Galera best pick to lead the DOE

Finally, we got the perfect candidate for the superintendent of the Hawaii Department of Education: Darrel Galera, former principal and a lifelong dedicated and innovative educator.

Then we lost him. Galera withdrew his name, and I hope he will reconsider. He worked tirelessly, 13 to 15 hours a day, while principal at Moanalua High School. He built excellence in teaching through the Teacher Cohort Teams. I saw them in action, and they worked.

Galera grew up here in Hawaii. He understands our diverse cultures. He attended public schools. He taught in public schools. He has made education better for the kids, the parents, the teachers and the community.

He devoted his entire adult life to education. He initiated challenging and innovative policies that vastly improved the lives of our public school students.

Darrel Galera is still the absolute best candidate for superintendent. No mainland search will find anyone better.

Nancy Wond

Aiea

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Red-light cameras too much trouble

Hawaii’s red-light camera proposal (Senate Bill 221) currently moving through the Legislature is horrific. One only needs to search online for “why red-light cameras don’t work,” to realize they pose legal, financial and moral issues.

Taxpayers should be aware of states’ court decisions challenging the constitutionality of citations and read why many jurisdictions have cancelled programs and taken alternative actions to the problem of vehicles running red lights.

If the goal of SB 221 is safety at intersections, a simpler and cheaper solution is to ask traffic engineers to extend yellow caution lights and adjust lights to create an all-red duration to bring traffic to a complete stop.

If the goal is to raise revenues, the bill is misguided. Each camera is expensive. In Los Angeles, each cost more than $80,000 and 45 percent of tickets costing upwards of $500 each went unpaid. Ultimately, the program cost the city $1 million a year.

Gail S. Tagashira

Kalihi

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Duterte foe victim of abuse of power

The Sunday Star-Advertiser reported on the detention of Sen. Leila de Lima, a vehement critic of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (“Vocal critic of Duterte refuses to let imprisonment silence her,” March 26). It is obvious to all that her arrest was retaliation and abuse of power.

However, the report did not explain that de Lima is being held under a law that denies release on bail and that she can be held indefinitely without being brought before a judge, much less convicted of a crime.

Similarly, former President Gloria Arroyo was detained for four years without trial before the charges against her were dismissed.

The law provides a convenient way for the government in power to punish its opponents without bothering to convict them of crimes. Currently several other political figures also are under detention in the same way.

This is a travesty, one that should concern Americans if only because the former U.S. colonial administration tried to instill the principles of justice as applied in this country in the Philippines.

Carl H. Zimmerman

Salt Lake

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Don’t set up shop at Thomas Square

What’s wrong with a “passive” park (“Improve use, management of Thomas Square,” Star-Advertiser, Our View, March 27)?

Nature calms us and allows us time to reflect in this fast-paced time. Keep Thomas Square unencumbered with commercial aspects such as a concession stand or stage. Such additions would probably encourage more homeless because of the conveniences.

Arlene G. Woo

Makiki

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Immigration not cause of attacks

Joan Rank’s attempt to connect attacks in Europe, immigration, and her belief that people who oppose President Donald Trump’s “efforts” want him to fail, does not succeed because it merely conflates these things (“President trying to protect homeland,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, March 26).

The facts are:

>> The terrorist who killed an American tourist and three others outside the U.K. Parliament was not an immigrant, but British-born.

>> The brothers who masterminded the Brussels attacks were Belgian nationals; the perpetrators of the Paris massacre were born in Belgium.

>> A vast majority of all mass shootings in the U.S. were perpetrated by white non-Muslim American citizens.

>> The Schengen Agreement allows free movement within the Eurozone. Europe does not, as Rank stated, have “a relaxed immigration policy.”

>> Trump’s “efforts” consisted of 2 different Muslim travel bans that have, thus far, been blocked by three judges in three different American courts. They were blocked, not to cause Trump to fail, but because they were deemed likely to be found unconstitutional.

William E. Conti

Waikiki