Posted on: Wednesday, April 6, 2005

Letters to the Editor

Bush has nothing on pope's culture of life

The world has lost a great man with the passing of John Paul II. I am not writing another letter to praise him; others can do that much better than I. I am writing because I am furious that there were so many statements about President Bush and Pope John Paul sharing a culture of life.

Both world figures were anti-abortion, but the pope had a consistent culture of life, as opposed to the convenient culture of life espoused by the president. John Paul spoke against capital punishment and war. He championed civil rights and the elimination of world poverty. Can the same be said of the president? Sadly, no.

A culture of life must be defined by much more than being anti-abortion.

Honor John Paul II by loving, not warring

Maybe the best way to honor John Paul II is to take a few giant steps toward his goal of world peace.

Invite the combatants to sit down at the table in Iraq and Israel and Indonesia and see what they want. And see if we can't tighten our belts and suppress our appetite for cheap oil and cheap labor and give them at least part of it.

Can you imagine the great esteem this nation would be held in worldwide if we had spent $200 billion feeding and clothing Iraqis instead of bombing them? My goodness, Americans would probably be as loved worldwide as the departed pope.

Superferry claims are missing the boat

John Garibaldi, CEO of Hawai'i Superferry, has made several statements recently that I find questionable regarding commuting time, ticket prices and security. Allow me to point out the following:

• The channels between our islands are known as some of the most treacherous in the world, with winds sometimes hitting 40 knots and open-ocean swells sometimes at 30 feet or greater. Because of these conditions, I would estimate trip times of five to six hours rather than the three to four hours advertised.

• Mr. Garibaldi has stated the maximum ticket prices would be about $62 with oil prices at record highs. I sincerely doubt that price will remain, but steadily increase. Also, Hawaiian and Aloha now offer $69 tickets anytime/anywhere. So, where is the "substantial" savings?

• With 866 passengers and 282 cars, what about security? Are you telling me I can simply drive my vehicle on board fully loaded with whatever items I choose? I can't believe the Homeland Security Department will allow that.

• wish Mr. Garibaldi good luck with the Superferry because looking at the past, he will clearly need it.

Treat us with fairness

Substitute teachers are valuable and valued. I am a substitute teacher and a retired teacher of 14 years. I and all fellow substitute teachers want fairness and justice. Fairness and justice are how we teach and what we expect of students. Are we asking too much? Please, give us a break. Legislators, honor the lawsuits of Garner v. Department of Education and Kliternick v. Hamamoto.

Problem proprietor taking over problem

I see Hawai'i's public schools winning another race to the bottom, this time in the "No Child Left Literate" sweeps. I'm not quite clear on the concept of the state taking over lagging public schools. The state is the problem.

The DOE has proven yet again it is incapable of running the one giant school district we have here. Calling the state the solution thus seems a little odd.

Maybe we should try a few different things: independent school districts (let the DOE manage those if it can), reasonable pay for teachers, dedicated, not "general fund," funding, actual textbooks, for example. Main thing, drop those silly headlines about the state taking over schools. It already tried that. Grade: F.

Jane Fonda risked all over the Vietnam War

It always saddens me when people criticize Jane Fonda for her efforts to end the fighting in Vietnam (Maj. Ricardo A. Finney's letter, March 26). She was a hero because she gave hope to those of us who came to realize that our country was doing the wrong thing. She risked her own life in pursuit of her beliefs. She risked her career, her reputation.

The Pentagon's own top-secret study of the war, partially published by The New York Times and The Washington Post in 1971, showed that our government leaders undermined the 1954 Geneva Accords by handpicking and supporting an unpopular South Vietnamese leader who ensured that no post-Geneva elections were held to unify Vietnam, and that our leaders, both military and civilian, lied to us about the war on numerous occasions. Our American soldiers who served in Vietnam suffered and died because of poor judgment, bad decisions and flawed policies, all described and displayed in the Pentagon Papers.

We should be thankful for the sacrifices made by those who came to oppose the war, just as we appreciate the sacrifices made by those who served in the military.

Stiffer law needed for backyard breeders

I'm not sure what the solution is when it comes to backyard breeders, but it seems to be a big problem in Honolulu. Licensing would be a good beginning, and stiffer penalties for animal neglect or abuse would also go a long way in curtailing this activity.

We need to work with our legislators to make animal cruelty a felony instead of a misdemeanor. Backyard breeders are doing a great disservice to the animals they are producing, which they cannot properly maintain or care for. Not to mention the unsuspecting individuals who purchase these animals and are left with lifelong health and medical issues to deal with.

Indefensible defense

In Sunday's Advertiser, Sen. Inouye defended his vote on the Alaska oil drilling. Buried in the paper was a small item about "one of the largest industrial spills ever to occur in the oil fields of Alaska's North Slope," which "sent 111,300 gallons of salty water and crude oil spilling onto the tundra." The field is operated by ConocoPhillips, based in Houston, Texas. Why am I not surprised? This item should have been printed next to Inouye's defense.

Medical record subpoena over abortions is justified

I had to respond to Karen Pearl of Planned Parenthood ("Unconscionable: Medical privacy in peril," March 31).

The writer says she does not know why Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline has subpoenaed the medical records of approximately 90 patients, by saying no one knows exactly why he's doing this.

I saw Kline interviewed on television recently, and he did not hesitate to say exactly why he was subpoenaing the records: They had evidence that underage abortions and late-term abortions were being performed, and needed the records to confirm the evidence. Both underage abortions and late-term abortions are illegal.

Kline explained he would not even see these records. The names on the records would not be known; the judge would hire a doctor and they would review the records and make a determination if any laws had been broken.

Kline said it is a matter of course to subpoena medical records if there is evidence a crime has been committed. For instance, in rape cases they subpoena the medical records of the woman raped and, for that matter, the DNA of the man involved.

He said he's not looking at a crime by the girls or women having the abortions, but the doctor performing the abortions.

However, if an underage girl had an abortion, it would most likely mean that child had been raped, which is also a crime.

I agree, medical records are personal and private, but if laws are being broken and medical records pertinent for evidence in a crime, then perhaps it would be "unconscionable" for the attorney general not to subpoena the records.

As an added bit of information: The ACLU recently won a big victory when the Supreme Court allowed the liberal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to throw out an Idaho law requiring parental consent for underage abortion.

A father's comment on hearing this news was that, as a dentist, he could not pull a child's tooth without a parent's consent, but an underage girl can have an abortion without her parents' consent. This does not make sense to me.

Education model great success

I need to respond to Ka-laukieleula Hergenrader's March 23 Island Voices commentary. She addresses the restructuring of Hawai'i's identified public schools, and the outsourcing of support for these schools. She quite specifically discusses, in most of her commentary, one of the providers: America's Choice.

We are one of the elementary schools that adopted America's Choice before the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 became law. We at 'Ewa Beach Elementary School are in our seventh year of implementing this model.

I have a polar opposite perspective from Kalau. Since the adoption of this model, we have seen only continued student improvement, beginning with writing performance and now in reading comprehension. We are also seeing gains in the area of mathematics — but this takes more work.

The writing genres do not begin only in the upper grades; they start from kindergarten. And the ability to write concisely and effectively is critical to the scoring in the Hawai'i School Assessment. Writing crafts and skills are an integral part of the America's Choice model. These are taught from kindergarten. Students in the testing grades are better able to tackle the open-ended, short and constructive responses because they have these skills.

The 25 Books Campaign is more than "bean counting." It promotes the application of decoding and comprehension skills that the students have learned in class. Schoolwide, our students have read 85,000 picture story and chapter books in a year. And we're upping the ante.

Kalau's description of the ETS Pulliam model appears similar to America's Choice regarding the focus of teacher training meetings, focus walks or monitoring of best classroom practices, and curriculum mapping or planning for results. The results of the Hawai'i State Assessment, student running records and criterion-referenced tools such as the Developmental Reading Assessment are all used to assess student needs, to plan for instruction and to plan for extra support. And the respective instructional standards for the areas of writing, reading and mathematics are always our guide.

And yes, fidelity to any reform model is key to the success of its implementation. But fidelity does not mean adjustments cannot be made based on the needs of the students. The adjustments are made within the concept of the model, and that makes all the difference in the world.

The kinds of double-digit gains our students have made in the Hawai'i State Assessment for the past two years in reading and mathematics validate our efforts. Being selected as a Hawai'i Distinguished School for the past two years doubly validates our efforts. The America's Choice model has worked wonders at our school.

Kalau's school, along with our school, was one of the pioneers of the America's Choice model. This model did not work at her school, and ETS Pulliam appears to be working better. That's a go! There is no one model that works for all schools, and a school should select the model that meets that school's particular needs.