Consumers can help themselves by voting

Your editorial on diversified agriculture in Wednesday's Advertiser misses the point. While most would agree that "it pays to buy local" when prices are comparable, blaming higher prices on "land prices and the pressure of development" discounts several issues facing small businesses in Hawai'i, including farmers and agriculture.

Government mandates and regulations make it extremely difficult to do business in Hawai'i and make a profit. Workers' compensation, mandatory healthcare, the pyramiding excise tax and higher gasoline taxes all contribute to the cost of business and higher prices to consumers. Small business has been crying for workers' comp reform in Hawai'i for several years with little help from our Legislature. The escalating cost of healthcare continues to be borne by business. When local taxes for the several layers of the general excise tax and gasoline are added in, it is no wonder that prices are not comparable and it makes sense to ship things in and not buy local products.

The real "big role" that consumers play is in the voting booth next month. Electing legislators who are friendly to small businesses and are willing to move forward on reforms to help diversify our island economy should be everybody's priority. Right now, we have a majority of incumbents who have ignored small-business concerns for many years. Many of them talk the talk but fail to walk the walk.

If we don't make changing our Legislature a priority, we'll continue to see prices climb, businesses shut down, or businesses move from the Islands.

Music is appreciated

As one who regularly visits Diamond Head, I feel the Department of Land and Natural Resources deserves public commendation for good taste in having Hawaiian music playing at the base of the trail to the summit of Diamond Head. The Hawaiian music provides a local flavor to the other excellent historical and natural displays and the magnificent scenery. The total experience is rich and fulfilling for locals and off-island visitors alike.

Don't place your faith in the Kyoto Protocol

Your Oct. 5 editorial states that the United States is out of step on global warming and that we should be taking a lead role in implementing the Kyoto Protocol to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. You note that the Bush administration and the U.S. Senate oppose the Kyoto treaty, saying it would do serious harm to the U.S. economy and unfairly favor developing nations like China. That's the downside. You said nothing about the upside.

What would the benefit be of implementing the Kyoto treaty? That is a question that is rarely asked or answered in this ongoing debate. It was answered last month in a presentation to the Houston Forum by Dr. Richard S. Lindzen, the Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Atmospheric Sciences at MIT. His answer was stated succinctly: "Kyoto, by itself, will have no discernable impact on global warming regardless of what one believes about climate change." (A copy of this presentation may be obtained by submitting a request to rlindzen@mit.edu.)

Ironically, perhaps the United States by its inaction is actually leading the world in the correct direction on the global-warming issue. Unfortunately, many other nations are allowing the unfounded hysteria surrounding this issue to cloud their judgment, thereby reducing their resistance to the herd mentality that is propelling them in the wrong direction.

Gail Awakuni shows us what can be done

Congratulations to Gail Awakuni for winning the national Principal of the Year award. She is very deserving. I have friends who are teachers at Campbell High School, and they all have nothing but praise for their principal.

Ms. Awakuni is a perfect example of what good leadership can do. Make positive changes to the school and community in order to make life better for everyone. In just four years, Ms. Awakuni changed Campbell High School into something the community can be proud of.

We all can learn from Ms. Awakuni's example that we can make a difference in the community and the world around us. That we have the power to make this world a better place for everyone to live in. With a little hard work and a positive attitude, we can change the world one community at a time.

Come on, parents, teachers need help

I would like to add support for the letter from public school teacher Janet Luh regarding holding the parents and kids accountable for the child's education and success.

I am also a public school teacher, and I am tired of banging my head against a brick wall dealing with children who do not care and parents who do not care.

Yes, we work very hard, but we cannot do it alone. Look at the kids who are failing and you will see the same "I do not care" attitude. Come on, parents, we need your help!

City doing what it can to retrieve green carts

In response to Jason Post's Oct. 13 letter regarding the city's retrieval of the green recycling carts in Mililani: Please be assured that we are working as quickly as possible to pick up all the carts and plan to make good use of them in other recycling programs.

We do ask Mililani residents to be patient as we canvass all the neighborhoods to collect some 6,000 carts.

Picking up the green carts from the pilot project takes a bit more time than delivering the new, blue recycling carts, since we are not able to disassemble them for stacking and transport on the truck. We've increased the crews and hope to catch up quickly.

If you think your cart might have been missed or it's taking too long, please give us a call at 692-5410.

Most Mililani households are returning the green carts; a few have asked if they can keep them.

The green carts can no longer be used for set-out or collection of anything — refuse is collected in the gray cart only, mixed recyclables will now be collected in the new, blue cart, and green waste will continue in the manual system (no cart, using yard bags or your own 35-gallon container) — but some residents have indicated that they would like to use the green cart to store green waste until their collection day and then remove the bags for placement at the curb.

For all the green carts we are taking back, we're working on plans to use them to support other recycling programs, including at condos and apartment complexes.

Once we complete the implementation of the curbside recycling system, we'd like to turn our attention to providing additional assistance to multi-family dwellings.

We can expect to see significant increases in recycling activity during this coming year — islandwide curbside recycling on O'ahu plus the start of the statewide beverage container deposits. Both projects are massive undertakings.

The city's 'opala team is ready to roll up its sleeves and do the work, but we need everyone's support and patience as well.

If the program isn't laying out smoothly in your neighborhood, please call us and we'll make corrections and adjustments. The ultimate results — more recycling, less waste — will benefit all of us and our island home for years to come.

Tests are being made easier

It appears that the Board of Education is "dumbing down" the standards that public school students are expected to achieve in an effort to artificially elevate standardized test scores (see "BOE designates 'essential' standards," Sept. 17).

When the Hawai'i Content and Performance Standards (HCPS) were first adopted 10 years ago, there were 1,544 standards. The sheer number was found to be onerous, so two years ago the number was reduced to 139 standards, called HCPS II. A commission reviewing the 139 HCPS II standards determined that they "describe what all children in Hawai'i should know, be able to do, and care about." The commission included Superintendent Pat Hamamoto, the dean of the UH College of Education, several public school teachers, a school principal, and a BOE member serving as a representative of the public.

Most recently, the BOE has watered down the 139 HCPS II standards by categorizing each of them as either "essential" or "desirable." Teachers will be expected to teach only the essential standards, with the teaching of the desired standards made optional. Superintendent Hamamoto said that the essential standards are what students must master before they can advance to more sophisticated, higher-level work. Thus, higher-level work was once "what all children in Hawai'i should know," but today it has become optional.

Superintendent Hamamoto also said that the recently revised standards will result in higher standardized test scores. It seems almost magical that test scores can be improved without actually improving the quality of education. What's concealed is that Hawai'i's standardized tests will no longer include questions about the desirable standards, and curriculum will be geared to this limited range of test questions.

The situation is similar to a teacher announcing to her students that the next day's spelling test will be reduced from 20 words to 10. If students spend the same amount of time studying those 10 words as they would have spent studying the 20, higher scores can be expected. Hawai'i's standardized test scores should be higher next year. But that doesn't mean that our children will have learned any more than before.

When standardized test scores rise next year, the BOE and the superintendent will undoubtedly declare that public education is advancing, that teachers are teaching better, and that students are learning more. But it really only means that the tests were made easier.