ALOHA NONA BEAMER

GRATITUDE FOR HER WORK IN MUSIC AND CULTURE

The McDiarmid 'ohana wishes to add their aloha to those of all Hawai'i in the passing of Nona Beamer. Not Auntie Nona, because years ago I dated her as the beautiful young girl that she was. Over the years we became fast friends with a note here and an e-mail there, always with the love of our families and Hawai'i's music as the connection between us.

Her notes to me about how proud she was of my efforts on behalf of Hawaiian music always urged me on in what ever direction; mine to her were about her efforts in preserving the culture of Hawai'i, and the good of Hawai'i's music and her people, and for that I will be eternally grateful to her.

To have been part of the Beamer family with our Hula Records' recordings of Mahi and others in the Beamer family, and the help we were able to give to the Beamer music being presented to all of Hawai'i, gives my 'ohana the wonderful feeling that as haoles we were able to be part of the start of the great Hawaiian Renaissance in Hawaiian music over the years, and to know that our love for Hawai'i has been well placed and that it will continue through our family in generations to come.

MOLOKAI RANCH

CONCESSIONS NEEDED FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH

One of the most important common denominators between Molokai Ranch, Aloha Airlines and now ATA is purely economic: Return on investment, or ROI. Any company or private investor in a capitalistic system covets ROI for the risk that they take. It's fine that Walter Ritte thinks Moloka'i should band together and carve out a new beginning for island residents, but let's be realistic. With the highest unemployment rate in the state and at least a vocal share of the population against any type of modernization, it's going to be a tough sell. There is little that I can think of possible for Moloka'i aside from agriculture (which is past), tourism (which is not wanted) and limited development.

What the two sides need to do is recognize that concessions must be made for economic stimulus and growth. There is no capitalist on this planet that will take the risk of investing without a calculated return down the road. Nobody. If residents are unwilling to bend then they will remain sustenance farmers, fisherman, hunters and welfare recipients. Basically, the state, which is really the rest of the working population in Hawai'i, will continue to carry the load. Maybe attitudes would change and things progress if state support and its perceived entitlements were not there to fall back on? We will probably never know the answer to that question.

OHA SHOULD BUY MOLOKAI RANCH LAND

I am not Hawaiian by blood but feel I am Hawaiian at heart. I think it would be an appropriate time for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to make an investment in Hawai'i and purchase the Molokai Ranch. They could develop the land to showcase ancient Hawai'i and how Hawaiians live and care for the 'aina. OHA could own, operate and manage this undertaking, while creating jobs and a sense of pride and ownership for the people of Moloka'i.

ENERGY

BURNING WASTE PAPER DOUBLES ITS USEFULNESS

Paper is made from specially grown trees, not from house-building lumber. While growing, the tree catches solar energy with its leaves to split carbon dioxide from the air (the same CO2 that we worry about today) into carbon, to make the tree; and oxygen, for us to breathe.

The result is that all of the electrical energy we get from burning paper at HPower came from recent past sunlight. And all of the CO2 going into the atmosphere came out of the recent past atmosphere — it is not increasing the net atmospheric CO2 at all! That is because HPower is not burning carbon locked away for millions of years in coal and oil deposits, but just recycling today's atmospheric carbon. As an added bonus, the paper has already had one useful printed life, and making electricity is doubling its usefulness.

Growing trees for renewable energy is like growing corn for ethanol, except that I would not care to try to run my Corolla with a trunk full of firewood logs!

I feel proud of Hawai'i for doing such an ecologically sensible thing as to reclaim the renewable solar energy in waste paper and turn it into useful electricity. That's another reason I am pleased to live in these Islands!

EDUCATION

FOCUS ON PARENTS FOR EARLY LEARNING YEARS

The Early Learning Task Force's objective of providing quality early learning opportunities (Island Voices, April 6) is unrealistic. We currently have more youngsters in preschool, Head Start and kindergarten than ever before, yet our third-grade SAT scores are no better than that of 30 years ago.

Our keiki will only come first when their first and most important teacher, their parent, is given adequate information regarding their child's needs.

Unlike school teachers, parents are without a teaching certificate or training and are responsible to teach during their child's most critical learning years: birth through age 5, when 50 percent of their child's total capacity for mental growth takes place, according to experts. Add to this the lack of information from the Department of Education regarding the specific skills they expect a child to have when entering kindergarten.

Our children will only come first when the teachers union stops using schools in disadvantaged areas as an entry point for probationary (inexperienced) teachers, only to take them once they gained experience to fill the need for tenured (experienced) teachers elsewhere.

ECONOMY

STIMULUS CHECK: RIGHT BACK TO GOVERNMENT

You know the economic stimulus check I'm gonna receive someday? The one I'm supposed to use to buy a Chinese-made iPod to stimulate the U.S. economy? I'm gonna use it to pay taxes.