Posted on: Friday, May 21, 2004

Letters to the Editor

Discrimination claim doesn't hold water

If, as Cam Cavasso contends (Letters, May 5), Christian landlords have a "fundamental right" to reject homosexuals as tenants, shouldn't all Christian-owned businesses be free to discriminate against biblically identified "sinners," including adulterers?

Cavasso claims, correctly, that respect cannot be imposed by law. On the other hand, Martin Luther King Jr. noted that "judicial decrees may not change the heart, but they can restrain the heartless."

Cavasso makes the serious mistake of confusing a change in sexual behavior, which is relatively easy to accomplish, with a complete and permanent change in sexual orientation, which is very difficult to accomplish and objectively verify.

Finally, protection from discrimination is not and should not be limited to immutable characteristics. Religion, for example, is protected even though it is consciously chosen and is far easier to change than sexual orientation or even left-handedness.

Residents must start to control pollution

My name is Trudy Hong. I am 13 years old and am in the eighth grade at Washington Middle School. I've noticed that O'ahu is rapidly being polluted.

For example, shopping carts, refrigerators, tires, batteries and many other things lie in the waters of the Ala Wai Canal, contaminating the water as well as the fish that dwell there. This problem concerns me because the pollution is making our island an unsafe place to live. Therefore, I think I, as a citizen, have the responsibility to make people more aware of this ongoing problem and to encourage them to help do something about it.

Also, because of our negligence toward caring for our environment, many species are slowly vanishing due to the fact that they are forced to live in these filthy places. If we continue polluting, we will even have one-fourth of our coral reefs wiped out in 10 to 20 years, which is a major threat to marine life.

Why should they have to put up with this anyway? I truly don't think it's fair to them at all.

I plan to create a public service announcement (for my eighth-grade Inter-Disciplinary Unit) comprised of pictures and information dealing with pollution in Hawai'i. With this, my goal is to inform others that pollution is a major problem here in this state.

Now, because pollution is affecting everything around us so fast, controlling this can be a real challenge if it is not dealt with immediately. So hopefully, this public service announcement will make more people aware of this problem and motivated to help do something about it.

School staff should exemplify dress code

A concern I have is the appearance of the school personnel. My children have a dress code that must be followed; why don't the personnel?

I have seen the personnel go to school in surf shorts, T-shirts, sweat pants, tight skirts, mini-skirts and rubber slippers. Are you, the faculty and staff, not the examples for my children when they are in school?

The students have to suffer the consequences of not following the dress code; shouldn't you? How can you lead the students when you are not suitably dressed?

I know that not all personnel can afford to buy new clothes often, but you still should dress appropriately. I don't wish for you to wear anything uptight and uncomfortable in our tropical heat, like a shirt and tie or a dress and nylons, but something that is presentable.

Most schools offer faculty and staff the choice to purchase personnel shirts, and that, worn with slacks, dress shorts or knee-length skirts, should do the trick. Community and school pride begin with self-pride and self-esteem. These are the things we need to be teaching our children along with reading, writing and arithmetic.

Little slice of aloha found in California

What is aloha? A couple years ago, George Kahumoku Jr. performed a wonderful ki ho'alu concert for the first "Aloha in the Redwoods," a fund-raiser for La Honda (Calif.) Elementary School. Soon after, volunteers, mostly parents and teachers, brought their tractors, tools and refreshments on several scorching hot weekends to prepare the land and assemble the large climbing structure that stands upon the upper playground at La Honda School.

The day after the performance, Kahumoku flew to Maui and called me in La Honda to thank me for putting on such a wonderful event and making him feel so welcome here. George loved the warmth and generosity, the lovely food people had shared, and the amazing connections he made with community members at the event. "This is aloha!" George said.

La Honda Educational Foundation is seeking sponsorship and donations for "Aloha in the Redwoods 2004," which features Hawaiian music's next generation, David Kamakahi, Keoki Kahumoku, Herb Ohta Jr., Patrick Landeza with Dennis Kamakahi and hula dancers — Aug. 29 in La Honda. E-mail aloha@karenshaff .com or call (650) 747-9633; or visit www.karenshaff.com/aloha04.

Martial arts training helps develop children

I applaud The Advertiser for running last Friday's article about children and the martial arts. As a longtime instructor and former child student, I can attest to the positive difference training can make in a child's life. Increased confidence, discipline, attention and respect are just a few qualities developed by training.

I encourage all parents to enroll their children in a class such as those listed in the article. If cost is an issue, come train with us at Spectrum Martial Arts. We offer a free karate class every Wednesday evening, so everyone can train.

Visit us on the Web at www.spectrumma.com for more information (www.spectrumma.com/hawaii.htm for location and class times).

Rehiring retirees actually saves money

The recent headlines that over 300 retirees are working back in the system and double-dipping are very misleading and unwarranted.

First of all, when these retirees are on these 89-day contracts, the city and state save a lot of money. These temporary rehires do not get any medical coverage (they have it already), no paid sick or vacation leave, paid-in retirement, or even FICA. All they get is their base pay and worker's-comp coverage.

If the state and city had to fill these critical positions with inexperienced hires, they would have to pay them all the civil service and monetary features required under the parameters of the various public-sector union contracts.

With money being so tight fiscally, this is a win-win deal for our taxpayers.

Aloha is lacking in Hawai'i's parking

Let me get this straight. In many Mainland cities where the parking situation is challenging, the usual response is to think of creative ways to create spaces, not to arbitrarily eliminate them.

In Hawai'i, on the other hand, many people straddle two spaces, even paint lines in the street that encourage parking in such a way as to waste a perfectly good space that could be used by more than one vehicle.

In some neighborhoods, people actually place obstructions, such as large stones, along the street to prevent parking. This might make sense if the goal were to preserve one's own space, but it prevents anyone from parking. This lack of consideration is puzzling.

Is this what we call "aloha"?

Line between education, healthcare is blurring

Does a magical "separate" budget only for special education really exist?

The federal government provides 15 percent of the funding for special education and leaves the state of Hawai'i financially responsible for the rest of the billion-dollar budget needed. Where does this money come from? If a whole pie is cut into many pieces of different sizes, will not some get more and some get less?

On top of educating special-needs children, add another estimated million dollars for litigation that the state pays to attorneys for "due process" when a parent goes to court to challenge the amount of services, such as mental health therapy. Does this money come from another magical "separate" budget? Why does "free and appropriate" translate into "much more expensive"?

The line between education and healthcare is becoming blurred. I'm not sure if it is "fair" or not, but let's not tap dance around who is really paying for it or where the money is coming from.

Cut traffic with bridge

The drive from 'Ewa Beach around Pearl Harbor takes about 20 minutes — without traffic. If a bridge were built over the opening of Pearl Harbor, it would slash driving time and congestion.

A bridge could be built that would accommodate any naval vessels (look at the Coronado Bridge in San Diego) and could be paid for with a toll. Has anyone thought of this before?

Of sports and life's lessons

Live and learn. Life's lessons are everywhere, in everything we do. We live and learn. What lessons do sports have to offer? None? Is Mike Leidemann right ("About Men" column, May 3)? Maybe he was right when he said it would only be a coach who would say there are life lessons in sports. And I am.

As the girls basketball season wound down, I reflected on what I learned this year. For starters, I learned that one week of spring break logging miles from Chicago to South Bend to Detroit with 14 high school girls is not enough to drive me completely insane. Close, but ...

I also learned that that much time and that many miles spent with the coaches are almost enough to drive 14 girls crazy.

We all learned to have a little more patience, and we had some great experiences, experiences of a lifetime — the NIT game at Michigan, the NCAA Women's Quarterfinals at Notre Dame, Cereal City at Battle Creek, almost having to leave Amber Carter in Canada, being blessed by Notre Dame President Emeritus Father Hesburgh, reading Hawaiian stories to the students at Marshall Elementary and, of course, go-cart racing.

OK, I have to admit that these experiences were not on the field or in the locker room and whatever we may have learned was not learned from the sport itself, but it was sports, along with the generosity of some caring individuals (thank you!), that afforded us these opportunities.

Our referees really do care about every player's well-being and enjoyment of the game and deserve to be treated with utmost respect, even when we disagree. I am still learning how to do a better job at this and hope that my players see me trying to grow and become a better coach and a better person.

A lesson reinforced this season was that success is not measured in just wins and losses. Really winning, though, means fulfilling your potential. You don't have to be the best; you just need to be the best you can be — that is success, that is winning. Our league is full of winning teams. Our real success lies in the improvements we have made as teams and as individuals.

I have also gained a better understanding that life lessons may not be what we want them to be. Life is the teacher and is going to teach the lessons it wants to teach. My job is to teach the game of basketball; life will decide what lessons to teach. A good coach, though, ought to be life's teaching assistant by helping the players recognize those lessons as they come, not try to package cliches as life lessons.

Wait ... what lessons? Leidemann supposed perseverance to be the main lesson to learn from sports but questioned its applicability to certain aspects of life. Not every lesson needs to apply to every aspect of life to be of value, to makes us better people. Maybe there are no lessons for the kids, but there have been many lessons for me, and being involved in basketball has made me a better teacher and a better person.

If just one of my players has learned something about commitment to self-improvement, working together as a team, respecting others or has developed the confidence to make decisions in the clutch, then that will count in the game of life, and that is the game that I want to see each player win.