Squatters know how to exploit loopholes

Great news about debris removal from Beretania Street on Jan. 30 by the city.

When at the park the prior weekend I was appalled by the situation.Sunday parking is allowed on Beretania. Because of the tents, you cannot open your car door. The flies and trash in the park were shocking. Homeless people are showering in the bathrooms, and screaming, arguments and obscenities are a regular occurrence.

So I was thrilled that the city removed the items from the sidewalk area.However, when I drove by on Feb. 1, two days after this cleanup, they were back. Not as many (yet), but there they were again.

Last year, I called about this situation and was told that the squatters were exercising their First Amendment right. Does the taxpaying public not have any rights to a safe environment? It’s become a joke, even among the tent people. They know the loopholes and what they have to do to stay.

Barbara Germann
Kailua

Stop blaming teachers for economic woes

The state Department of Education, the state and public officials are foolish to believe that teachers should be paid according to student achievement.

Have they taught in a real classroom for a month? Better yet, a classroom in a housing area with gang members from elementary to high school?

Have they taught in a place where parents can’t control their kids, but expect teachers to? Are they getting paid according to how many schools make Adequate Yearly Progress? No.

They should stop blaming teachers for our struggling economy. We do more than teach. That’s more than I can say for every other occupation in this nation, let alone state.

Kim Kaopuiki
Kalihi

Teachers union seems to be party in charge

If the state Board of Education, the Legislature, the governor or we, the people, have any doubts about who controls our public education system, please refer to the front-page article, "Students will have input on evaluating instructors" (Star-Advertiser, Jan. 30).

The article says the Hawaii State Teachers Association believes that "student feedback has no place in a performance-based evaluation system that will be linked to pay, tenure and other high-stakes decisions." Replace "other high-stakes decisions" with the word "education."

While most teachers are dedicated to achieving excellent results in the classroom, some teachers may not be suited for that task.

Axiomatically, excellent teachers produce excellent results. Therefore, if we are all dedicated to turning out the best students on a nationally ranked basis, why then should a results-based system ascertaining a means of maintaining high teacher standards be in conflict with a union’s sphere of responsibilities?

Phil Broms
Niu Valley

Have prisoners work with detection dogs

Kulani prison on the Big Island could best rehabilitate inmates by giving them a career at which they could actually earn a good living.

The best option is training detection and service dogs. Working with dogs offers inmates a job they can love that loves them back. It gives them a wholesome kind of affection and a type of social life that is very therapeutic, which minimizes stress and helps them develop better self-control. It also gives them something that they are involved in — such as saving lives by training cancer-detection dogs — which is bigger than they are, a "higher purpose" in life.

Once they graduate and are certified to train detection dogs, they can help Hawaii and the world in many ways, and earn $20,000 or more per dog. Show your support for this innovation and help make it a reality.

Carl F. Oguss
Hilo

Pending pay raise typically sneaky

Kudos to Richard Borreca for his enlightening column ("Method of legislative raises is ‘ingenious political move’," Star-Advertiser, On Politics, Feb. 5).

If I read the numbers correctly, legislative pay will have increased from $35,900 in 2007 to $57,852 when the next pay raise goes into effect. That represents a staggering 61 percent pay increase over six years. What possible justification do these "public servants" have to get pay raises at all?

I, for one, am going to pose that question to my representatives and see what they have to say. Further, the sneaky way that the raises are being implemented typifies why politicians are mostly held in contempt. Is Sam Slom the only politician in Hawaii with the guts to say that this is not right?

Kent W. Comstock
Kailua

Don’t let lei string be thrown into ocean

Several episodes of "Hawaii Five-0" have depicted a local-style scattering of ashes.

I generally applaud the show for its efforts to portray Hawaii’s culture accurately and respectfully, yet knowing itis broadcast all over the world, I feel compelled to comment on thethrowing of lei into the water as part of a scattering of ashes.

Environmentally correct protocol requires that only loose flowers be strewn in the water, or lei that are 100 percent vegetation material, such as a ti leaf lei. Don’t include the lei strings, because they (typically cotton thread, string, dental floss, or plastic fishing line) become a potentially fatal hazard for marine life by either being eaten (strings in the water appear like threadfish,garden eels or tentacles of prey to sea animals, many of whom have poor eyesight and rely on other senses) or entanglement in the animals’ appendages resulting in slow death and/or suffocation.

Thalia Naidu
Kailua-Kona

Care-home inspection a continuing problem

The Star-Advertiser’s front-page story regarding inspections of long-term care facilities should be a real eye-opener to the general public ("Measure would put facilities’ critiques on Web," Star-Advertiser, Feb. 4). Those who have had to deal with this situation are very much aware of this problem.

The Policy Advisory Board for Elder Affairs, which I have served on for six years, has been working with the state’s long-term care ombudsman to rectify the problem. We have met directly with the legislators and have, in the past, testified to bills whenever they were being heard. Many times they do not move out of committee.

Why is Hawaii always one of the last to help its citizens when the problem is something so simple and so important to change?

Eudie Schick
Moiliili

Preventative care key to cutting health costs

Caroline Poplin’s article on health care costs ignores the real problem ("Health care costs high because prices high," Star-Advertiser, Jan. 24). The only way to reduce health care costs is healthier people.

In the 1960s, President John F. Kennedy advocated more exercise, but now more than 30 percent of Americans are overweight or obese and 8 percent are diabetic.Decades of poor habits have increased healthcare costs, as heart disease, diabetes and cancer are largely preventable.

Exercise, eating properly and reducing sugary drinks are needed. Schools have limited physical education, which contributes to obesity and diabetes among teens. Physical education can train students for a healthier life.

Use state lands for community gardens to reduce the cost and transportation of local foods while increasing exercise and consumption of home grown organic food.

Richard Navarro
Corpus Christi, Texas

FROM THE FORUM

"Labrador breed fetches Honolulu’s heart," Star-Advertiser, Feb. 4:

» I know it’s not an official breed, but I think the Labradoodle will take over someday. They are the best dogs ever. Ours is so smart and sweet and doesn’t shed.

» So glad the Chihuahua is no longer top breed here. That was embarrassing.

» Labradors are the best all-around dogs ever! My boy is so happy, healthy, fun, loyal and so darn smart. You can talk to him like a human and he knows everything you said. Labs are no ka oi!

———

"Bill to buy unwanted guns allots $100,000 for program," Star-Advertiser, Feb. 4:

» This is another potential waste of money by our Hawaii lawmakers. Does anyone really think that someone in Hawaii is going to turn in a working military-style "assault" rifle for peanuts? Those arms were worth more than $1,000 each when bought and are probably commanding double that now. This program will result in people selling their old, rusted, non-working junk guns to the state.

» Amazing how they can spend money they don’t have.

———

"Sofa, rug among items cleared from Thomas Square sidewalk," Star-Advertiser, Feb. 6:

» Now, as soon as there is one item put back, remove it. Don’t let the stuff pile up and make a problem again.

» What a shame. It was such a beautiful park.

» A really good test of wills. Who will succumb first, the city or the Occupiers?

» When are they going to clear the sidewalk on Kalakaua Avenue by the Ala Wai canal bridge? What an eyesore to our millions of visitors who stay in Waikiki. What an embarrassment to our state. I read in Letters to the Editor how some visitors are choosing not to return because of our homeless problem. It chips away at our primary economic engine, so we need to clean up the problem while we can.

———

"Residents fear dangers of planned bypass road," Star-Advertiser, Feb. 6:

» Some drunk will end up in their yard or, worse, plow right into their house! I recommend putting up barriers, like the kind to stop suicide bomb trucks. If the state won’t pay for temporary metal poles, then put some huge lava rocks along the property line.

» Or we could all let these 76-year-old wooden bridges collapse and cut off all the residents west while a new road is constructed through the wetland preserve mauka of the highway. Will the community complain less then? It’s unfortunate that these property owners are affected, yes, but the alternative will affect a great deal more people. Is that preferable? If so, let’s start an online petition getting their promises not to complain when they’re all cut off from the island.

———

"Isle anti-paparazzi bill condemned by media groups," Star-Advertiser, Feb. 7:

» Considering the myriad of problems confronting the state of Hawaii, what is Sen. Kalani English doing wasting legislative time and taxpayers’ dollars with this ludicrous bill?

» I am all for this. Too many people think they can snap pictures of anybody anywhere and share it however they like. The right to free press is now infringing on the right to privacy.

———

"Soda tax bill draws divided testimony," Star-Advertiser, Feb. 7:

» I have very little sympathy for the soft drink industry that uses high-fructose corn syrup, sugar and other forms of sugar to sweeten drinks, but I can see when the governor and the Legislature use this feeling to extort more money from the general public. The money will not go to fight obesity, but to more and more spending.

» It’s another oppressive tax on the poor and middle class who just want a pleasurable beverage with their meal or snack. Let them drink fresh-squeezed orange juice and Pinot Noir!

» I wonder if any of today’s lawmakers have ever heard of double taxation. We pay the general excise tax, a container tax and now possibly a sugar tax? Forget being hosed with double taxation. This is triple taxation.

———

"Lines spur call for licensing office audit," Star-Advertiser, Feb. 8:

» The agency or person that needs to get audited is the one that suggested to combine licensing and state ID in the first place. Then the next should be whoever or whatever agency agreed to it. Anyone with the slightest bit of common sense would know that you would be creating the perfect storm. When still separate, these offices were constantly backlogged.