UH has lost sight of its core mission
My thanks to columnist David Shapiro for his sharp reporting on governance at the University of Hawaii: its administration, its Athletic Department (the "Wonder blunder"), the regents and the Legislature.
Please remember that the real problem isn’t about the football team, the athletic director or funding for his department. Those are distractions.
It wasn’t long ago that UH, in the tradition of land-grant institutions, furnished quality education at bargain rates. Students were graduating in four years instead of six and they weren’t leaving with crippling debts.
And the Manoa campus wasn’t straining under a proliferation of administrators sporting six-figure salaries and ill-defined duties.
Job No. 1 at UH: Restoring quality, affordable education.
David Polhemus
Kamuela
Ala Wai Harbor stains Hawaii’s green image
I have travelled extensively around the world, and often, due to my interest in boats, find myself at marinas. Having walked around the Ala Wai Harbor today, I cannot but conclude that it is among the filthiest I have seen.
The amount of litter in the water (most of it various plastics) is truly shameful, and it is likely that the bottom of the marina is also covered in such debris.
What is needed as a matter of some urgency is an environmental plan for the marina that involves the installation of gross pollutant traps, a regime of regularly clearing floating debris and a marina-user education program. Without such an initiative the marina will continue to be a stain on the clean and green image of Hawaii.
Rob Harris
Sydney, Australia (on Oahu vacation)
Share aloha spirit with troops in Hawaii
We need to take time out from our busy schedules and make an effort to convey messages that we honor and thank the courageous men and women of the military in Hawaii.
There is a large contingency of military families that stay at the Airport Honolulu Hotel and Best Western Plaza Hotel off Nimitz Highway. This airport area is a convenient place to pass on that"aloha spirit."
Now and then, there are local couples who might have breakfast at the hotel, then inform their wait help that they would like to pay for the tab of a military families having breakfast at another table.
Sometimes the locals request secrecy; other times, they go up to the military families and thank them for serving our country.
Many troops here have no family in the islands. Show them you care and share the aloha spirit.
Keith Fujita
Manoa
Fall from fiscal cliff is going to be painful
United States citizens should prepare for the 2013 tax increases that will take effect because Congress and the president cannot, or will not, agree on a plan to avoid it.
It will be a costly and painful experience for all of us who pay federal taxes. It will be a new experi- ence for some who now pay no income taxes.
No one will be happy about this. The tax increases will require belt-tightening, sacrifice and pain. People who enjoy the benefits of generous government social programs and entitlements will need to share in the pain and sacrifice due to program cuts.
The increased tax revenues will present an opportunity to begin payments toward reducing our extraordinary national debt. This is good.
We cannot accurately predict or control the future, but we can be sure that if government spending is not controlled, financial disaster is inevitable. Evidence of this outcome is apparent in several U.S. cities and towns, and countries in Europe.
John Tamashiro
Pearl City
Hawaii Rotary to host Myanmar’s Suu Kyi
Choo Lak Yeow’s excellent overview of the miracle of Myanmar highlighted the heroic peacemaking efforts of "the lady of no fear," who, as Yeow noted, paved the long march toward democracy in Myanmar ("Obama visit highlights miracle of Myanmar," Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, Dec. 5).
That remarkable pro-democracy icon, Nobel Peace laureate and Myanmar parliamentarian Aung San Suu Kyi, has accepted the invitation to keynote the Jan. 25-27 Rotary Global Peace Forum at the Hawai‘i Convention Center.
Suu Kyi will receive the Hawaii Rotary Global Peace Award from Rotary International’s president before delivering her remarks at the Saturday dinner.
Rotarians in Hawaii and around the world are joining youthful delegates at the Global Peace Forum, and the public is invited to register for this once-in-a-lifetime experience and attend the workshops, plenary sessions, and the award dinner in Suu Kyi’s honor.
Please see www.peaceforum-hawaii.org for more information.
Linda Coble
Rotary Club of Honolulu
LET THE LEGISLATURE KNOW YOUR PRIORITIES
Energy initiatives? Tax retooling? PLDC? Environment? Open government? Social services? Education? Or something else?
We want to hear from you about what issue(s) should be made a priority for passage in the next Legislature, and why.
Send a concise, 150-word letter to make your pitch, signed with your name and area of residence to: Letter to Legislature, via email to letters@staradvertiser.com; or send to Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana, Suite 210, Honolulu, HI 96813; or fax to 529-4750. Include a daytime phone number (not for publication).
Deadline is Dec. 17. We’ll run a package of these letters before the end of the year.
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