Maui residents: Fight for your right to stay

As more mansions are built, more locals leave the island. They are being pushed out and marginalized as homes and cost of living skyrocket. The new rich arrivals can afford it; can you?

Your first line of defense for keeping Maui's children and future here is supposed to be our County Council. Do you think the current council will protect your or your children's jobs? The majority of council members are far removed from any reality that will give you a leg up on your kids being here in two generations. They may be your neighbors, well-known local folks — and the fact you have known them for a long time doesn't make them the council members you need in this time of fast change and big-money influence.

Your island is changing — and you will become second-class citizens in your own county if you don't understand the need for a different kind of council member: a strong, powerful person who has the heart and mind necessary to think out of the box and not bow to large landowners and developers. Someone who is not confused, bought or influenced by power.

The build-out of Makena is a great example. When Dain Kane, Riki Hokama, Mike Molina, Joe Pontanilla and others vote to keep you out of Makena affordable housing, the laws and conditions they write into law might as well be contracts to send you off this island. Make your voting decision wisely.

President is bumbling on international scene

Astonishing. There's a tremendous loss of life in Iraq, with over 1,000 American troops killed and the Iraqi dead in the tens of thousands. We have about 140,000 troops in that country when we should have had perhaps twice that from the beginning (so said Gen. Eric Shinseki, who has become a prophet as a result).

We're straining at the seams for military manpower in Iraq, at the same time diminishing and endangering our troop strength globally. The potential for the return of the draft is a possibility to shore up our worldwide military shortcoming that lays bare a chink in our country's military armor that delights the rest of the world.

And with all the foregoing facing this country worldwide, especially in the Middle East, George W. Bush, in all his arrogance and unthinking persona non grata, dresses down North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Il, prompting a paranoid reaction by North Korea with the bristling of its nuclear arsenal.

Is there no one in W's administration able to explain to him that leaders of all countries, no matter how much they dislike one another personally, must put aside their dislikes and talk to each other on a higher plane for the sake of their respective countries as well as the world so that their people and the people of the world may co-exist on this planet?

This ideal can be achieved but not when one leader debases another with ill-conceived taunts rather than well-conceived aspirations that both leaders can achieve by just talking to each other.

We should support our charter schools

It is no surprise that enrollment in Hawai'i's charter schools has recently increased by nearly 15 percent this school year. Public charter schools, such as the Myron B. Thompson Academy, which my oldest child attends, offer more options to parents and students.

As Hawai'i's only e-school, the Thompson Academy couples technological innovation with outstanding instruction and flexibility. My son has been able to take his lectures with him and schedule his learning around the other activities in life that contribute so much to a well-rounded education. He's accompanied me during the day to ceremonies at Marine Corps Base Hawai'i, the state Capitol and UH. He has also been able to accelerate through courses that otherwise would have taken longer. This would not have been possible at a conventional public school.

We should as a state support our charter schools. We need to remove the arbitrary cap on their creation and allow the market to direct how many are created. And we should ensure that they are funded on a par with conventional public schools.

My two daughters attend the excellent public school near our home, and that's been perfect for them. So it's not charter school versus conventional public schools. It's supporting both, recognizing that as a state we need to provide more rather than fewer choices to Hawai'i's families.

Don't let dogs loose

Warning for dog owners: It was 5:45 a.m. on Sept. 18. My friend and I had dogs and went walking on Ha'iku Road near Hale'iwa Joe's. Suddenly, we saw two pit bulls. My friend picked up her dog right away, but I was too late. The dogs pushed me down to the ground and pounced on my dog. He was bitten to death. Please don't let vicious dogs loose. They might attack your children and other adults, too.