MAHALO

CARING FOLKS TOOK TIME TO HELP ELDERLY WOMAN

On Monday my elderly mother, while crossing the street at the corner of Beretania Street and Ward Avenue, tripped and fell. Luckily her hairline fractures aren't life threatening and she will recover in time.

Lucky we live in Hawai'i, where there are caring people who helped her to the sidewalk and called the paramedics, who were quick to respond. Much mahalo to those good Samaritans who took the time to help.

SEX EDUCATION

YOUNG PEOPLE NEED TO BE TAUGHT THE TRUTH

In a state with one of the highest rates of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, there are still some folks who don't get the message. Comprehensive sex education reduces the number of teens who get pregnant and/or get an STD. The play "It Can Happen to You" is a tried-and-true way to teach kids how to stay healthy. It's been around for 10 years and has been presented in schools all over the Islands and the Mainland.

Young people have a right to science-based sex education so they can make responsible decisions about their sexual health. We have read the comment sheets students have written after taking sex education classes, and are very distressed about the dangerous misinformation the kids pick up off the streets. They appreciated getting the truth.

Parents and our community have a responsibility to keep our young people safe and free of unwanted pregnancy, through science-based sex education.

PRESIDENTIAL RACE

SUPERDELEGATES MUST USE POLITICAL WISDOM

John Cheever is so wrong (Letters, April 5).

Hillary Clinton has the qualifications and ability to be a great president and to help us to catch up with the rest of the world in electing capable women.

France, however, turned one down in the last election and they are regretting it.

It is Barack Obama who is not ready and has not earned it. His three years in the Senate provide a very thin resume. The superdelegates are there for one reason: to use their political wisdom in just such a case.

They are not there to rubberstamp the primaries, which may have been affected by crossover Republicans.

AGE IS NOT A FACTOR IN HIS BID FOR PRESIDENCY

This is in response to Sally Raisbeck's (April 9) comment about McCain's age and his ability to perform as president.

Aging is an individual thing, not to be generalized. I just received my Ph.D. at 72. My health is great. Let McCain decide if he feels he is up to the rigors of a presidency. After all, he is, and always has been, his own best judge of his physical state.

Consider what he went through and where he is today. McCain is an honest man who would tell us if he isn't up to the presidency. Others shouldn't imply otherwise.

PRISONS

AUDIT NECESSARY FOR CONTRACT OVERSIGHT

Having an audit of private prisons with Hawai'i inmates is a must.

With the state spending $50 million a year to provide for the inmates, we should see by an audit that the contract is being complied with.

Senate Bill 2342 should be adopted and enforced.

RECYCLING

WIRE BASKETS IN PARKS A CLEAN, DIGNIFIED IDEA

I'm not sure where the county stands on recycling in public parks these days. But I have heard compelling arguments from the city parks director that "the parks department's limited financial resources are best put to other priorities." A second part of this argument is that some individuals — independent collectors — are currently fulfilling that recycling service, by gathering HI-5 containers from parks' trash cans and redeeming them. His argument implies a self-sustained recycling system in the parks already.

This is an open-minded, humanitarian stance, coming from parks management, with the recognition that these collectors are benefiting personally — in a small way — by doing this public service. I really agree with this opinion and support it.

However, I think there is an equally valid argument that should be considered, in support of installing small, wire-basket-like fixtures in parks — designated for people to deposit their recyclable bottles and cans. (Probably 5- or 10-gallon size would be big enough.) Maybe the best way to present this argument is in question form:

What is more "dignified" for the community — for everybody in the community, including the person collecting recyclable containers, all the people in the park, parents and children and visitors to the islands — at the time he is doing it?

The question is, which is more "dignified" for everybody — for the City Council and the mayor, the Legislature and governor and the community as a whole?

That person collecting these containers from a garbage can — with a mixture of who knows what health hazards and flies swarming inside it — or the same person collecting those same containers from a designated recycling basket, installed by the county/state parks departments?

POLITICS

ELECTED OFFICIALS WASTE OUR TIME, MONEY

Our spineless politicians are driving me crazy. I'm born and raised here and never paid attention to what was happening here when visiting. However, since moving back and reading what these politicians are doing, it makes me want to scream!

They can't stick to their commitments. Now they're re-thinking the steel-wheels issue; they squandered years of negotiating on the OHA ceded lands issue, there's the Superferry, and the Kaka'ako Makai A&B project, where they wimped out to a small group of protesters.

No decision is ever going to satisfy everyone, haven't they learned that by now? Delaying decisions, re-studying, re-visiting costs time and money. Not to mention wasted time and money.

Thank heavens for Mayor Mufi and Governor Lingle. They have the guts to make a decision and stick to it.

When I left Honolulu, Hawai'i had one of the best public school systems in the nation. I went to Kalakaua and Farrington. The public schools nowadays are just horrendous, with violence and dilapidated facilities. Our famous roads are in the news almost daily, there's a water main break almost every week. Homeless people issues, affordable housing, I can go on and on, it's never-ending.

AIRLINE INDUSTRY

RECONSIDER USE OF TAX DOLLARS TO AID TRAVELERS

Millions of tax dollars to provide for charters for "stranded" travelers, victims of the recent airline bankruptcies?

While I have sympathy for these travelers, there are other alternatives. Fliers who purchased by credit card should be able to file for refunds under the Fair Credit Billing Act. I find it hard to believe that vacationers who can afford a vacation to Hawai'i can't manage to afford an extra return ticket. Help the folks who need it on an individual basis.

This ridiculous, exaggerated, knee-jerk reaction should be immediately reconsidered.

I have $2,000 dollars' worth of advanced purchased tickets on ATA for flights in June and November. Is the HTA going to help this citizen of Hawai'i out, too?

ECONOMY

PROFESSORS OFF-BASE IN CRITICIZING BUSINESSES

I am getting quite disgusted reading letters from UH professors trashing capitalism and "corporate greed" while sitting in their tenured academic ivory tower feeding off the tax base created by the "greedy" capitalists.

As an owner of three small businesses employing more than 80 people, I would ask the professors: How many people are on their payroll, and how many jobs have they created?

Running a business in Hawai'i is a 24/7 job filled with risk and no guarantees. Tenure is found only working for UH, not in the real world.

Please don't lecture us about something about which you know not the least.

These recent job losses in Hawai'i will be made up one to two jobs at a time, as these displaced workers are absorbed into the small business community. They will be employed by people willing to take risks and face obstacles you can never imagine unless you've walked in their shoes.

Corporations are not all faceless, rapacious beasts exploiting helpless workers. They are your neighbors and regular people trying to survive in a competitive world.

OIL PRICES

CONGRESS MUST REVIEW ITS ETHANOL MANDATE

The price of oil is now over $100 a barrel. The rising price of fuel is raising the costs of producing and transporting food products around the world. Congress' requirement that ethanol be mixed in with fuel did not help matters, and in fact may have made matters worse.

Ethanol-added fuel is known to be less efficient than regular fuel (which actually burns more fuel for the same distance plus the added costs of converting corn into ethanol), eliminating any advantages of using it over regular fuel.

Complicating matters, farmers have been replacing soy, wheat and rice crops with corn which is used to make ethanol.

This reduced the total tonnage of grain products available to feed the world's population, thereby increasing demand which raises the prices of these products.

There has been unrest in Mexico and Egypt due to the rising costs for these food staples. Rice exports in India and Vietnam have been strongly curtailed in order to provide food for their own people. Countries dependent on these exports are now in a mad rush to fill the shortages in order to prevent any civil unrest amongst the poor who can ill afford the rising prices of food.

Congress should review the ethanol mandate, as it may be prudent to overturn the requirement of ethanol-based fuel in order to bring some sense into the current market for grains.