FOSTER CHILDREN

LENIENT SENTENCE IN ABUSE CASE IS SHOCKING

I cannot understand Judge Virginia Crandall's shockingly lenient sentence for Rita Makekau.

Part of what makes this case so disgusting is that Ms. Makekau is not at all repentant about the torture she inflicted. Pleading no contest is not equivalent to taking responsibility for her actions. She equates "not sparing the rod" to forcing children to eat feces and hammering their teeth.

This sadistic behavior is nauseating to someone who's just hearing about it; one cannot imagine what it's like for children who have to endure it.

As a former elementary school teacher, I can attest that it's virtually impossible for a child who is going through this kind of humiliating abuse to concentrate in class, take exams or advance in any way. Undoubtedly, Ms. Makekau has damaged the intellectual, psychological and emotional development of these children.

What would have been the sentence if Makekau had murdered these children? As any prisoner of war can tell you, torture is certainly worse than death.

Judge Crandall, please reconsider your sentencing for Makekau, or at least immediately withdraw her freedom and deny her appeal to this already-incongruous decision.

ROTARY

DICTIONARY PROJECT MAKING A DIFFERENCE

In October, my third-grade granddaughter came home from school saying excitedly, "Mom! Guess what? My classmates and I each got a neat dictionary today!" (from the Rotary Club of Kahala Sunrise).

Upon further inquiry, I discovered that Rotary District Chairperson Gloria King, from the Rotary clubs of Honolulu and most recently of the Rotary Club of Kahala Sunrise, learned about this project from the Mainland and started it here in Hawai'i in 2005.

The Rotary dictionary project was so satisfying and successful during the first year that Rotarians have continued the project every year since.

The first year, Rotarians gave more than 15,000 dictionaries to all third-grade students in public schools in Hawai'i. In the following years, the project was enlarged to give dictionaries to all public, private, charter and home schools, amounting to more than 18,000 dictionaries yearly.

What an incredible gift to give to youngsters to help them with their basic foundation for knowledge, language, science and math skills.

My granddaughter, Jade, and our entire family would like to thank Rotarians throughout the State of Hawai'i for their generous and outstanding gift of a dictionary.

FINANCIAL CRISIS

U.S. SHOULD JUST LET BIG 3 SINK OR SWIM

Mr. Fritz Amtsberg (Letter, Nov. 24) is right on in the matter of why we shouldn't bail out the Big 3 automakers. The bailout is nothing more than the government footing the bill for UAW. The UAW drove the companies to this point.

All the while they were making "crap" and calling them cars. I don't know how many people remember the last bailout. It was in the 1970s and Chrysler got it. As a result, Chrysler made the K-car, including the Plymouth Volare and the Dodge Aspen. These cars were so poorly designed and manufactured that the only customer for these cars was the federal government.

Lee Iacocca was applauded for saving Chrysler. He took taxpayer money to build a car that nobody wanted and sold it to the government and paid off the loan. That was the biggest scam ever.

There is something fishy about this because the car manufacturers all through the South are doing pretty good. But then they don't have the UAW in the plant. I say let them "sink or swim."

NORTH SHORE

LACK OF BATHROOMS AT BEACHES A PROBLEM

Regarding Roy Kodani's Nov. 21 letter, "Lack of bathrooms affects local tourism:"

The lack of bathrooms at some of our beaches on the North Shore goes one step further. I have six smelly health-hazardous toilets in the bushes behind my home of 30 years at Chun's Reef.

I have written to the governor, to the Health Department and all agencies I could think of. In two years, all I got was "someone" cut some bushes and placed them in front of the trails into the toilet areas. When the bushes dried out, the toilets were in use again.

Children just "go" on the beach and some adults use the rocks on the beach, in front of my home. I agree that public bathrooms are a big problem that must be resolved before our tourism bureau spends more millions promoting our Islands.

WATER RESOURCE

BWS DESALINATION DECISION SHORTSIGHTED

The Honolulu Board of Water Supply's recent decision to halt development and construction of a desalination facility in Kalaeloa is very disappointing, and indicates a shortsighted management philosophy. Important reasons for proceeding with this important project include:

• The million-plus and growing population on an island in the middle of the Pacific cannot be dependent on rainfall and underground aquifers for water. Without desalination, we are at serious risk with no back-up plans to deal with prolonged drought and water-contamination conditions.

• Design, construction and operation of desalination or alternative facilities will cost less now than during times of high inflation for materials, shipping, labor and energy costs.

• Construction of such facilities will provide much-needed jobs.

• Desalination is an important type of technology that should be understood and appreciated by all students of physics, chemistry, economics and other disciplines.