Stop the bottle bill till state gets act together

I agree completely with a letter writer who summed up the bottle bill as a means of extracting money to fund another bureaucracy. The problem is that the state is extracting the money splendidly, but the bureaucracy is nowhere in sight.

How do we get our money back? If you check the Department of Health's Web site, all you will find is a map outlining "potential redemption centers." There is no available list of locations with actual addresses or phone numbers. I see no evidence here in Kane'ohe that anything of that scale is under construction. It's hard to believe that we are going from "no known address" to convenient, fully functioning centers in the next seven weeks.

It's outrageous that the state can collect a deposit without giving the public any specifics on how and where it will refund the money. At a minimum, the state should immediately provide complete details of its implementation plan (locations and hours of operations) or stop charging the deposit.

In fact, the state should not be allowed to collect the deposit at all until the redemption centers are open. What incentive is there to get this operation up and running when it pays off for it to drag its feet?

Gonzales is not fit to serve in the Cabinet

I am a proud Hispanic and I thought I would be proud when our president nominated a Hispanic to serve in a high-profile Cabinet position. The nomination of Alberto Gonzales as attorney general is a bittersweet choice, in my opinion. On the positive side, Alberto has appeal as the son of migrant farm workers and is automatically less polarizing than the person he may replace — John Ashcroft.

My bittersweet feelings come from the fact that Señor Gonzales is the chief architect of various legal opinions that allow for the putting aside of the Geneva Conventions in certain cases to allow for torture of prisoners. This all ties into the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, and the White House has to date refused to release the additional papers on the justification for handling prisoners besides those that were leaked to the press.

Also, on Nov. 9, U.S. Federal Judge James Robertson found that the detainees at Guantánamo Bay may be classified as prisoners of war and entitled to rights under the Geneva Conventions — a clear blow to the Bush administration and to Gonzales.

I thank the president for nominating a Hispanic to this prestigious position, but I'm sure he can find another conservative Hispanic who does not have the baggage that Gonzales brings — as one day it's going to be American troops in enemy hands, and I expect the Geneva Conventions not to be put aside to allow torture of our brave men and women in uniform.

Hopefully, courts will uphold the vision

It is so good to see that other non-Hawaiians not only support Kamehameha Schools' admissions policy, but that they feel compelled to write in and express their feelings. I applaud letter writers Lori-Ann Tsang and Terri Nakamura for doing what I have procrastinated on for years now.

I firmly believe in the will of Bernice Pauahi Bishop and I have always admired her foresight to help her people through the endowment of her estate. As a non-Hawaiian growing up on the Big Island, I was always happy to learn about friends being accepted to or attending Kamehameha Schools. I only hope that the courts can find the wisdom to uphold the vision of Ke Ali'i Pauahi. I mua Kamehameha!

No Child Left Behind carrying us backward

Nearly four decades ago, I spent two years teaching with the Peace Corps in the small West African country of Liberia. As with most Third World countries, its public educational system was lacking in just about any way that could be measured. At the end of grades three, six and nine, however, students who failed to pass a "national exam" were denied the opportunity to go any further. In theory, at least, it solved the problem of social promotion.

But the casualties of this program were many. Students were constantly living under the threat of failure, and learning became a pressure-packed chore instead of a joy. Teachers who dared to veer away from the prescribed curriculum, no matter how interesting or relevant the lesson, would be reminded to "teach to the exam" and not waste the student's time.

Suddenly, George W. Bush's crowning domestic legislative achievement, No Child Left Behind, has carried our entire country back to the Africa of yesteryear. Here in Hawai'i, thousands of highly qualified and dedicated teachers are forced to live with the daily threat of failure. This is especially true of those working in rural schools, or schools with a high percentage of non-English-speaking homes. Students are being tested endlessly, and schools that fail to meet the often unrealistic goals are doomed for "reorganization."

How I wish our federal government could be measured by the same yardstick.

With record broken, focus on winning

University of Hawai'i Warrior Timmy Chang (alias June Jones) has broken the NCAA passing record for most yards in a career — the main focus for five seasons. In the Boise State game, Chang played all but four offensive downs when the game was well out of reach after the third quarter. Anyone not chasing a record would have played the backups to give them game experience, as well as the national exposure they have earned, and keep a starter from getting hurt unnecessarily.

Maybe now Jones can focus his attention on the defense, special teams and clock management as well as play calling, then maybe his record would improve from the 25 wins and 23 losses when he was chasing the individual record for five seasons.

Run-and-shoot offense is no longer effective

Unless June Jones can devise alternate schemes to the run-and-shoot offense, there will be many more blowouts in UH football's future. Other WAC defensive coaches have caught on to the UH run-and-shoot offense, since it hasn't changed since day one.

WAC opponents have now adopted the so-called "bracket defense," which has led to too many three downs and out.

The run-and-shoot may work with outside conference opponents, but it will not be successful anymore in the WAC.

Removing HECO plant must be accomplished

The removal of the downtown HECO plant in an effort to redirect the development of our downtown/waterfront area is a bold but necessary step forward.

Decommissioning the power plant would provide cleaner air for downtown inhabitants and workers and would improve the sight lines to our beautiful waterfront from many parts of downtown, further encouraging a live/work lifestyle that reduces time in autos.

The Pacific Quay development plan proposes many other useful ideas: submerging Nimitz Highway, recommissioning Irwin Park, building a new park where the HECO plant is now and more downtown housing — all of which would improve our downtown, reduce traffic and open up more green space.

A community and a culture are growing entities in a continuum. They are not stagnant, despite the enormousness of some tasks. While this is certainly a huge job that requires great effort, it is also a dramatic turning point that would deliver a new course of development for Honolulu.

The redevelopment of our downtown/waterfront begins with the removal of the HECO plant. As a community, we all should support this.

Direct complaints to lawmakers, not police

I read Robert Becker's Nov. 15 letter ("Police need to get serious about crime") and at first was upset at his words. Then I realized my frustration was greater at the ignorance he displayed.

The police make numerous arrests and are unfortunately forced to release the person arrested due to lenient charging criteria set forth by the prosecutor's office. These same individuals are often responsible for many auto thefts.

Another hurdle is the fact that police are responding to calls for service and are unable to perform projects to address the auto theft problem because of the lack of an overtime budget.

The few individuals who do receive jail time are released back into society because of our current judicial system, and that is why you see people walking around with over 50 arrests to their name.

To those out there who are bothered by this, I suggest you contact your city and state government representatives and make them aware of your frustration with our current system. That is where the change will begin, not by complaining about the police.

Newspaper snubbing other military services

I can't help but read your biased reporting of our armed forces. Why is it only the Marines are in the news in your paper daily? The Middle East conflict involves the Army, Navy and Air Force, as well as the Coast Guard.

The Army has been the mainstay of the conflict from the beginning of the war, but there's very little reporting of it and other services.

In Fallujah, the Army is very much involved.

Thanks, prayers go to our service members

Recently while golfing at Kane'ohe's Klipper Golf Course, I saw at least two dozen Marines and Navy men on the tee of hole 13 overlooking the ocean.

When I asked one Marine why they were there, he explained they were all re-enlisting for another tour of duty in their respective service, while looking out at a beautiful view of a piece of their country.

I thanked him and with this letter thank all service members for doing more than their duty.

There were many buses parked in the commissary lot being loaded with Marines with packs on their backs. A woman told me they were on their way to Iraq. My appreciation, thanks and prayers go to all service members. I honor them all.

Hawai'i should take initiative to clean up

The Nov. 14 Island Voices column by Robert Rees properly showcases Hawai'i's "dark side" of political campaigning. For the 37 years I've lived here, mudslinging hasn't changed one bit. It just gets darker and more embarrassing.

From whisper campaigning to smearing mud via the Internet, we have become our own worst enemy by continuing to allow such deplorable political campaigning to tarnish our elections and community. Everyone complains about it but no one is willing to do anything to correct it. This is not a First Amendment issue. It's a common decency issue.

Hawai'i can take a step forward to stop this form of campaigning, and we have two years to get it right and move in the right direction. Over 90 percent of all paid political advertising is still placed in three traditional forms of communication, i.e., print, broadcast and direct mail. Of these three, two are controlled by third parties that have the final say on what is printed and aired — the publishers of the print medium and management of television and radio stations. These two groups can simply "Just say no" to politicians who distort the truth, lie and resort to negative advertising. They can literally reject any advertising that includes questionable and degrading messages. The FCC has content guidelines. Why not write our own set of content guidelines for political advertising?

Here's how the "Just say no" policy would work. Broadcast and print media throughout the state would voluntarily create or select an organization that would be charged with the responsibility to write guidelines for "decency in political messages." Once written and published, all media would then be encouraged to abide by the policy. The League of Women Voters could be one such organization.

Now here's the real upside of the idea. When whisper, Internet and direct-mail mudslinging starts to appear, it would be viewed purely as that — questionable political campaigning.