• Government failure • Stop this foolishness • Mahalo for your kokua, Kaua‘i • End school furloughs Government failure Prohibition did not work with alcohol. It’s not working with marijuana. The only fair solution is to treat marijuana abuse the
• Government failure
• Stop this foolishness
• Mahalo for your kokua, Kaua‘i
• End school furloughs
Government failure
Prohibition did not work with alcohol. It’s not working with marijuana.
The only fair solution is to treat marijuana abuse the same as alcohol abuse. If a person is driving a car after excessive marijuana use, he should be treated the same as a person disabled by excessive alcohol use or abuse of any other mind altering substance.
I suspect that the pro-alcohol lobby is heavily involved in the fight against the decriminalizing of marijuana. We could sure empty a lot of jail cells if marijuana use was treated in the same way as alcohol use.
Government inaction in this matter is another example of the failure of the best government that money can buy.
Harry Boranian, Lihu‘e
Stop this foolishness
They say it’s a local thing lighting fireworks on New Year’s Eve for hours leading into the New Year. I say it’s a stupid thing.
The smoke, the noise at late hours, next door neighbors blasting fireworks with smoke permeating through many homes. It’s the disrespectful custom I have witnessed since moving to the islands.
In the Philippines they light fireworks to scare away evil spirits; here on Kaua‘i the drunks and party animals are making noise not for a spiritual reason but just because it’s da kine.
Every year, people loose limbs from detonating fireworks, people suffer from asthma and other breathing difficulties and are rushed to emergency, 911 is over burdened with calls, and there are too many fires to even report.
Stop this foolishness already and leave fireworks displays to the professionals in a safe environment.
James “Kimo” Rosen, Kapa‘a
Mahalo for your kokua, Kaua‘i
I just wanted to take this opportunity to say mahalo nui loa to the many individuals and families who gave donations during our Community Campaign to help Hale ‘Opio Kaua‘i match a grant award offered by Grove Farm Foundation of up to $5,000 to support Kaua‘i Teen Court. With your help, we reach our goal of $5,000!!
Equally important, perhaps, was the publicity about Kaua‘i Teen Court during our Community Campaign, reminding our community how important our youth court is in giving first-time youth offenders a second chance and teaching them new skills to help them make better choices in their future.
We often say, “It is not so important that a person makes a mistake, but rather what they learn from that experience.” Kaua‘i Teen Court is not about punishment, but follows a restorative justice model, giving first-time youth offenders the opportunity to both learn from their mistake and to “make it right” in many cases.
One part of the learning comes from youth participating in all aspects of the court process, while a critical part is taught in one of our classes, the Victim Impact Class. It is here where a youth learns how their actions impacted the victim and the youth’s family.
Having “empathy” is a normal part of character development, critical to helping a person realize how their actions effect another person or situation. For example, stealing a car for a joy ride with friends that ends in a crash can have far reaching effects, such as preventing the owner from going to work and then having financial obligations to repair the car before getting it back.
Teaching youth to think about how others are impacted by their actions is one of many important ways Kaua‘i Teen Court helps and supports the families of Kaua‘i.
On behalf of our Board of Directors, our staff, and the youth we serve, I wish to thank all of the Kaua‘i community for your ongoing support for Hale ‘Opio Kaua‘i Inc. and the programs we provide for the children, youth and families of Kaua‘i.
Mary Navarro, Hale ‘Opio Kaua‘i, executive director
End school furloughs
I am against teacher furloughs. Kids need more time learning in school and teachers should be working on furlough days.
Since we have furloughs, students learn less. We only have limited days to learn in school. When we take the HSA our scores will be so low since now we only have a four-day school week to learn our reading, writing, math, and so on. We also get less time to socialize with friends.
The government uses the teacher’s paychecks for the state, which makes me sad. It also makes me sad that a judge ruled against halting furloughs at the public schools. I bet the teachers are sad too because they want to work and not get paid less.
Hawai‘i schools have now cut their school days from 180 to 163, the lowest in the nation! Teachers now have to work harder on the four days of the week that they are at school, trying to teach students as much as they can in a short amount of time.
Also our parents who work full time now have to find childcare for their children. If they cannot find childcare, some parents may have to bring their child to work, or to take off of work to stay home with them. Some parents have a hard time finding childcare and if they do, it can be expensive.
I do not agree with having teacher furloughs because kids should be in school learning on Friday’s not at home watching television. Also teachers should be in school preparing students for the future.
Our governor said that this is something she didn’t want to do but there must be some other way. Lingle needs to stop these furloughs.
Bree Ann Cayaban, Grade 5, Mrs. Miyazaki’s Reading Class, ‘Ele‘ele School
