KAMEHAMEHA RULING

UNJUST TREATMENT REQUIRES REMEDY

In response to the letter by Shawn Lathrop, "Kamehameha sends wrong message," did you just get off the boat? You obviously don't know the history of the Native Hawaiians' oppression and unjust treatment.

Indeed, it happened some 100 years ago. What you don't realize or feel is that it was a bad legacy that transferred from generation to generation. We are still suffering and dealing with the injustice that our kupuna had gone through.

Some of us, even to this day are being discriminated against and mistreated. Our culture, our language, our dance, our beliefs, our history, our ecology, our land and so on would have been almost wiped out had we not fought back. We had to fight and we will continue, regardless of what people like you say.

You mentioned about "Anglo-only school." We don't want it that way. We want to undo the devastation of Hawaiians caused by your people.

SCHOOL'S DIVERSITY REFLECTED IN STUDENTS

Brother, you are all wet when you think that Kamehameha schools allows only Hawaiian kids. You say, "How would people feel if we had Samoan only or Tongan or any type of only one-race school in Hawai'i?" You are all wet again.

Here at Kamehameha Schools, we are not prejudiced. Why? Because we have all the races that God has created on this Earth attending. They are, to name a few, Japanese, Caucasian, Chinese, Vietnamese, African-American, Indonesian, Korean, Fijian, Maori, Alaskan and many more.

But here is the catch to all this — your child must have a minute amount of Hawaiian blood to qualify for entrance. But even having pure Hawaiian blood does not guarantee admittance.

There are all kinds of colors at Kamehameha, not like some states on the Mainland.

RENEWABLE ENERGY

BIPARTISAN EFFORT HERE COULD LEAD THE WAY

I was much uplifted by the Dec. 4 commentary by Rep. Cynthia Thielen, a Republican, sounding a clarion call for Hawai'i's investment in the field of renewable energy.

I immediately recalled Rep. Kirk Caldwell, a Democrat, recounting his trip to Brazil several months ago when that country moved from 100 percent to zero percent foreign oil dependence.

I was uplifted by this bipartisan call for Hawai'i's development of renewable energy. Eventually, the world shall run out of fossil oil reserves and will have to turn to different sources of power.

Caldwell and Thielen strikingly both invoked the call by John F. Kennedy to send a man to the moon, redirecting our national will and making history. With proper focus, our state can change and, by our example, so can the nation and even the world.

NO-SMOKING LAW

A BIG THANKS FOR THE BREATH OF FRESH AIR

I want to thank all of the businesses that have complied with the new smoke-free workplace rules without a lot of humbug or complaining. It is such a joy to walk out of my building downtown and not have to hold my breath.

The building manager displayed "no smoking" signs immediately, and the tenants have complied with no grumbling. Thank you, Hawai'i!

UH FUNDING

CAMPUSES NEED MORE FUNDING AND SUPPORT

For many years, it's been clear that Manoa and other campuses of the state university system have been grossly underfunded.

At Manoa, we have never had near the faculty and staff positions or the state investment needed to become a great university. Now things have gotten worse.

Neglect of maintenance has left us with a backlog of needs running into the tens of millions of dollars. Our dormitories require a millions of dollars just to be made decent. Things have reached the point where our university library is even cutting back on ordering new books.

And this is happening at a time when Manoa students are paying double-digit tuition increases every year and have the right to expect higher quality education.

So, as a Manoa faculty member of 34 years, it is incredible to me that the Board of Regents is set to approve the creation of a University of Hawai'i-West O'ahu campus at a cost of $350 million.

The beneficiaries are clear: Campbell Estate and politically-connected developers who will capture windfall profits. But the building of UHWO will deprive Manoa and other UH campuses of the funds to provide our students with the educations they need and deserve.

The state Legislature should refuse to fund this project and leave it to gather dust on the drawing board.

PUBLIC SCHOOLS

SCHOOLS NEED MORE VALUES IN CURRICULUM

My thoughts and appreciation go out to Bob Lamborn and his take on Hawai'i's public school system (Dec. 6). Adequate funding is not the problem and never has been.

State Sen. Duke Kawasaki in 1984 made the following comments, reported in this newspaper: "In 1963, Hawai'i had 157,000 students enrolled in its public school system. The budget for the DOE was $59 million, or $376 per student per year. In 1984, we have 160,000 students enrolled in the public school system. Our budget this year is $420 million, or $2,625 per student per year."

When I came here in 1956, Hawai'i had one of the finest school systems in the world. The purpose for the good senator to make these comments in 1984 was that Hawai'i was losing the fight toward providing a quality education for K-12 children. Test scores and national rankings in 1984 revealed that we were going south annually. Today, the downward path of K-12 education has not lessened.

When will we learn that the Hawai'i state school system is broken? Twenty years from now, will we be faced with another 1,000-percent increase in spending while accommodating the same number of students? Will we see another doubling of DOE employees? And will our students still be ranked at the bottom?

The way to improve our schools is not more money, but the re-introduction of moral and spiritual values as curriculum. We should hold teachers accountable for the progress of students. And we should give Gov. Linda Lingle's educational program a chance — at least until someone comes along with a better idea.

SENSITIVITY CHECK

RESTAURANT REVIEW RAISES CONCERN

After reading Wanda Adams' review of Chin's Kahala (Dec. 8), I am looking forward to sampling some good Chinese food when I return home for vacation.

I have some issues with her article, however. In the third paragraph, she mentions that the restaurant had good service, as the "servers are polite, smiling and well-trained with good language skills." This perturbs me because that assumes that Chinese restaurant workers usually cannot speak "good" English.

Growing up in Hawai'i, I told more than my fair share of ethnic jokes when hanging out with my friends, but this is different. This is a journalist writing a critique of a restaurant in a widely circulated and respected newspaper. And why was it a "little disconcerting" to hear more Cantonese and Mandarin than English in Kahala that night? That suggests that first-generation Chinese-Americans belong somewhere else that is less affluent. Perhaps Chinatown?

This is the equivalent of someone writing a piece about a new nightclub in Wai'anae saying, "I was surprised that there were lots of white people there, and they knew how to dance!"

With the whole Rosie O'Donnell "ching chong" fiasco going on, editorial comments like these are unacceptable. Coming from a newspaper in Hawai'i, it is unbearable.

TRAFFIC

DRIVERS NEED ALOHA AND COMMON SENSE

Lately everyone has been complaining about the increase in traffic. But it doesn't seem to be the volume that is causing the problems — it's the attitudes behind the wheel.

I was almost sideswiped by someone merging into the same lane who did not have their signal on. While near-accidents like that seem to be common, other incidents are not.

I recently had to slam on the brakes where I always merge onto H-1 East, from Nimitz near Middle Street, because there was a stalled car with a police motorcycle to my right, and nobody would allow me space to merge on the left. The officer actually had to walk out into traffic and stop the drivers to let me in. Where was the aloha, fellow commuters?

Another factor might be the additional presence of police making folks nervous enough to follow the speed limit, but then drivers go extra fast when they don't see any lights. How is this strategy really helping to improve safety, then?

If we're crammed like sardines in a can, most going 50 mph in the left lane, and you get those going 80 mph to the right, we are going to have an increase in speed-related accidents.

Plan ahead — 'nuff said.

CONSIDER LICENSING

TIME FOR COMPROMISE ON VACATION RENTALS

Having read all the posts and letters regarding this very contentious issue, and having just vacationed in Kailua/Lanikai, I feel compelled to ask this: Has anyone considered a compromise?

While here on vacation (absolutely no ties to the area in the form of relatives or property owners/ownership), I talked with quite a few local business owners and residents, some who do have rentals and some who do not.

It seems to me that there is room on both sides for compromise. For example, has the state or the city considered licensing those who request to be licensed for vacation rentals — perhaps an annual inspection and survey of neighborhood residents would go along with that licensing renewal procedure?

That initial application and/or renewal application could list local property managers, if the owner has an out-of-state address. If there is no local property manager and an out-of-state owner listed, that could be a "red flag."

It might not signal automatic non-renewal of licenses, but that, when coupled with negative survey results from the neighborhood (not just one anti-tourism neighbor, but multiple surveys), could be reason enough to not to renew, with stiff and enforceable fines for continued rentals after a license was not renewed.

It does not seem fair to me that folks who own, rent and monitor their properties well should be punished because of a few vocal "naysayers."

The people I've spoken to in Kailua and Lanikai that own and rent out their properties for vacation rentals are not trying to perform illegal acts. More often, they are decent, honest, hospitable folks who value tourism and regularly submit their lodging taxes on the rentals they serve without question. If they were truly doing something underhanded, would they so faithfully submit their taxes? I think not.

Obviously, some compromise is needed in this battle that has pitted neighbor against neighbor and has drawn unfortunate lines in the sand. That is not the aloha spirit that I would expect from a state that welcomes tourists from afar.

These travelers bring much needed tourism and retail dollars to your state, and I think local leaders need to step forward and exhibit their great leadership to resolve this issue.

I love visiting Hawai'i about once a year (when it is very cold in the Midwest) and hope I can continue to do so without feeling like I have sinned! Please get this issue resolved soon, leaders.