• Grid lock • Hawaiian language • ‘State of Emergency’ in education • Cleanup efforts • Golfing justice Grid lock Do you want safe roads that move traffic? I do and I think it’s wrong and wishful to think cow
• Grid lock
• Hawaiian language
• ‘State of Emergency’ in education
• Cleanup efforts
• Golfing justice
Grid lock
Do you want safe roads that move traffic? I do and I think it’s wrong and wishful to think cow paths and grid lock will stop growth. I believe there is no correlation to having safe roads and the number of vehicles on Kaua‘i.
I do know that stuck in traffic pollutes, wastes precious expensive fuel, and the productive time lost forever is an astronomical cost to everyone on Kaua‘i.
If you agree with me and want roads that are safe and move traffic, then our only recourse is political. Only the politicians representing us can do the job and get it done. As far as I’m concerned, there is no excuse. There would be plenty of money if the fuel taxes collected by the Federal, State and County were dedicated funds to be used for transportation. Probably there would be a big surplus.
If not, I’d be willing to pay more fuel tax if all the fuel tax collected would be dedicated to transportation only and not get lost in the general funds.
Hawaiian language
In view of the problem with Hawaiian born and educated people being able to afford homes and living wages, I would like to make a suggestion.
If a person is going to be effective in achieving a good paying job it is almost imperative that the person be able to speak correct English. Therefore I would recommend that every class in the school system have teachers who would use correct English in the class room and demand that every student use correct English. Part of the hiring of teachers would be an oral exam to be sure that the teacher knew how to use correct English and it’s pronunciation. No teacher should be hired who could not carry on a conversation using correct English, including correct pronunciation.
In order to maintain a person’s native language that should be taught at home, but a thinking parent would insist that their children use correct English outside of the home.
Will any of this happen? Probably not. Does it matter? Only if one wants Hawaiians to occupy positions of higher pay. Sure there will always be a few who succeed in spite of a language problem, but that is rare.
Do we really want our kids to be relegated to low level jobs simply because they can’t be understood by the rest of the country. I would hope not.
- Gordon “Doc” Smith Kapa‘a
‘State of Emergency’ in education
HSTA President, Roger Takabayashi, recently wrote to the Maui News, “With regard to recent letters criticizing Hawai‘i’s public education system, I’d like to point out that the most important factors in student achievement are parent involvement and the quality of teaching a student received.” That’s bull manure.
Mr. Takabayashi, stop passing the buck to where it doesn’t belong. The root cause of Hawai‘i’s failing, collapsing educational system is the B.O.E and D.O.E. It’s bad management! Stop playing the D.O.E.’s shell and pea game of trying to find the “blame pea” under the D.O.E’s. furnished shell. Hawai‘i’s educational system is in a state of emergency! Like, ‘Iniki, it is ruining and destroying our children’s futures. Denying them opportunities for productive, prosperous, meaningful and fruitful adult lives. Their futures are being stunted, crippled and maimed.
Cleanup efforts
It was heartwarming to see the happy faces of volunteers pictured at Lydgate Park’s recent cleanup. But have you noticed the trail of trash along Kuhio Highway between Wailua Bridge and the airport?
Disrespectful littering makes a mockery of last week’s Earth Day efforts to make the world a better place. Surely, most of us hope for a healthier environment, a stronger economy, and a society more at peace with itself. Kaua‘i’s ills are only too well known: near untenable costs of food and shelter, gridlock on some roads and lawlessness on others, the scourges of drugs, abuse, and incivility, a degraded landscape with Hawaiian plants under ever-increasing threat, damaged reefs, noise and dust pollution etc…
More farmers to grow food so we import less, more people to manage and improve our natural resources, more to develop our renewable resources, etc…?
Parents and teachers, encourage your children and students to explore and pursue careers that will help them brighten Kaua‘i’s future. We can do better!
Golfing justice
In a local case, a man was given probation after molesting his step-daughter for eight years.
In another case, not local, I recall, a convicted rapist was given five years probation.
I find myself in the awkward position of supporting a felon who received a gross injustice to the other extreme.
A not-enterprising criminal decided to counterfeit Masters admission badges. He was caught, and faced justice, or injustice. It seems the people who run the Masters cater to local officials.
All elected officials and local-court judges are given the opportunity to purchase two admission badges for $175 each.
That would include the sheriff, the district attorney, and the judge, who all suddenly developed a personal interest in this case.
Normally the D.A. only would involve himself when it was a serious felony, but he tried this case himself. The judge, who was one of those who was given the privilege of buying cut-rate badges, was the sentencing judge. On the street, the badges go for $3,000 to $4,000 each.
The judge thought this dangerous felon should spend the next 30 years in prison.
Certainly the man deserved jail time, but 30 years? Judges complain when they are forced to give a mandatory sentence for a specific crime.
We have mandatory sentencing in some places because of such gross inequities, and most of them are too short a sentence for the crime.
You can kill one or two people in a manslaughter case and get 10 to 12 years.
In most cases, I have no sympathy for the criminal, but this is a case of serious injustice.
We must find a way to hold judges responsible for gross inequities.
