Please take all the time that is needed to investigate this issue thoroughly.

ETHANOL

HAWAI'I CAN BECOME INDEPENDENT OF OIL

Rep. Kirk Caldwell's commentary "Biomass fuel best hope to free us from oil" (7/25), should be read by everybody.

The consumers in this country are getting ripped off by the oil companies. As an island state we're stuck in the middle of nowhere at the mercy of the greedy oil companies. Rep Caldwell's experience in Brazil proves our island state also can become independent of oil.

If Brazil can use 100 percent ethanol in many of its cars and it no longer imports oil to refine into gasoline, why can't Hawai'i follow its lead? It's up to the leaders in this state to get off the dime and do something about it.

BUSES, RAIL

INTERNET ACCESS WOULD BOOST TRANSIT RIDERSHIP

Honolulu transit planners should consider providing free Internet access on our transit system. It can turn car-centric commuters into enthusiastic transit riders. In the near future, it makes sense to try this on the long-distance express routes.

According to Governing Magazine, California's Riverside County spent $47,000 last year to equip three buses on one commuter route for an Internet test. Ridership increased and 43 percent of the new riders were using the service. The new riders rated WiFi access as the top reason for commuting by bus.

It sounds great to me. You can read about other experiments around the country at the magazine's Web site.

ELECTION

CAMPAIGN SIGNS JUST CLUTTER NEIGHBORHOODS

Campaign signs are simply just legal graffiti.

Each election campaign season we are subjected signs plastered all over neighborhoods, walls, fences and trees. Some in legal and some in illegal places; all promoting a name rather than real reasons to capture a vote.

For many years, the Outdoor Circle has asked all candidates to voluntarily limit signs to the last few weeks before an election. Yet, each year most candidates use these cluttering means rather than communicating with the voters about their experience and leadership. It is a petty campaigning strategy to just get a name pasted or hung all over the place and expect that the voters will then only vote for a name they have seen, even if they know nothing about the person.

I have pledged to limit placement of campaign signs on walls, fences and yards until the last few weeks of the campaign.

I am glad to say that since presenting many in my district with my pledge, some neighbors have taken down the signs, making their own personal commitment to our area.

FISHING

TIME TO STOP DEPLETION OF OCEAN'S RESOURCES

Too many people are fighting over a diminished ocean resource.

I fished in Hawai'i for more than 60 years and am concerned about how we view our ocean.

Tony Costa, who wants you to believe that he represents nearshore recreational fishermen, represents the commercial fishing industry that exports our fish around the world. His view is that our food fish are a commodity. When a limited natural resource becomes a commodity, you have the "tragedy of the commons" — everybody keeps taking, but nobody takes care.

Hawaiians would never let a resource get so depleted it couldn't recover. It is traditional to put everything on hold until there is enough again for everyone. We've broken that rule so long our resources are depleted. If we go on using wasteful fishing methods like lay gill nets, then we continue to contribute to the decline. But if we take care and take only what we need, then maybe we can be proud of the future we pass on to our children.

PUBLIC SCHOOLS

TEACHERS FACE A DAUNTING LIST OF JOBS AND CHALLENGES

Using test scores to determine passing or failing public schools is so unfair — besides engaging in his/her first love of teaching and working with students, a teacher has to be all things to all people. Here's an e-mailed story which tells it all:

After being interviewed by the school administration, the eager teaching prospect said: "Let me see if I've got this right. You want me to go into that room with all those kids, and fill their every waking moment with a love for learning, and I'm supposed to instill a sense of pride in their ethnicity, modify their disruptive behavior, observe them for signs of abuse and even censor their T-shirt messages and dress habits.

"You want me to wage a war on drugs and sexually transmitted diseases, check their backpacks for weapons of mass destruction and raise their self-esteem. You want me to teach them patriotism, good citizenship, sportsmanship, fair play, how to register to vote, how to balance a checkbook and how to apply for a job.

"I am to maintain a safe environment, recognize signs of anti-social behavior, make sure all students pass the state exams, even if they don't come to school regularly or complete any of their assignments.

"Plus, I am to make sure that all of the students with handicaps get an equal education regardless of the extent of their mental or physical handicap. I am to communicate regularly with the parents by e-mail, letter, telephone, newsletter and report card.

"All of this I am to do with just a piece of chalk, a computer, a few books, a bulletin board, a big smile and on a starting salary that qualifies my family for food stamps!"

Thank you, teachers, for your commitment as educators in Hawai'i's public schools. Have a great school year working your way through and around those obstacles.