Maunakea Street needs special focus

Although I applaud the Police Department's reintroduction of the foot patrol, there has been no mention of whether or not it will be at all hours, especially at night when it's needed.

And that should especially mean Maunakea Street, where it's a never-ending ordeal of yelling, fighting and noise — not to mention the endless stream of people congregating in the parking lot there in the middle of the night.

As someone who lives above the street who is tired of the nightly brawls, loud swearing and obvious drug deals taking place below, I hope this street is focused on and not just Fort Street Mall, which is essentially vacant after business hours.

Will the Democrats deny Bush credit?

I am of two minds on this historic voting in Iraq. On one hand, I found myself tearing up at the thought of how it must feel for these people who have been oppressed for so long to finally get to vote and have their voices heard.

I imagine many of the older African Americans in this country can relate to the feeling. I also think that this will be President Bush's saving grace in the face of all the criticism he has received from the left.

On the other hand, I am worried about how the liberal Democrats will try to put a negative spin on all of this — how they will try to demean President Bush's accomplishment or outright deny him credit. I also feel physically sick at the thought of how much the Democrats wanted the push for elections to fail.

After the elections are over and after democracy has taken a strong foothold in Iraq, will the Democrats celebrate with the Republicans and Iraqis, or will they continuously ask if it was worth it?

What qualifications would they have?

So now the state wants to hire (how many?) driver examiners to check me out as a safe driver. Just what are the qualifications of these new bureaucrats-to-be? And what training will they have to be able to evaluate a driver's ability to be a safe driver with a few turns, parking and a very courteous demeanor to the guardian of my future?

Can they check out my peripheral vision, or is tunnel vision OK? How would they know?

Can they check out my reaction time, or is a snail-like response OK? How would they know?

Can they check out my ability to estimate differential distances, or is this just based on how large the vehicle in front of you seems to indicate distance, or is a tap on the rear bumper OK? How would they know?

Can they evaluate plain common sense, courtesy to other drivers and 59 years of experience? I do not think so.

Maybe all this is just a way for Rep. Jerry Chang to get his name in the paper.

Journalists must not be paid by taxpayer

We've always suspected conservative journalists took their marching orders from the Bush administration. We knew about Armstrong Williams and Maggie Gallagher, but now we find out they are literally being paid — with taxpayer money — to peddle White House propaganda.

Recently, it was revealed that a third conservative syndicated columnist, Michael McManus, was paid off by the Bush administration. McManus received $10,000 to promote President Bush's marriage initiative. Conservative pundits should disclose all financial ties to the White House. The payoffs to both McManus and Gallagher connect back to one man, Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services Wade F. Horn. Horn cut McManus the $10,000 check.

Don't believe anything you read from conservative pundits. Given the Bush administration's reliance on misinformation and propaganda to sell its unpopular agenda, you can be sure there are more pundits out there. Congress should immediately ban the use of taxpayer money to fund propaganda from journalists, pundits and other commentators. The government has no right to use taxpayer money to deceive the public.

Parent involvement best way to ease race tensions

The incident at Radford High School is an embarrassment to the school, students, teachers, parents and community. If anything, the hope is that it is a clear wake-up call for the community surrounding Radford and for the entire state of Hawai'i.

I may have a solution for the parents of Radford High School — one that has had proven results for 78 years. It's called parent involvement. It's been proven when parents are involved in their children's education, their children achieve. They not only achieve educationally, but as productive citizens.

Parent involvement doesn't begin when incidents (such the one at Radford) occur. Parent involvement begins from day one. It includes knowing who their child's friends are, whom they eat lunch with, who sits behind them in math class, and even what the principal's nickname is.

Parent involvement includes being involved in school activities, knowing what the policies are, being part of the decision-making process. In 2004, the state Legislature passed Act 51, the Reinventing Education Act. One of the things the act did was to establish the School Community Council. The SCC was established specifically to get parents involved in the decision-making process at the school level.

The state Board of Education is also committed to parent involvement. I refer to BOE Policy 2403 — Parent/Family Involvement, revised in 2003. Our organization helped to develop it.

There is another avenue for parent involvement: the PTA.

The Hawaii State PTSA is the oldest and largest child advocacy organization in Hawai'i. For 78 years, it has been at the forefront of parent involvement. We are more than bake sales and project grad.

As members of local PTAs or PTSAs, parents have access to a wide range of parenting resources. What information is there on ways to stop bullying? The PTA has it. How can you celebrate diversity? Look no further that the Hawaii State PTSA. It will also assist parents with overcoming barriers that may exist between parents and local school administrators.

We have several local PTAs and PTSAs in which active-duty military members take up positions of leadership. There's no doubt in my mind that if the parents of Radford High School establish a PTA, incidents like the one that just occurred would be a distant memory.

I strongly encourage the parents of Radford High School to call the Hawaii State PTSA office at (808) 593-2042 or check the Web site hi_office@pta.org.

Parents working together will overcome any obstacle!