Posted on: Wednesday, May 5, 2004

Letters to the Editor

State's disrespect for teachers disheartening

I am the husband of a teacher. Through the years I have observed her performance and commitment and have seen my love, appreciation and respect for her grow.

We have three well-adjusted and academically terrific daughters. We are very fortunate. However, we have one disappointment. Despite observing what a wonderful teacher their mom is, none decided to become a teacher.

They observed the hard work, long hours, low pay and constant disrespect exhibited to teachers by the state administration and others. The damage over the years, even when a contract was finally agreed to, have formed a lasting impression on them.

I also wonder what the effect of the current contract dispute will have on tomorrow's future supply of Hawai'i's teachers. Will we lose more of our state's human treasure to a more rewarding life on the Mainland and have to rely on recruiting (and sometimes deceiving) short-term teachers from outside our state?

We need more leaders with the vision to resolve this ongoing and tragic problem.

Mandatory recycling better than bottle bill

Contrary to your April 29 editorial regarding the bottle bill, we so-called opponents do not want to confuse anyone. Restaurants and bars are already recycling daily. They already pay the 1-cent fee to the state and have been for the past 15 years.

The state's imposition of the bottle bill is a feeble attempt to increase revenues for the politicians to raid and use elsewhere as they have done in the past.

I am opposed to the bottle bill because it is a Band-Aid solution to a major problem. I can't speak for the rest of the opposition, but I'm pretty sure that most of them will agree with me. Hawai'i needs to implement mandatory residential recycling. It is fairly inexpensive for the state, city and counties to initiate.

Once-a-week residential pickup by either the city or private contractor will by far be more beneficial to all concerned. Alternate plastic, glass and aluminum pickup one week, with paper pickup the following week. The use of two different colored bins in each home will determine what items are to be collected. A blue bin for plastic, glass and aluminum to be collected on the first and third weeks of the month, and a white bin for all paper goods to be collected on the second and fourth weeks. Very easy and simple.

If the city doesn't want to cash in on the collections, I'm sure the private sector will be more than happy to make the money from the windfall. The bottle bill is a disguised tax and not the solution. Mandatory recycling is the answer.

Whiners of bottle bill should pick up 'opala

The most beautiful state in the union is the most littered. Hawai'i's scenic beauty is marred by so much trash. States with bottle bills are virtually litter-free. Bottle bills work.

I wonder how many hours of community service those whiners about the bottle bill have put in picking up roadside 'opala? Maybe those negative people would like to come to the Tantalus Community Association workday on June 5. We have thousands of bottles and cans littering our world-famous lookouts to be picked up. Maybe they have a better solution for slowing down the daily contributions of beverage container trash.

I doubt it. Let's all support the much-needed bottle bill for the love of the land.

Unsolved crimes show need for alternatives

Conflicting thoughts arose after reading The Advertiser's April 23 editorial "Chief Donohue leaves fine record to build on."

He attained high department accreditation. Good. He lowered vacancies. Good. He overlooked scandals brewing under his watch. Bad. He was loyal to the code of silence within the ranks, but was not open to the community. Good and bad?

And among the editorial's creme de la creme points, he was not accountable to the public. Touche!

My point, too; well, sort of. I shouldn't feel it necessary to convince others that he did a good or bad job, but I am lumped in with the distinguished group, the "public." I have no alternative if I decide that the break-in to my home was not handled with resolve. I don't care if the chief had big systemic problems to solve; mine is bigger. I have to persuade the "public" to expect more or suffer the compromise of the collective, which stands at around a 6 percent clearance for burglaries.

Does anyone see the correlation between this dismal compromise, the Police Department's monopoly position and the banning of real competition in security? Individual accountability, not public, should be the modus operandi, but that won't happen until members of the public can choose their protection.

Convention Center secrecy unacceptable

As Hawaii Tourism Authority president and CEO, Rex Johnson's job is to promote the economic well-being of the tourism industry. And as his April 29 letter points out, allowing secrecy will attract a few additional conventions to our Islands each year.

However, the principle of openness in government is more important than making extra money.

Trusting the Hawai'i Convention Center to reject certain applicants for "health, moral or safety" reasons is pointless; we have no idea whose health, moral or safety interests SMG, which manages the Convention Center, answers to. How is a legislator supposed to protest a booking without revealing the name of the group? Do we want our legislators doing more things behind closed doors?

We need to either make the center a private entity free to do whatever it wants or a public entity subject to the same rules and principles as the rest of our government. If we let this pass, what is to keep other parts of the government from obtaining confidentiality status on the argument of economic security?

To paraphrase Ben Franklin, those who would give up freedom (of information) to achieve a little more (economic) security deserve neither.

Ko Olina beach access complaint is misguided

Regarding Joe Burruso's April 28 letter citing denial of public access to the beach at Ko Olina: When I go to Waikiki to surf and have difficulty finding parking, am I being denied access to the beach there because I am local? Did Mr. Burruso attempt to park in the hotel paid parking lot?

I doubt that unless there is a special event, the lot is ever full. I pay for parking every time I go to Waikiki, yet I don't often hear of people complaining that beach access is being denied to locals unless they are staying in a hotel room.

As a resident of Ko Olina, I am always happy to see dozens of local families enjoying the lagoons as I jog around them. However, I would hate to see the Ko Olina resort beauty marred by turning it into a big parking lot.

I believe there is an ample number of free stalls, many more than are available anywhere in town or Waikiki, and that if Mr. Burruso or anyone else desires to spend a day at Ko Olina, he should arrive early, or perhaps do what we are so used to doing in other popular beach areas and bring a little extra kala for the price of parking.

I might also recommend any number of beaches within a few miles of Ko Olina that clearly have less of a parking issue. But to say that beach access is being denied to locals is misguided.

Ted Koppel's airing of Iraq dead appreciated

Ted Koppel's April 30 "Nightline" on ABC paid a telling tribute to the 737 (plus the newly fallen) victims of the war in Iraq. Seeing the faces, the ethnic identities, the range of ages and the surprising number of young women etched their sacrifice in memory better than any printed list.

The Advertiser is to be thanked for running a story calling attention to the night's program and additional interesting information about the censorship of the program.

I think this bellwether program will go down in commercial television history. It met a deeply felt but unexpressed national emotional need — recognizing the young men and women killed in Iraq. Better yet, no political messages were implied.

At the conclusion of the program, Koppel demonstrated how opposing political viewpoints could be made from the facts presented. His implication that some things are too sacred for politics provided a satisfying conclusion.

What can be done to arrange for a repeat showing in a better time slot? Not too many viewers were up after 11 p.m. What can be done to eliminate the commercials? It would be more tasteful to simply list them in the credits with a voice-over of a 10-gun salute and the mournful taps, traditional military practice.

'American Idol' should be paying Jasmine's dad

Your Tuesday Island Life article "Jasmine's most devoted cheerleader" revealed some interesting and disappointing facts.

With the "American Idol" contestants bringing in viewing audiences nationwide well over 50 million, you would think that they could at least pay the lost wages of the parents or guardians of the underage contestants who are required to accompany their minor child.

It's a shame that Rudy Trias had to use up all of his vacation and personal leave and is presently on leave without pay.

It's a blessing that the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard was generous enough to extend him time off without pay.

Considering the football Super Bowl commercials that cost over a million dollars a minute, I'd be interested in knowing what kind of money "American Idol" is drawing each week, or for that matter, the entire "American Idol" season.

Gay housing bill deserved death

HB 537 relating to "sexual orientation," including homosexuality and bisexuality, in housing is dead. It died for five good reasons:

• It violated the First Amendment free-exercise clause of the U.S. Constitution. "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."

The bill violated the right of those with deeply held religious beliefs to exercise their beliefs relating to their private property, their homes or with those with whom they wished to associate. HB 537 would have forced those with religious biblical standards established by Scripture for more than 2,000 years to go against their own religion.

• The right to own, sell or rent property or homes without interference and without compromising our moral values and beliefs is a fundamental American right. HB 537 violated the principle of private property.

The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution states that "the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated."

• HB 537 violated moral standards by imposing morally repugnant practices through a "civil right" statute on Hawai'i. A large percentage of Hawai'i citizens believe all other civil rights categories carried in our civil rights laws are morally neutral. Ethnicity, color, race, national origin, handicap status are all morally neutral.

The underlying motive of HB 537 was to force, by law, acceptance of a lifestyle morally objectionable to a majority of Hawai'i citizens. Respect cannot be dictated by law.

• HB 537 proposed that a "civil right" be added to the civil rights statute based upon a changeable chosen behavior or lifestyle. Historically, the categories in our civil rights statutes are based upon characteristics we are born with, or which cannot be changed, such as race or handicapped status or sex.

Sexual lifestyle or behavior is changeable and correctable. Scientific and sociological studies, and the practical experiences of thousands who have left gay and bisexual lifestyles to enter traditional marriages, prove changeability.

• There was no compelling reason or need for HB 537. Even advocates testified in committee that there were no verifiable or concrete records or statistics documenting discrimination against gays in housing.

One of the three legislators signing the bill acknowledged it was based more on the desire for symbolic action than need.

Traditional measurements for denial of civil rights, the right to vote, the right to have equal educational opportunity and the right to have economic opportunity all indicate the gay lifestyle is not handicapped, in fact just the opposite.

The Legislature was right to let HB 537 die. Thank you.