Parent should teach kids at earliest ages

The editorial, “Help students catch up, quickly,” (Star-Advertiser, Nov. 22), should have included the role that parents (a child’s first and most important teacher) play in education. A large number are unaware of a child’s mental needs following birth. Consequently, these children become an unfair challenge for teachers in meeting lesson objectives when they start school.

Parents need to be educated in ways to meet their child’s mental needs following birth, which is through the stimulation of their five senses. If the Department of Education would add “Parenting Skills” in their high school curriculum, the future need to help students catch up would be greatly reduced.

A child is full of curiosity at birth because everything they see, hear, smell, taste and touch, is being done for the first time. Our parents and future parents need to know how to satisfy this curiosity.

Bill Punini Prescott

Waianae

Navy can’t be trusted to protect aquifer

Every time I drink water, I think about jet fuel: how more than 100 million gallons of fuel, sitting a mere 100 feet above Oahu’s primary drinking supply, has a 96% chance of leaking up to 30,000 gallons over the next 10 years. Numerous leaks have occurred and continue to happen, and the Navy has actively withheld information from the public on active leaks.

The Navy cannot be trusted to regulate the Red Hill tanks in an environmentally protected matter. Though the recent leak of 14,000 gallons of fuel and water occurred a quarter-mile downhill, with the Navy arguing it’s not connected to the fuel tanks, the leak is still connected to the Navy (“14,000 gallons of fuel, water spill at Red Hill, Navy says,” Star-Advertiser, Nov. 22).

Who does the U.S. military protect, besides its own interests, at the immediate and long-term harm to the environment and its surrounding communities? We must shut down the Red Hill tanks and protect our water.

Joseph Han

Kalihi

Enjoy cool waters of compassion in isles

I am thankful for each and every day that God gives us life on Earth.

We hear and read about anger in the news. Who has not been broken by sadness? Yet, on the opposite side, we look for hope, compassion and love. We take the blessings in our everyday lives, feel the soft sand beneath our feet and allow the cool ocean water to fill the broken cracks in our soul.

I walked along the beach recently and I saw several smiling moms walking their babies in carriers; an elderly couple holding hands as they gently strolled along; a young couple kissing while taking a selfie; a young boy gently pushing a hammock filled with a giggling mother nestled inside.

This is love and this is the joy we find here in Hawaii.

Sandra Z. Armstrong

Kailua

Able candidates for Philippines president

Rose Cruz Churma was correct in pointing out that there are options other than the Marcos- Duterte team in the 2022 Philippines election for president (“Marcos-Duterte duo not sole option in Philippines,” Star- Advertiser, Letters, Nov. 23).

Leni Robredo, the current Philippine vice president, defeated Bongbong Marcos in the last election and is considered a logical and able replacement for the present draconian Duterte administration. Robredo is considered by the public as the most decent of all the presidential contenders in the current electoral campaign.

Isko Moreno, the current mayor of metropolitan Manila, is another strong possibility for president. He has pledged that if elected in 2022, he will stop the use or conversion of the country’s agricultural lands and resources for development, business, technological and other purposes, because these lands are the main sources of income for the country’s majority population in the rural areas and working-class sectors.

This poorest section of the country’s population continues to be mired in the structural problems of poverty, ill health, malnutrition, lack of education and other lifelong difficulties.

Belinda A. Aquino

Moiliili

Vacation rental bill has many loopholes

I was originally completely in support of Bill 41, which would consider rental terms of less than 180 days to be short-term (“Short-term rental bill for Oahu advances despite confusion,” Star-Advertiser, Nov. 11).

Who rents a place for only 30 days? There is too much opportunity for mischief with that time frame. A minimum rental period of 180 days is more like it.

But now the deal breaker for me are the loopholes. Allowing exceptions for “full-time students” and “traveling nurses” creates just as much opportunity for mischief. So all I need to do is claim my tenant is a “full-time student” to get around that? Who is going to enforce that?

I am in favor of going back to Bill 89, a much better and fairer solution. Enforcement is addressed in that bill, but was never funded. Address that part of it, figure out how to do the lottery, and let’s move on with Bill 89. Drop Bill 41.

James Maloney

Waikiki

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