Private schools do well without tenure

Wil Okabe’s apologetic in support of teacher tenure fails to persuade ("Eliminating tenure for teachers would strip them of due process," Star-Advertiser, Feb. 1).

All of us would like to work where less than 1 percent (including probationary members) are terminated for poor performance. Okabe insults us by implying that without tenure, we, the people, would throw out our standards, fire teachers randomly and regress to 1930s political nepotism.

Okabe describes four ways to improve teacher quality, two of which involve simply more money. He dictates what students, elected officials and parents "must" do to make successful students, without proposing a single recommendation for teachers.

Why can many private schools manage student outcomes using just current labor laws, without tenure? In our schools, tenure means that even in the ideal case, hundreds of children will be subjected to one or more years of unsatisfactory teaching while due process takes its course for the protected teacher. The children don’t get a second chance.

Neil Szanyi
Kailua

Competition needed to lower power rates

Hawaiian Electric Co. should be ashamed of its rates. It costs me a third of my Social Security check just to pay my power bill each month.

Why doesn’t the state Public Utilities Commission do something about this? How could it have approved the increases? The television ads just to defend themselves are useless and a waste of money.

If Hawaii gets an electric company competitor, believe me, HECO will figure out how to lower rates.

Jayne Peterson
Waianae

Being against abortion not a partisan issue

More than 50 million American children have been legally killed based on fictional abortion rights imagined into the U.S. Constitution.

Every year since 1973, Americans meet to protest this government-sanctioned genocide. Hundreds of Hawaii residents have gathered on the Capitol steps and marched through town to protest the killing of innocent keiki. This is not a partisan issue. Unique DNA proves the fetus is a separate human being.

We have a choice in the upcoming presidential elections: We can choose candidates who support abortion regardless of the subsequent pain and suffering of women and assaults on individual consciences and religious protections, and who deny unalienable rights based on gestational age, or we can choose candidates who respect the Constitution, speak up for the defenseless and are concerned about the long-term well-being of all Americans.

Mary Smart
Mililani

Nothing can justify cruelty against Marine

I was aghast at the demeaning, injurious acts by Kaneohe Marine Sgt. Benjamin E. Johns, Lance Cpl. Carlos Orozco III and Lance Cpl. Jacob D. Jacoby that preceded the suicide of their fellow Marine, Lance Cpl. Harry Lew.

It goes without saying that all four of these Marines were under intense wartime stress. It is understandable that the three men still living reacted with anger and fear that their safety in Patrol Base Gowragi was being jeopardized by Lew’s falling asleep four times while on duty.

Lew must have been trained to be extremely alert while on guard duty. Assuming that he would not willfully disobey, should we wonder whether he had reason to feel exhausted or depressed?

Whatever the reason for Lew’s falling asleep, nothing can justify the cruel trauma perpetrated upon him. What would be the just and effective responses to their actions?

Meanwhile, Lew’s family suffers sleepless nights.

Cheryl Ogawa Ho
Nuuanu

Marine’s suicide has lesson for future

The tragic death by suicide of Lance Cpl. Harry Lew and the subsequent discipline of three fellow Marines have troubling implications.

Lew’s aunt, U.S. Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., insists Lew was victimized, even though he imperiled other Marines by sleeping four times during sentry duty.

Lost on Chu is that Marines are an elite force, in part for their special bonds and absolute trust in each other. Lew violated that trust and the results could have been dead Marines.

If Chu wants to push this tragedy into a bigger circus than it already is by pursuing congressional hearings, the focus should be on whether indoctrination training should be intensified to ensure that new recruits are the right fit for the Marines.

John Fernie
Kailua

Talk of taxing wealthy is just a distraction

The nation’s debt is around $15 trillion and Congress just authorized raising the debt limit another trillion or so. While the nation’s credit downgrade has been attributed to congressional gridlock, the debt is the real concern.

The president, ignoring the debt and unable to deliver on the economic growth he has been promising for the past three years, successfully changed the subject to raising taxes on the wealthy, knowing that class envy (euphemistically whitewashed as "economic justice" or "populism" by a helpful media) polls well and can be very distracting.

It would be enlightening if the president and proponents of the proposed tax increase would explain — factoring in the negative impacts on investments and job growth — how increased taxes on millionaires will solve our budgetary problem.

Thomas Freitas
Hawaii Kai

Voting here matters mostly at local level

As election season approaches, there seems to be a push toward encouraging voters to get out to the polls. "Every vote counts." But does every vote really count in presidential elections?

According to a study conducted by George Mason University, Hawaii’s voting-age population in 2008’s general election constituted a mere 0.44 percent of all America. Also, Hawaii’s remote location, isolated time zone and distance from mainland America discourage voter turnout (49 percent of Hawaii’s eligible voters in 2008, the lowest rate in the nation).

By the time many of Hawaii’s voters reach the polls, the media has already predicted the outcome of the presidential race. It is disappointing that many mainland reporters following the elections fail to mention Hawaii at all.

Despite Hawaii’s minuscule influence on presidential elections, there is more on a ballot than presidential candidates. Hawaii’s voters can still make a difference, but only if they show.

Jen Johnson
Salt Lake

Reach out and help people with children

The Hawai’i Children’s Trust Fund would like to applaud the Honolulu Star-Advertiser for its recent editorial, "All need to help to keep keiki safe" (Star-Advertiser, Our View, Jan. 30).

When we launched One Strong ‘Ohana — a statewide effort to raise awareness about child abuse and neglect — we did not know that the tragic story of 3-year-old Marley Makanani would unravel that same week.

We know from research that it is critical for parents to have a strong support network of friends and family members.

There are simple things each one of us can do to strengthen families and prevent child abuse and neglect. Reach out to a parent you know and offer to watch their kids for a while, bring over a meal or simply ask how they are doing.

The One Strong ‘Ohana campaign inspires us to prevent heartbreaking tragedies such as this one from ever happening again.

Aileen Deese
Prevent Child Abuse Hawaii