TANGIBLE RETURN

JUNE JONES BROUGHT PRESTIGE, MONEY TO UH

In response to Stuart Yamane's letter (Jan. 25) asking why we don't get as outraged and vocal when an educator leaves, the answer is money and prestige.

June Jones brought oodles of it to the University of Hawai'i and the state.

How many teachers bring as much tangible returns, other than, say, those in the university's medical school involved in breakthrough research in potentially lucrative fields such as cloning?

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

HUGS SENDS FOND ALOHA TO JUNE JONES

I think it is important for the people of our state to know that besides his role as UH's football coach, June Jones made a great difference for many Hawai'i families.

Over the past eight years, Coach Jones has been very involved with our organization, HUGS (Help, Understanding & Group Support). For the past 25 years, HUGS has provided support and services (free of charge) to families across the state of Hawai'i who have children with life-threatening illnesses or medically fragile conditions.

Coach Jones approached HUGS in 1999 and has been one of our most generous donors ever since. Through his own resources and those of his foundation, he has supported our fundraisers, provided funding through his Warrior Quarterbacks for Charity event and annual fun runs and even shared his team members with our families at a family event.

We will greatly miss Coach Jones and will always appreciate his kindness and aloha for HUGS.

On behalf of the HUGS families, thank you, coach! We will miss you and wish you well!

CHILDREN

ABUSE, NEGLECT ARE EVERYONE'S KULEANA

Ten years ago, I was a foster parent for more than two years. CPS had removed two young children from their parents who were heavy drug users. Some said not to get involved, even though these babies were my close family members. "It's not your responsibility," I was told.

Now I look back at the sacrifices I made for them: my health, finances, career, marriage, relationships. They all suffered — and many family relationships remain strained and broken today because of my commitment to the safety and well-being of these children.

However, I would do it all again if it means saving their lives.

If anyone is going through a similar situation, be vigilant and do what needs to be done despite your own personal cost. Don't just rely on the Department of Human Services to handle it. Innocent lives are at stake, and it's everyone's kuleana.

HOMELESSNESS

FAMILY PROMISE HELPS FAMILIES GET HOUSING

I applaud Mary Vorsino's Jan. 15 article, "Hawai'i plans $20M homeless shelter."

Homelessness continues to be a major struggle, and efforts to alleviate this critical situation are greatly appreciated.

Family Promise of Hawai'i is another resource that is working to end homelessness. Since July 2007, Family Promise of Hawai'i has operated a 24-hour Honolulu emergency shelter for homeless families with children. We provide 14 shelter beds in Honolulu and 14 shelter beds in Windward O'ahu.

Since launching our operations in March 2006, we've helped more than 100 children and parents secure housing. More than 80 percent of our guest families transition out of homelessness into housing, usually in three to four months.

Family Promise of Hawai'i functions by partnering with 54 congregations to provide accommodation in their houses of worship. We depend on more than 1,200 caring volunteers to help families transition into sustainable independence.

We look forward to our continued partnership with the state, city, Next Step, IHS and all the other organizations and individuals working to end homelessness.

ILLEGAL RENTALS

PRESERVING KAILUA RESPONSIBILITY OF ALL

I've lived in Kailua for nearly 50 years and I have seen this town change quite a bit. I enjoy never having to leave it because we have great restaurants and shopping, not to mention one of the best stretches of beach in the Islands.

I have also operated a residential cleaning business for 18 years. I have worked for B&Bs and vacation rental owners in the past, but recently I have felt a need to take my own stand on the issue.

I believe regulation and taxes are necessary to help protect our tourists and our own family neighborhood environment.

Too often to count, I have had a visitor stop into my office inquiring about a place to stay. They find an unlicensed B&B on the Internet. They arrive in Kailua and find that the rented room with a kitchen, is nothing more than an enclosed garage with lots of bugs, no windows, and the advertised kitchen is a bathroom sink. In these cases, I refer them to a reputable service, one I use personally.

I have experienced deceitful owners who operate illegally. I know of booking agents who rent properties knowing they are not properly licensed.

At the same time, we have an escalating homeless crisis. We as a community are displacing people who would gladly rent a room to keep off the beach.

For the future of our own children, we should all be responsible and take a stand and preserve the Kailua we all have grown to know and love.

So whenever I get a call from a vacation rental or B&B owner asking if I will clean for them, my first question is always: "Are you licensed?"

Guess how many of these properties I clean now?

EDUCATION

SINGLE SCHOOL DISTRICT NEEDS TO BE BROKEN UP

An Associated Press story in The Advertiser reports that a private consulting firm has concluded more than one out of five state Department of Education teachers don't meet federal standards because they are unqualified in the subjects they teach.

In the same edition, one reads a report by Advertiser staff writer Eloise Aguiar that elected state Board of Education members have voted not to fund a drug-testing program for public school teachers.

As a public school teacher, I find this very interesting. The contract — between my union and that very same state Board of Education, signed by the Department of Education superintendent and BOE member Denise Matsumoto and ratified by more than 60 percent of my fellow teachers — specifically included the random drug-testing provision.

And now, a half year later, the BOE wants to renege? Because there is not enough money? There is $2.5 billion dumped into the DOE in a single year and they don't have enough money? Gimme a break! How come they never mentioned this before they signed the contract, eh?

Unqualified teachers put into classrooms by the DOE and ex post facto contract hocus-pocus to steal even more money from taxpayers?

How much more convincing do Advertiser readers need to conclude a ConCon is necessary to break up this utterly dysfunctional BOE-DOE charade and replace it with real (locally controlled) school districts?

TRANSIT

LET'S MOVE FORWARD, NOT ROUND AND ROUND

Progress is hard because people like to go round and round in circles rather than move forward. This can be said of the recent discussions on technology and HOT lanes/bus versus rail.

The City Council chose a fixed guideway mass transit project more than a year ago. Now, some want to revisit that decision and go back to HOT lanes and express buses.

Jeremy Harris pushed for these same express bus guideways that he called bus rapid transit. There was huge public resistance to this plan.

The express buses would've taken lanes away from existing traffic. Two lanes in each direction on several major roads became "dedicated lanes." This was necessary to keep the "rapid" in bus rapid transit.

HOT is not new technology. It's the same thing — restricted lanes that take away traffic lanes from cars. Drivers would be forced into fewer lanes, unless they're willing pay the toll to drive in the bus lanes.

Mayor Mufi Hannemann is right to propose an independent expert panel. If left to others, we would find ourselves going round and round in circles and not moving forward.

DAIRY SHUTDOWN

WHY DO WE FAIL TO ENCOURAGE FARMING?

Holding humiliating signs attached to brooms, scowling Honolulu mothers marched past burly union members who were allowing milk to sour on cargo boats during the 1949 dock strike. Marching mothers helped open the docks and milk reached keiki.

Even back then, the output of local dairies was limited. Does the local milk shutdown reflect two aspects of political thinking?