• No Child Left Behind • Open a window • Landfill future • Enough gouging already • Once upon a time No Child Left Behind It is obvious that Greg Knudsen and the BOE are interested in solely making themselves
• No Child Left Behind
• Open a window
• Landfill future
• Enough gouging already
• Once upon a time
No Child Left Behind
It is obvious that Greg Knudsen and the BOE are interested in solely making themselves look good at the expense of our children’s future. The statistics of the BOE show that the lower grades are doing well in keeping up with the “No Child Left Behind” standards and the upper grades are not. These statistics prove that our children are very capable of meeting high academic standards if they are challenged in their early stages of education. It is clear to every parent that I talked to, that the children who are doing well at the lower grades will continually to do well as they progress through the system. Soon these students win be our 10th, 11th and 12th graders and will be able to proudly keep up with the current standards.
The motivation to lower the academic standards for our children can only be attributed to the fact that Greg Knudsen and DOE can’t stand the “heat in the kitchen.” We, the public, understand that the current upper graders are not doing well statistically because the BOE had lower standards for them when they started school. We further understand that the academic standards are higher now and that the lower grades are proving that our children are capable of meeting the standards.
The public knows that the “heat in the kitchen” is up! The saying that “if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen” may be applicable here. However, the public encourages Greg Knudsen and the BOE to stick it out and not sell out the future of our children. The BOE must stand by their current academic standards and allow our children in the lower grades to grow up and prove that Hawai‘i’s children can be amongst the nation’s best.
- Ron Agor
Chairman
Kaua‘i Republican Party
Open a window
Who are these people on the “Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals” who ruled that Kamehameha schools’ policy of admitting only students with Hawaiian blood is unlawful discrimination? Were there gas fumes in the room when they made that decision?
Do the people on this committee feel that their sons should be allowed to join the Girl Scouts? Are they next going to vote to allow atheists to go to Christian schools? Do they invite strangers to their family reunion parties? Come on! It’s a private school with a specific interest; a noble interest; an historic interest; an interest to promote the very thing that makes Hawai‘i different and in many ways better than the other U.S. states. Pride in their heritage. But it goes much deeper than that. It’s a matter of government taking over the workings of a private business. It’s just wrong. Let me be more eloquent in how I describe this thinking…It’s wrong, wrong, wrong.
Somebody, open a window in their meeting room.
- Janet Miller
Chicago, Illinois
(also a Hawaiian taxpayer)
Landfill future
The County of Kaua‘i must have a landfill regardless of what else is done for solid waste management. Given that fact, and the fact that it takes about 5 years to open a new landfill after the site has been selected and agreed on, the County should move out aggressively to select a new site. We don’t know how long we can keep milking the Kekaha site.
During the Kusaka administration, the County requested bids for a new waste treatment plant with the hope of eliminating or at least reducing the need for a landfill. The responses ranged from proven technologies like waste to energy conversion (combustion), to proven biological decomposition processes, to promising but unproven plasma arc technology.
There were problems with the procurement which led to its cancellation. However, we learned an important lesson. A landfill was needed to complement every one of the proposed processes. There are three basic reasons. First, not one of the processes was able to handle everything in the solid waste stream. What they couldn’t handle had to go into the landfill. Additionally, each process produced residuals which also had to go into the landfill. Second, most of the proposed plants had to be shut down periodically for maintenance, during which time everything had to go into the landfill. Third, in the event of a major failure or natural disaster, a landfill would be vital.
The need is vital. We don’t know how long the Kekaha landfill can be extended. The County should take prompt action.
Enough gouging already
The U.S. Supreme Court has recently expanded the rights of government by broadening the scope of “eminent domain.”
Governor Lingle should use such powers to coop the gasoline industry in this state, i.e. take over all aspects from the tankers to the pipelines to the refining and retailing of gasoline and petroleum-based fuels.
Will she come down on the side of the people? It’s doubtful. She’ll probably use her powers to overturn the Gas Cap Law for some febble reason thereby placating the deep pockets of the Oil Giants, and in doing so she’ll insure her place in history: Hawai‘i’s first one-term governor since statehood.
Once upon a time
…a board requested $30,000 from the King. The King said all right and the Seven Dwarfs approved this expenditure too. Due a procedural matter, Snow White needed a second approval from the Dwarfs. Snow White goes ahead writes a letter to the Seven, saying she requests their approval to spend the money. Since a higher authority told the Dwarfs, money appropriation is public business the issue was put on their Public Agenda. Then a beggar in the street, ask the question: What is Snow White doing with that money that is not hers and does the requestor know about this? The Seven Dwarfs panicked, and received Snow Whites request for the record without taken any further action. Assumingly Snow White got angry; wrote a letter to the board saying, “This is not an attempt to starve the commission financially to death” and “respectfully requested” the board to transmit her letter to the beggar and to request an apology. Now the beggar has to take the blame, that Snow White and the Dwarfs did not follow proper procedure. A little devil asked the question: Why is Snow White hanging out with the King and the Seven Dwarfs isn’t she supposed to run off with Prince Charming? It could be interesting to know why the beggar is forced to swallow Snow White’s apple, will Prince Charming marry the beggar instead of …and how to dispose of the Old Queen.
