•Create manufacturing jobs •Let’s talk about sex •Kaua‘i needs to focus on safe driving •Help tourists feel welcome Create manufacturing jobs The economic life jackets that are being tossed around exceed the myriad of stars in the sky. Numbers that
•Create manufacturing jobs
•Let’s talk about sex
•Kaua‘i needs to focus on safe driving
•Help tourists feel welcome
Create manufacturing jobs
The economic life jackets that are being tossed around exceed the myriad of stars in the sky. Numbers that I barely understand nor could count to in 100 lifetimes represent money given to what are called bailouts.
What I do understand is that General Motors stock is worth $1.45.
Citigroup is $1.30 and Bank of America $3.14. These are some of the components of the DOW average and are selling at bargain basement prices.
And to where do our erstwhile public servants direct these bailouts? To those great seers of Wall Street who began the problems with mortgages on houses that were sold to people who, on reflection, should not and could not have been homeowners. Those financial giants chopped up those mortgages into SIVs, CDOs and an alphabet soup of derivatives with more abbreviations that in hindsight spelt out financial chop suey and ultimate doom.
So now, where is the bailout being directed? To the same financial geniuses that got us into trouble in the first place!
This seems wrong. Not only are we letting the foxes into the hen house, we are also supplying them with beds and comforters.
Isn’t it time to let our elected officials know that they may be going in the wrong direction? Perhaps it would be better to create jobs in such unheard of areas as manufacturing. We currently produce so little domestically that once the public works projects that hopefully will be funded are completed, we will still be back where we are today.
The painful reality is that most depressions are transcended by a war which causes a boom in business, particularly those of mortuaries.
Monroe Richman, Koloa
Let’s talk about sex
I am an eighth grade student at Island School. I am writing to comment on the issue of high school dropouts. This is a serious problem in our island. The rate of high school dropouts is alarming. There might be a number of reasons for this dilemma.
One main reason is loss of interest. Students do not want to learn. They do pay attention; they fool around and sometimes even skip school. They waste their teachers’ time and effort.
Another reason is teenage pregnancy. Our young people need better supervision by adults. Young high school girls become pregnant forcing them to drop out of school to care for their baby.
What can we do? We can make school more interesting. We can plan more field trips and hands-on stuff. We can discourage sexual activity until marriage. We can bring people to talk about the subject of sexuality.
The people of Kaua‘i need to become aware of this scandal and come together to develop strategies to help rectify this problem.
Jedidiah Blake II, Eighth grade, Phillip Steinbacher’s class, Island School
Kaua‘i needs to focus on safe driving
I am writing about careless driving. I think people need to pay more attention to the road.
There have been many car accidents in the past year. Not very many people even care whether their driving is good or not. They’re just focused on getting from point A to point B.
One reason that people drive so careless is because they pay a lot of attention to their phones. When you’re talking on the phone, you don’t realize the speed that you’re traveling and when you need to stop quickly.
As a result, people often speed and even run red lights when driving and talking on a cell phone. This is bad because it puts everyone else in a dangerous situation when they have to avoid getting hit. People are often careless when suddenly stopping in a major intersection to allow another driver to cross if they have the right of way. This forces the car behind them to swerve to avoid getting sideswiped. Its careless acts like these that create accidents.
The citizens of Kaua‘i need to focus on driving and think about the safety of others as much as they would their own.
Dade Apao, Eighth grade, Phillip Steinbacher’s class, Island School
Help tourists feel welcome
While I agree wholeheartedly with the comments made by Tom Rice (“Why are Kaua‘i visitor counts down?” Letters, March 6), let me please add another very important point.
What about the crimes against visitors? Not a day goes by that we don’t have a theft against a visitor, name calling or vandalism. How many rental cars have we seen with “Go Home Haole” spray painted all over it, leaving the visitor to claim it on their insurance.
What about the vicious attacks on visitors at local places of businesses, at the beaches that we are so proud of, and market towards them? I think it’s time we remind our neighbors, brothers, sisters and cousins that we are dependent on our visitors here on Kaua‘i. Causing them harm, frustration or making them feel unwelcome is the last thing we need right now.
Beth Hoffman, Lihue
