UH ATHLETICS

LETTER WRITERS OFF-BASE IN CRITICISM OF FOOTBALL

Letter writers Mike Bilby and Adrienne Wilson-Yamasaki (Letters, May 24) are entitled to their own opinions, no matter how far off and short-sighted.

In my report card I give them both, along with UH Athletic Director Herman Frazier a big F.

We had an opportunity to showcase the Warrior team nationally. We were moving forward with the football teams we played and my friends on the Mainland were finally giving our Warriors credit for some good games played.

Then we get this year's schedule and we've taken three steps back — and we don't even have a full schedule.

Colt Brennan did not have to stay. I give him an A+ for staying with the Warriors even though he now has no chance to win the accolades he deserves with this year's schedule. Brennan was courageous in bringing to light deficiencies within the UH athletic program.

Frazier needs to be fired and someone who is truly knowledgeable about his job should be hired. Till then he gets an F.

AKAKA BILL

DEMS GET HAWAI'I VOTE AS LONG AS BILL FLOUNDERS

Just how much longer are the Democrats going to be able to string the gullible Hawaiian people along so that they will continue to vote probably almost en masse for them?

This last Kamehameha lawsuit came within a whisker of being settled by the U.S. Supreme Court and according to OHA trustee Boyd P. Mossman's comments in your May 15 edition, "there is not an attorney I know who would have placed money on winning the case for Kamehameha Schools."

And then there is the Akaka bill.

Remember, just having the Akaka bill even heard will settle absolutely nothing, permanently. Only Congress, the president with his veto power and the courts will eventually settle the sovereignty issue. The longer the "stall" lasts, the longer the Democratic Party can maintain some semblance of control of the Hawaiian vote.

It's in nearly everyone else's interest to eliminate all of the deception and to get on with the issue to obtain a final and uncontestable decision regarding sovereignty. The sooner, the better, for everyone.

PUBLIC HOUSING

PRIVATE SECTOR WOULD SOLVE MAINTENANCE

Ken Harding's May 24 Island Voices column, "Chronically broken elevators inexcusable," is incredibly naive about how government works, and what functions it should perform.

He says, "Public housing is more than shelter for low-income people; it is a solemn trust of the most basic sort between society and its citizens."

Ummm, no.

Government-run subsidized housing is an unnecessary, inefficient way for legislators to use our taxes, in effect buying votes by making some people dependent on government largess while stealing the earnings of the rest of us to pay for this giveaway.

Because these government-run buildings are subsidized — being run at a loss — and because elected officials don't own the buildings and thus have no incentive to turn a profit, it is inevitable, not "inexcusable," that they will be poorly maintained.

My wife and I own a rental house. When the tenants call me and let me know something has broken, I immediately authorize the repairs because I don't want the house to go vacant. If we want this kind of responsiveness for all these government-run housing units, we need to unleash the power of the free market, sell them to private owners, and watch everything get fixed right away so the owners can maximize their cash flow.

HOMELESSNESS

GARDENING PROVIDES MORE THAN JUST FOOD

Practically every day I read in the newspaper about the homeless problem. It is a good thing that the government and people in the community are trying to find a place for them to stay and feed them.

But I think the problem of feeding the homeless can partially be solved or alleviated by teaching them to help themselves to plant their own vegetables and fruits in boxes or containers, if they do not have land space to plant. I have been planting mine in boxes and containers for years.

Also, perhaps the government could set aside a piece of property or properties that could be converted into gardens exclusively for the capable homeless to grow their own food with the help of the Agriculture Department, University of Hawai'i and other agencies. The surplus vegetables could be shared and given to other homeless people or given to the food bank to help people in need.

The above mentioned actions will make each person feel good about himself and help raise his or her self-esteem. For the adults and the children, gardening could be a fun thing, as well as a way to learn survival skills and perhaps a job skill.

DRUG TESTING

GOVERNOR'S MOTIVES POLITICAL, NOT ALTRUISTIC

The week before the teacher's conference, Gov. Linda Lingle slammed the negotiations team with an unprecedented demand — accept random drug testing or the contract package that was on the table was going to be taken away.

Random means you are subjecting a percentage of teachers with a test that has shown to have 30 percent false positives. However, HSTA is already behind drug testing, as long as it is done with reasonable suspicions!

Under Lingle's draconian, scapegoat proposal a totally clean teacher could register a false positive, and then have his or her image ruined in the community once that information got out. A teacher could eat a poppy seed muffin or be prescribed some legal medication or purchase an over-the-counter medicine and trigger a false positive.

Random drug testing as opposed to reasonable suspicion-based testing will take tons of money away from our already under-funded schools. In order to avoid a civil rights claim or a claim of a constitutional violation, nearly all the teachers will have to be tested equally. If Lingle is so concerned about a drug-free Hawai'i then why did she refuse Sen. Dan Inouye's ice intervention money that he received from the federal government? Her commitment to a drug-free Hawai'i depends on whether or not any political points can be scored.

Since Lingle is eyeing the Senate, I can only hope that Hawai'i has now seen the true colors of Linda Lingle and her political future is over in Hawai'i.

EDUCATION

CREATIVITY CRUCIAL IN TEACHING TODAY'S KIDS

In reference to "Teaching's an Art in Challenging Times," May 21:

I was once derided for bringing an algebra class to the Honolulu Zoo — but my students knew they had a bigger task to do than simply exchanging winks with swinging monkeys. Indeed, my inbox was soon flooded with brilliantly illustrated charts of animal population, pie diagrams of zoological diet, and a photographic collage of our math trip ingeniously expressed in algebraic equations.

As the chief receptor of messages in our modern society that's percolated by tons of information, our visual faculty has become more clamorous than ever.

Children need to learn to construct meaning from what they see as they render individual explication of thoughts and emotions through their exquisite masterpiece, be it a 3-D assemblage or digital image.

The processes of teaching and learning are not linear; art can inject the gaps with an intrinsic sense of fun and gratification so integral to the nifty construction of otherwise parched curricula.

Let me blatantly deliver the truth that in today's world of global engagement, merely acquiring skills for application is no longer enough. Creativity is the pivotal stimulus to growth, and opportunities for it must be afforded to our children.

KSBE SETTLEMENT

WILL ESTABLISHING SCHOOL IS SACROSANCT

The May 23 Advertiser article by Rick Daysog titled "School may face another lawsuit" states: "Kamehameha schools was founded by the 1884 will of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop. The school is a tax-exempt charity that educates children of Hawaiian ancestry."

It doesn't receive money from the federal, state or local government. As a private school, I believe it can lawfully exclude non-Hawaiians.

The princess's will was drawn up long before the U.S. government illegally overthrew the Hawaiian Monarchy. As a result, the will should be considered a sacrosanct document, not bound by current federal civil rights laws or subject to scrutiny by the Supreme Court.

Mr. David Rosen compares a fictitious admissions policy at Harvard University to that of Kamehameha Schools. He is comparing apples and oranges.

According to the television documentary, "The Trouble With Lawyers," even if a business is blameless, the company will often settle out and "pay tribute" rather than face a prolonged suit. This is no better than the days of Al Capone; it is extortion.

Is this what Mr. Rosen is attempting to do by seeking to start another frivolous lawsuit against Kamehameha Schools?

OUR RULE OF LAW FAILS WHEN IT IS PURCHASED

It is interesting that quotes in your newspaper articles fault the plaintiff in the Kamehameha Schools lawsuit because of the acceptance of some undisclosed payment to resolve the claim.

Is it not just as "unprincipled" and noteworthy in our society to pay money to secure a judicial ruling as it is to accept money to settle a dispute?

It seems correct and indisputable that Kamehameha Schools paid to keep the 8-7 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling as law instead of taking a chance that the Supreme Court would hear the case.

Is this not the purchase of a preferred "justice?"

Let's be fair to both sides when reporting on this case; those who purchase justice and those who accept money to disappear.

My conclusion is, regard-less of the merits of either side, that both parties are cut from the same unprincipled cloth and both seem to have a firm belief in the power of money.

The real loser here is the "rule of law" and that loss is priceless.