Here are facts about Royal Hawaiian Band

Regarding Norm Baxter's Jan. 3 letter and Lee Cataluna's Dec. 28 column: Cataluna's facts were wrong, and Baxter used them in his letter as truth. Why? Because they were printed in the paper without being checked. Reminds me of The New York Times.

The Royal Hawaiian Band is not just a marching band, although it does march in parades, in addition to the rest of its concert schedule.

The Royal Hawaiian Band members are not affiliated with, or covered by, the Musicians' Union, but are in fact with the HGEA, and band members earn significantly less than what union scale would be for the same amount of work. A band director's salary is usually negotiable, and could be set at an amount less than the $99,000 per year that the current director actually receives, but, more importantly, what's wrong with a government or society that is enlightened enough to supply a little culture and history to the public?

If we need to start ridding Honolulu of art, and if Cataluna is going to scold the city government about spending money for entertainment, why don't we begin with the theater where her play "Half Dozen Long Stem" was shown? It receives money from the mayor's Office of Culture and the Arts. That way she could get her wish and "put her money where her mouth is."

More punishment is not the answer

David Shapiro's Jan. 5 column, " 'I'm sorry' should count for something," is a refreshing alternative to the tendency in America to believe that if some punishment is good, more must be better.

The United States is the most punitive democracy on the planet (and second place is not very close). Despite this penchant for punishment, violent crime rates in this country remain far higher than in other industrialized nations.

In my research on criminal justice in Japan and the United States, I asked prosecutors to indicate how important they believe it is to try to achieve certain objectives when deciding what to do with the cases that come before them. In Japan, 93 percent of the responding prosecutors said that "invoking remorse" in offenders is an important objective, while 92 percent said "rehabilitating and reintegrating offenders" is. In Seattle, by contrast, the analogous percentages were 9 and 28 ("The Japanese Way of Justice: Prosecuting Crime in Japan," Oxford University Press, 2002).

It is possible to treat offenders humanely and at the same time control crime. Japan is one case in point; there are many others.

When the Hawai'i Paroling Authority meets later this month to decide how much punishment is enough for James Steinseifer, I urge members to reflect on their country's place in the world. America — and Hawai'i too — is hardly "soft on crime."

Create way to use freeway's other side

Imagine if on the H-1 Freeway, for example, we could cross over to the opposite side and bypass a traffic stoppage like the recent fatal accident.

It can be done, you see. Here's how:

At frequent reasonable intervals where grades permit, open a crossover gap in the present barriers that now separate opposite freeway lanes.

In an emergency, police could cone off a contra-flow lane on the opposite side, then direct stalled traffic through the crossover and around the traffic obstruction, then back through the next crossover and thus drivers would be on their way again.

Not possible everywhere, but a welcome and modest-cost answer that would work quite often.

Crossovers could be kept closed with movable barriers that only police could open.

South Asia victims need our help now

In Hawai'i, " 'ohana" has a special meaning; with the global world, it has extra-special meaning, for we can be a "global 'ohana." It is this "giving" of family relationships and for this reason I am writing this letter.

We must open our hearts to those who suffered the most from this horrific happening in South Asia by giving whatever we can afford to give; a few dollars will go a long way to help those in need.

It is awful to lose a loved one, not knowing whether he or she is alive or even buried in mass graves to alleviate diseases that will eventually permeate the land. So reach out and give, Hawai'i, and you will be blessed.

Aquaculture history

Regarding the excellent letter of Dec. 21 by Bruce S. Anderson, Ph.D., president of Oceanic Institute, concerning aquaculture: My long-deceased father was in the South Carolina state Legislature in the 1920s, '30s and '40s. He was one of the founders of aquaculture. He raised the most elusive, first-in-the-nation dollars for the original fish, shrimp and crab ponds in South Carolina salt marshes.

He also worked for the protection of oyster, clam, conch and other shellfish industries.

A pothole solution

Let's take all the plaques and fill the potholes with them. They will last a lot longer than the cheap tar-concrete mix they use now!

Act 51 goes a long way in responding to critics

While we appreciate his intentions, we believe Cliff Slater's recent column "Education: tough love and no excuses" requires some clarification and amplification.

We agree with Mr. Slater that Hawai'i's students can, and must, do better. The recently passed legislation Act 51 is an attempt to do just that by giving all stakeholders — principals, teachers, parents and the community at large — greater input into the decisions that affect their schools.

Mr. Slater will want to familiarize himself with this important law as it recognizes that while giving principals more authority and financial control is a good first step, it is not enough. Act 51 uses concepts that are incorporated in several major school districts across the country and that have yielded excellent results.

While Act 51 is still in the early stages here in Hawai'i, initial results look promising. Perhaps the most exciting outcome to date is that for the first time we are embracing the idea that it does, in fact, take an entire community to educate a child.

We also want to challenge Mr. Slater's misperception that if principals don't perform, they should be "returned to teaching" where, he seems to suggest, they will no longer be saddled with authority and responsibility.

We invite Mr. Slater to visit any one of our members' classrooms in Hawai'i's public schools where he will see, firsthand, how each and every day, public school teachers willingly take on the tremendous responsibility — and challenge — of educating the next generation of Hawai'i's leaders.

Finally, we would like Mr. Slater to know that the real problem facing Hawai'i's public schools is the high rate of teachers leaving our public schools annually. Solving the current shortage by paying teachers what they deserve will go a long way toward helping Hawai'i's kids improve their performance.

Return on investment? You bet

The Dec. 23 article "Big bucks, little bang for UH research" makes some confused statements about the worth of research at the University of Hawai'i.

The reporter claims there is little income from "licensed" discoveries, and "When UH discoveries aren't converted into real-world solutions, the state misses out on the opportunity to solve pressing social problems while creating jobs and income for residents." He gives no evidence for this, but more importantly, he completely misses the purpose of research, most of which is just not designed to translate into product development for private companies, but rather to serve important needs of society. I'd like to give some examples of how we at UH serve.

I run the UH Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit, which, over the past seven years, has brought in over $70 million, most of it federal funds. We have not brought in a single dollar from "licensed discoveries," but we do provide employment for over 350 people in the Islands, many of them Native Hawaiians and most of them in rural areas where decent jobs are scarce. Our projects help to protect watersheds, Hawaiian cultural sites and endangered species and to control invasive alien species like miconia.

We also work with the Army to protect its endangered plant species on its training areas. In some small way, our projects help keep these areas open for training to ensure that our soldiers, Marines and National Guard members come home in one piece from Iraq and Afghanistan. No amount of income from "licensed discoveries" is worth even one service family receiving a letter of condolence. I can't think of anything more "real world" or "big buck."

There's a lot more to research at UH. There are El Niño investigations, helping predict when and how this climactic event will next spread misery around the world. PANNSTARS is the cryptic name for a new astronomy project looking for space objects that might have a close encounter with the rock we live on. It has absolutely no commercial value, but it may give us warning before we become part of a game of cosmic billiards.

There is a lot of public health research at UH, trying to better the health of Hawaiians and others around the Pacific.

Then there is one of my favorites, oral histories of veterans of the 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry from World War II. Maybe someone could find the secret for their courage, but they already have the patent on it and some things are just not for "licensed discovery."

Finally, much research occurs in such departments as English, history, Korean studies and other liberal arts. Besides a few books, the only products they will ever produce may be citizens who will think for themselves. I may not agree with their thinking but I know it needs to be there, if only to force us all to justify our assumptions and beliefs.

A state official in the article asks, "Research is important. That's good for UH. But how is that being done to achieve other goals?" The answer is simple. What is good for UH is good for Hawai'i, good for America and good for the world. Maybe a better question for him to answer is, "What is the state doing to facilitate research?"