support TV series

I would like to respond to Lori Kim's inaccurate statement about the "North Shore" production ("Hawai'i on TV lacks state's racial diversity," July 5).

It seems to me every time we have a new program filmed on this island, people like Lori gripe that their ethnic group is not being represented or that there is not enough "pidgin language." It is obvious that Lori has not ventured outside of Pearl City to the North Shore. She needs to place a chair in front of Pupukea Foodland and count the "Asian" locals or tourists going into the store.

As a resident of the North Shore for over 50 years, I have found most of the "born and raised" locals on the North Shore have combined racial extractions that take about two minutes to list — meaning they represent almost all races.

Yes, there are a lot of Caucasians living on the North Shore, and most of the tourists who stay in the hotel are not all "Japanese tourists." The Japanese tourists seem to favor Waikiki. When they film in Waikiki, then it would be accurate to use Japanese tourists in the production.

Let's keep it real. If you want ethnic representation in the movies, take acting classes. We should be supportive that they are filming in Hawai'i, as it creates jobs behind the scenes for the locals, boosting our economy — not to mention the free advertising for Hawai'i.

So who was the host?

I understand that Ken Lay and George W. went to a baseball game together.

It would be interesting to know who bought the tickets, and who accepted a ticket.

I doubt if the two of them went Dutch.

Arts helps students appreciate cultures

As a teacher at Farrington and McKinley high schools, I drew upon the arts to direct students to learn about their cultural values and to appreciate and share the similarities and differences of their cultures with those of other students. I saw the results.

In the extreme, the arts serve as a venue to learn not to kill each other. A very important "extreme," yes. Too, these cultural studies afford students means to relate to, and participate with, their families, developing an appreciation of their cultures intergenerationally. With acquired esteem for their cultures comes their self-esteem and a lessening of the possibility of their turning to drugs.

Retired, I continue to reach out to the youth of our community through the arts organizations listed below, and others. It is my belief that funding the arts is important to the welfare of our communities on several levels, most of which have no tangible measure.

Pentagon unit should have been investigated

How convenient that the blame for the misinformation that led to war in Iraq is being put on the CIA and its outgoing director, George Tenet. However, according to an article in Mother Jones magazine entitled "The Lie Factory," most of the false information can be traced back to a Pentagon unit named the Office of Special Plans, which has now been disbanded.

The purpose of this temporary unit, according to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, was to cull factoids trying to link Saddam Hussein with al-Qaida, something the CIA was unable to prove.

The recent Senate investigation should have spent more time interviewing David Wurmser, the head of this unit, instead of taking the easy way out and blaming the CIA.

Democrats' reform won't cut class sizes

In Katherine Gelber's rush to praise the Democrats in the Legislature for giving the Department of Education the ability to hire new K-2 teachers to reduce class size (Letters, July 8), she must have not read the excellent article by Derrick DePledge on July 1 ("DOE 500 teachers short").

DePledge reported that the DOE has to annually hire about 1,400 new teachers, that the majority of these new recruits are starting their first teaching jobs and that this year the DOE was already short of its hiring goal by 500 teachers. And this is to fill existing vacancies, not to fill new positions supposedly created by the Democratic Legislature.

Providing funding for positions that cannot be filled with enough qualified teachers accomplishes nothing, let alone reduce class size.

A more suitable education reform would have been the breaking up of the Board of Education into smaller districts more accountable to its constituency. This would have been true reform and one that would have given individual school principals some autonomy from the Democrats in the Legislature who seem to want to continually tinker around at the edges with what they think is best for our schools.

Ms. Gelber may want real reform, but the Democrats' funding for unfillable positions is not going to help in reducing class sizes. Plus the Democrats have made it very clear that they do not trust people to decide on how they educate their own children.

Why should we trust them to run our government? It's time to vote them out!

A clown would have been better for UH job

Thomas Stuart ended his comments about the hiring and firing of the UH president in his July 9 commentary by saying "No clowns need apply." As a professional clown, I would like to take exception to that remark.

To be a successful clown, you must be sensitive to the values of your audience and smart enough to know what will please them. Otherwise you don't get asked back or referred to their friends.

If you play too many tricks at the expense of your clients, show obvious disdain for their intelligence or place profit over service, you will not last long in the clown business.

This is especially true in a small, close-knit community like Hawai'i. Word gets around, as ex-President Dobelle is finding out to his sorrow. Actually, almost any clown would have been better prepared for the job.

Thank you for making band exciting and fun

Thank you, Mr. Max Miura, for teaching us band. You've taught us more than just playing band instruments.

I've played in band since the fourth grade at Kalihi Uka, before the seventh-grade beginning band at Dole. To tell the truth, I only joined band for the activities. I wasn't really interested in band until I participated in the Dole band. I've grown to like band in the few days in August.

After joining the Dole band, I learned that the reward you get isn't as much as the effort you put in to earn that reward. Sometimes it doesn't matter what you get; all that matters is how you got there and what you learned on the way. It is also important that you have fun. Thank you for making band exciting and fun.

Why all the secrecy in Dobelle deliberations?

So, the University of Hawai'i Board of Regents will be having another closed-door meeting Thursday to continue their mishandling of the Evan Dobelle fiasco! Isn't this the group (with somewhat altered personnel) who hired Mr. Dobelle at an unbelievable jump in salary before he even started? Will the person replacing Mr. Dobelle continue to receive this unconscionable amount of the taxpayers' money?

Is this board accountable to anyone? Why do the regents conduct all their deliberations in secret? Perhaps they should enlist the master of secret dealings, Mr. Cheney, to help them. I'm sure the Republicans' current "Tricky Dick" could tell Mr. Dobelle what he could do with himself.

Don't build Ka'ena Point road

We are writing in response to the letters by Mr. Hans Kealoha Wedemeyer (June 24) and Mr. Bradley A. Coates (July 6) advocating that a road be built around Ka'ena Point. We would like to make several points in opposition to this recommendation:

• From the Office of State Planning Land Use Division's Subregional Land Use Plan: Mokule'ia to Ka'ena: "All shorefront lands from the western end of the Crozier Drive urban district to Ka'ena, all foothills mauka to the top of the cliffs, and all lands westward from Dillingham (Kawaihapai) airfield. These lands would be used for park purposes, forest recreation, or preserved for their natural values and wildland and scenic qualities. ... Uses in this zone should be compatible with the wildland character. Any structures or clearings should be related to enhancing outdoor recreation uses in a natural or wildland setting. Urban uses would not be compatible in this zone and should not be expanded. A paved highway around Ka'ena Point would not be allowed."
  
  The Central O'ahu/North Shore Regional Plan also states that a paved highway around Ka'ena Point would not be allowed.
  
  
• From the North Shore Sustainable Communities Plan: "Protect the natural resources of Ka'ena Point from potentially damaging vehicular traffic and roadway development."
  
  
• From the Wai'anae Sustainable Communities Plan: "Preservation of lands north of Kepuhi Point as open-space lands." In addition, while the plan acknowledges the need for another access road, it never suggests a road around Ka'ena Point as an option.
  
  
• Ka'ena Point is culturally sacred to the Hawaiian people as the place where souls leave this world and enter the next. There are many cultural remains in the cliffsides and down toward the beach. To build a road in this area would amount to sacrilege and desecration.
  
  
• Ka'ena Point is a federally recognized and protected natural reserve and, as such, is part of the the Hawai'i Natural Areas Reserve System. It is also a state park. Any road would endanger the area's ecosystem.
  
  
• In the 2000 legislative session (SCR 160), it was determined by the Department of Transportation that it would cost at least $500 million to build such a road around Ka'ena Point. Four years later, the cost probably would be at least a third higher. Bottom line: It could cost at least half the entire state operating budget to build such a road.
  
  
• There is an entire community on the other side of Ka'ena Point that both letter writers have failed to take into consideration with their support of this idea. They never asked the Mokule'ia community what we think of this idea, which would have a major impact on our agricultural, conservation and open-land policies, as well as our country lifestyle and quality of life.

For all the foregoing reasons, we strongly oppose the recommendation for a road around Ka'ena Point, and we will be monitoring this issue very carefully in the future.