EDUCATION

ARTISTS READY TO HELP BRING ARTS TO SCHOOLS

Your editorial, "Arts must have a role in children's education" (March 31), hopefully will create a groundswell of support for this vital subject, which is woefully lacking in today's education of our children.

Artists are a vital force in society. They help prevent inflexibility in the community. They are a source of rejuvenation, a bulwark against intractable fundamentalism, stagnation and creative sterility.

As someone once said, if science has made life easier for us, then it's the arts that have made life worth living.

These things alone should motivate educators to inculcate meaningful art programs in today's schools.

Most artists stand ready to assist. They only need to be asked.

LOTTERY

LEGALIZED GAMBLING CRUEL HOAX ON THE POOR

Having lived in Maryland, an early lottery state, I can tell you a lottery is not a good thing.

We were sold a bill of goods that lottery dollars would go to education, but very quickly those dollars went to the general fund. Lotteries are a cruel hoax on the poor, who spend their meager earnings in the hopes of winning a jackpot.

Prior to lotteries, slot machines were legal in my county, and I remember watching poor people pouring their money into a machine while their unkempt children were standing next to them. I remember the expression on their faces when they lost.

Other states have adopted lotteries because of lost revenue to adjoining states. We do not have that problem. We also do not have the moral dilemma of state-sponsored gambling.

Please, let's leave it that way. The poor are poor enough without taking their money by legalizing gambling.

MUNITIONS

AT THE TIME, OCEAN WAS CONSIDERED A SAFE SITE

Advertiser reporter Will Hoover writes that the Wai'anae Neighborhood Board is demanding the Army clean up the chemical and other munitions that were dumped in the ocean after World War II ("Wai'anae gets tough on Army," April 7).

What was left out was that Tad Davis, the Army's deputy assistant secretary for the environment, in his two Wai'anae community meetings in March 2006, said that the hazardous munitions were in Hawai'i during the war in the event they were needed against the enemy.

He also said that at the time there was no safe way to dispose of them on land. To do so would have posed a great danger to the environment and life. He said that dumping the munitions in the ocean was determined to be the only safe alternative. That dumping violated no federal or local ordinances.

The reason I know this is because I was at both meetings to represent Wai'anae's VFW Post 849.

RESOURCE PROTECTION

DLNR NEEDS MORE ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS

Peter Young, director of the Department of Land and Natural Resources, has asked the Legislature for 40 new enforcement officers and 10 support staff for the Division of Conservation and Resource Enforcement over the next two years.

As a fisherman and hunter, I looked forward to the day our laws would be finally enforced with an adequate number of personnel. Unfortunately, Rep. Marcus Oshiro, chairman of the House Finance Committee, awarded only four officer positions, with support staff, for each of the two years.

The Senate version of the budget was more promising, but when the budget goes to conference I fear that if the House Finance Committee is not urged to protect our natural resources by approving a substantial amount of enforcement personnel, things will not get better.

This is a golden opportunity for the public to make a difference. If you care about this issue, please contact legislators and let them know how badly we want more enforcement officers.

INTERDICTION

BROWN TREE SNAKE FUNDING MUST CONTINUE

So far, Hawai'i has been successful in keeping out the dangerous brown tree snake. But federal funding to search for the snakes on ships and planes leaving Guam may end, and everyone in Hawai'i may be at risk.

The snakes have decimated most of the bird species on Guam. They're also responsible for power outages, and have been known to bite babies in their cribs.

The interdiction program on Guam is being cut May 31. Why?

Because of the war in Iraq, Congress does not feel that the expenditure of $2 million a year is warranted to prevent an environmental catastrophe. It is imperative that this highly destructive and dangerous snake not be introduced into Hawai'i.

It is ludicrous that this successful program is ending. Please write your representatives regarding this very serious matter.

LEGISLATURE

SENATE RESOLUTION CALLS FOR BUSH IMPEACHMENT

Today is the deadline for Senate Concurrent Resolution 83 to be scheduled for a hearing.

This resolution calls on Congress to begin impeachment proceedings against President Bush and Vice President Cheney.

Sen. Clayton Hee, as chairman of the Judiciary and Labor Committee, will decide whether SCR 83 will be heard. Whether you are for or against it, please let Hee know that you think this issue ought to at least be debated and heard by his committee.

Please take one minute of your time and get involved — politics is not a spectator sport.

As the citizen who requested and helped in the forming of this resolution, I am clearly in favor of it being heard and passed by the Legislature.

Whether you agree with me or not, you need to stand and be counted before a decision is made for you.

IRAN

WHAT U.S. CAN LEARN ABOUT INTERROGATION

The April 8 Focus section included a commentary with the headline, "What we can learn from U.K. about Iran." I would rewrite the headline to ask, "What can we learn from Iran about interrogating prisoners?"

After only two weeks of imprisonment, the British soldiers were confessing and thanking their captives on television.

After five years of aggressive interrogation (aka torture) at prisons such as Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, all we get is very bad world press.

The British need to train their soldiers better on how to hold up under interrogation, and we need to start hiring the Iranians to interrogate our enemy combatants.

HEALTHCARE

HHSC DISMANTLING NOT IN ISLES' BEST INTEREST

Congratulations on your editorial opposing Senate Bill 1792, which would dismantle an important system that has strengthened Hawai'i's health safety net for the past decade.

I have been closely involved with the Hawai'i Health Systems Corporation and its predecessor organization for more than 20 years.

In the early 1990s, I was a consultant to the governor's task force whose recommendations led to the creation of HHSC.

That task force originally called for the establishment of regional governing boards and the delegation of considerable operating autonomy to each of the five regions.

The task force also intended Hawai'i's state hospitals to benefit from the efficiencies and economies of scale that would be inherent in a true system.

Sadly, the proponents of SB 1792 would achieve autonomy for just one region of HHSC, the Maui region, at the expense of dismantling and potentially destroying the HHSC system.

I don't believe this bill is even in the best interests of Maui. So many of the improvements achieved by HHSC even on Maui would have been far more difficult for the state's hospitals to achieve on a fragmented, stand-alone basis.

On Maui, these include a beautiful new hospital wing and the development of many state-of-the-art services. Hard-won improvements could be easily reversed if an effective system like HHSC is dismantled.

HHSC can benefit from carefully considered organizational and structural reforms, including greater regional autonomy and implementation of the community-based governance originally envisioned for the system. But such reforms require a balance between systemwide and regional functions and responsibilities.

Legislators should revive the original proposal to create regional, community-based boards.

ELECTRICITY

WHY DON'T ISLES USE PHOTOVOLTAIC PANELS?

Thank you for Jan TenBruggencate's article, "Input sought on sustainability" (April 2). As a visitor to O'ahu from Denmark, I have to wonder why households in Hawai'i must pay electricity bills at all.

It would be a simple matter to have photovoltaic panels on most rooftops in the Islands.

Combined with some good Danish-design windmills, you can obtain the entire electric needs for 95 percent of Hawai'i households off your abundant natural, inexhaustible resources.

One wonders why this was not done a long time ago.