LABOR DAY

PUBLIC EMPLOYEES HAVE IMPORTANT ROLE IN STATE

Ensuring our workers are protected at their workplace has long been one of the key drivers for Hawai'i's progressive labor unions. It has taken a tremendous investment of time and energy to improve working conditions, negotiate proper compensation, upgrade health and retirement benefits, provide safe working conditions and ensure fair treatment for Hawai'i's workers.

The Hawai'i Government Employees Association represents nearly 30,000 state and county employees who fulfill important roles, many which are transparent to the public or taken for granted, to provide the vital infrastructure that allows our island state to operate smoothly. Therefore, we must keep pace with rapid technological changes and an international economy, which threatens American jobs every day.

In the very near term, many experienced and valuable public employees will be retiring. This will challenge all of us, especially the HGEA. The pay, benefits and terms and conditions of employment must remain competitive to attract and retain the best and brightest talent for government to function efficiently.

This Labor Day, we are thankful that many more citizens in our community understand the important role of public employees in our local economy and that we are moving forward together to collaboratively address concerns and aspirations important to Hawai'i.

SUPERFERRY

WHY AREN'T NEIGHBORS WELCOME IN ISLANDS?

Firstly, I do not agree with the judge's ruling upholding the restraining order on the Superferry.

Secondly, the Superferry should not be singled out to bear the full burden of an environmental assessment. All commerce/travel should share this burden. This means that the airlines, barges and cruise ships should share the burden.

How can a barge loaded with thousands of new cars have no impact on our infrastructure? What about the spillage of jet fuel in our harbors around the airports?

If the protesters on Kaua'i are irked by the big-box stores, then they should not shop at them.

Please don't stop your neighbor's cousin from coming to visit. Why do you welcome thousands of cruise ship passengers with hula dancing and flower lei and marketing ploys encouraging exploration of the Islands, but not welcome your neighbor?

It's a sad situation.

DEEP EMBARRASSMENT IN WAKE OF PROTESTS

As a resident of Hawai'i, I wanted to share the deep embarrassment that I feel after reading about the Superferry protests and watching the actions of my neighbors on news.

I'm embarrassed for the Coast Guard that they couldn't uphold the law or protect the citizens of Hawai'i who were on the Superferry.

I'm embarrassed for all the hard-working people who lost out on a special offer because of the actions of a few people breaking the law.

I'm embarrassed for the tourist industry and how this reflects on Hawai'i and the aloha spirit.

I'm embarrassed for the new police chief of Kaua'i and the lawlessness displayed by residents physically battering autos and scaring neighbors who were passengers.

I'm embarrassed for environmental groups that work for the benefit of Hawai'i by following the law and working to protect our environment.

I'm embarrassed for the parents of Hawai'i, who must explain to their children why this happened.

I'm embarrassed for all the organizations and groups who need people to fight for a needy cause and can't get people to help.

I'm embarrassed for the governor.

I'm embarrassed for the Hawai'i legal system that had months and months of time to take action before it turned into a confrontation.

I'm embarrassed for Hawai'i as other investors look at Hawai'i as a place to do business.

I'm embarrassed that some people feel that breaking the law is justified to enforce the law.

DRUG SEARCHES

NO COMPELLING REASON TO SACRIFICE PRIVACY

Peter Carlisle (Letters, Aug. 28) cites the wrong survey in his push to intrude into children's privacy rights.

A 2003 study of 30,000 Hawai'i students conducted by our own Department of Health and cited in the Advertiser article "Hawai'i Students 'Just Say No' " (Aug. 16) found drug use at historically low levels in Hawai'i's schools. The story said it was "the lowest ever."

Usage of every kind of drug continues on a steady downward trend, so there's little reason to subject students to intrusive dog searches. Education and prevention seem to work effectively here.

There's no need to spy on student lockers. There's no need to look for drugs in every knapsack. Carlisle and Board of Education members who would defy provisions of our federal and state constitutions that assure rights of privacy even to students will gain little because the schools are not, in fact, hotbeds of drug dealing and addiction. Studies show the opposite.

During the 2004 drug summit, the community countered the administration's push for severe enforcement by standing for education, prevention and, where necessary, treatment.

Prosecutors and the dog-sniffing service have a clear interest in hyping a threat, but there's no evidence that there is one.

If it allows this warrantless surveillance in our schools, the Board of Education would be sacrificing students' civil liberties for no compelling reason.

SCHOOLS

USE DOGS TO HELP CONTROL DRUG PROBLEM

Your Aug. 22 editorial rejects drug-sniffing dogs in schools and favors "drug prevention programs."

Children know drugs are wrong; they don't need another drug-prevention program.

You suggest "safety and personal responsibility lessons." The kids have had those lessons, too.

It is the responsibility of the schools to be drug free.

Our children should not bear the burden and fears of keeping their school drug free.

Use dogs to help control drugs in our schools. No more lessons, no more programs and let's not wait for the problem to grow. We need results now.

MENTALLY ILL

WORKPLACE STRESSFUL AT HAWAI'I STATE HOSPITAL

I want to thank Sens. Clayton Hee and Jill Tokuda for visiting the Hawai'i State Hospital to see for themselves the excellent care that is being provided by the staff, who dedicate their lives to healthcare for the mentally ill.

I thank the senators for witnessing the overcrowding at the hospital and the stressful situation we work under, in part as a result of staff cuts.

Clinical staff have provided ground-breaking activities and programs for the patients at Hawai'i State Hospital. Yet, our ability to carry out these activities and move patients to a better quality of life is thwarted by a hospital over its patient capacity, mixing of criminally charged patients with a more vulnerable mentally ill population, vans that are substandard and overworked staff.

Most important, the workplace assaults have increased to the point that, on average, an assault takes place every other day.

As Sen. Hee pointed out, oversight by the Department of Justice improved the hospital. Since federal oversight was lifted, things have deteriorated to the point that the hospital has become more dangerous.

The staff have gone the extra mile by speaking out publicly about their concerns, and we will continue to advocate for our patients to continue to provide the best possible care to Hawai'i's mentally ill population.

COUNCIL

BRIEFING COVERED BUS RAPID-TRANSIT SYSTEM

Recently, Councilmember Ann Kobayashi wrote that she is in support of a fixed-guideway bus system.

In that same letter, she stated her opposition to "a bus system, such as the Bus Rapid-Transit System" and agreed that the proposed bus fixed guideway "is not a busway system" either. Frankly, she appears to be confused.

We are not aware of any existing bus fixed-guideway system in the world that is either a busway or a bus rapid transit.

Kobayashi's letter went on to state that the "technology discussed at a recent Transportation Committee meeting is a fixed-guideway system using rubber tires, i.e. buses, instead of rail."

The bus-system briefing that was presented at the Transportation Committee meeting on Aug. 2, featuring the European-made Phileas vehicles that she has been touting, is a bus rapid-transit system, identical to the system that was proposed by the former city administration and opposed by Kobayashi.

While the Phileas buses can be equipped with an automated steering system and all-wheels steering, the proposed modification does not transform the vehicles into a different transit alternative. The presenters of the Phileas system stated that their proposal was based on operating the vehicles in the dedicated lanes on streets and on freeways to save cost. The Phileas bus proposal is exactly what was proposed under the former city BRT project, which Kobayashi opposed.

TRANSIT

BUSES NOT THE SOLUTION; RAIL IS THE BEST ANSWER

Now that all private and public schools are back in session, it's obvious that the answer to the traffic problem is not as simple as staggering classes at the University of Hawai'i.

The City Council's urging UH-Manoa to start classes before or after rush hour is good, but I think we can all agree that that won't be the solution to traffic congestion.

There is a better fix, and that is the mass transit that has been approved by the mayor and the City Council. Some people now question whether we need it or not and suggest more buses instead of a rail system.

We have buses now, and buses just sit alongside all the cars and take up space, causing more congestion.

Who hasn't been frustrated while stuck behind a slow-moving city bus during rush hour?

Buses aren't the solution. Rail is the solution.

If we had rail, we wouldn't have to be stuck in traffic. We would have a choice. We could take the train instead.

MIDEAST

CONGRESS VOTED ON IRAQ WAR RESOLUTIONS

J. Hernandez's letter ("More than bridges collapsing in America," Aug. 24) had a comment that I continue to see in letters to the editor.

The letter asks: "How can a group of men wage a war (without congressional approval) on an idea?" It's the "without congressional approval" that I find surprising.

It's surprising to me that so many people still believe the war was unauthorized by Congress when both the House and Senate approved resolutions authorizing it. There were several prominent Democrats (including president-wannabe Hillary Clinton) who voted for the war as well, so blaming the GOP exclusively is unwarranted.

I'm not saying the war in Iraq is right or wrong, I'd just like everyone to know the truth before they continue to embarrass themselves in the newspaper.

Maybe it's a case of "if you say something long enough, people will start to believe it."

MAHALO

MANY CAME TO AID OF INJURED HIKER ON KAUA'I

I am writing to thank the good people who helped or offered to help me on Aug. 19 when I took a misstep and fractured my ankle in three places on the Kalalau Trail, just a short distance from the falls.

The gentleman who accompanied me that morning and who ran to the emergency phone at the trail head, the family (Alex and his sons, his son's partner, Dan) who stayed with me the entire time I was stranded, waiting for rescue workers.

I cannot tell you how much it meant to have company to distract me from the pain, to make me laugh, to try and make me comfortable.

The couple who also stopped to wait, the beautiful radiologist and her friend who thought to use a mirror to help make my location apparent to the helicopters flying above. The couple who sacrificed their water supply to fill their Camelbak bladders with cold river water to "ice" down my ankle. The lady who gave me Advil.

The rescue workers, including the helo pilot and those wonderful firemen who hiked down to me with the basket used to airlift me out of there. What a ride! The bird's-eye-view even took the pain away for a while.

It's nice to be reminded how good people can be.