POWER OUTAGE

HECO NEEDS TO INSTALL BETTER EQUIPMENT

With all the money we pay HECO for electricity, you would think that they would install equipment that is less prone to failure in weather-related events.

Each time we experience thunderstorms or high winds and rain, we cringe and hope the power does not go off, because if it does it may take nearly a full day or two to restore.

During this time, we are advised to be patient, as the electricity will come back up in pockets starting with the communities closest to the power plants.

I hope something is done to improve the reliability of our electric service during severe weather or natural disasters. Until then, I don't look forward to the next thunderstorm.

ONLINE NEWS REPORTS GAVE KEY INFORMATION

I am not the type to fire off a letter to the editor, but just had to write to thank you for your up-to-date and consistent coverage throughout the night during the O'ahu power failure.

I was checking all media Web sites looking for information, including TV and radio, and none originally had any information.

Yours was the first I found with any report, and your regular updates made us feel safe and informed. I am very impressed and thank your reporters, who obviously worked through the night.

We hear many reports of the demise of the print media, but I say Long Live the Newspaper.

IS HAWAI'I REALLY PART OF DEVELOPED WORLD?

One has to wonder what tourists think of our Islands, with islandwide power outages, sewer main bursts allowing raw sewage to flow into the ocean, potholed streets and homeless persons edging out the visitors at the beaches.

Is this a 21st-century metropolis with plans for a $5.3 billion transit system, or is this a struggling Third World country?

WORLD TRADE CENTER

GRIEVED FOR ALL WHO FACED TERRIBLE OPTIONS

I stood at the window of my 21st-floor hotel room looking down at the pool and the marina. I didn't have any idea what was happening.

There was a little lightning and no thunder where we were, not enough to warrant total blackout, so my first thought was that there was a terrorist attack. I wondered how, with some really bad knees and the elevators out, I would get down to street level if that were so or if there was a fire.

Then I thought of all the people on the high floors of the World Trade Center. What terror and panic must they have felt? Looking down, I wondered how terrible not jumping must have been for them to jump from many times that height.

The World Trade Center, on television, in the hugeness of the happening, had an almost movie quality. It was difficult to anchor those people in reality, to put them in the perspective of one of your family being mortally wounded or killed, or a close friend or neighbor in a tragedy. But for those moments, I felt a small pang of their fear and I grieved for all the people who faced that choice.

HOLIDAY TRADITION

WILL MISS CHRISTMAS SHOW AT ALA MOANA

For the past five years, I've taken my children to see the Christmas of Aloha show at Ala Moana Center stage.

On Dec. 23 we heard it was their last show, and I can't express how much we'll miss the smiling faces of the soldier and Mele and Merry. They have been a part of our family's Christmas tradition, and I am thankful we were able to buy some CDs and the book to keep it going year after year.

We appreciate the spirit of Christmas the cast shares with us each show. Thank you so much for your dedication. I wish we knew how to support the show to keep it going.

CLASSROOM

ARTS HELP BRING FORTH A GOOD EDUCATION

Mahalo for the Dec. 22 Page One article on the promise and plight of the arts in education by Loren Moreno, pointing out the enlightened rescue work being done by forward-thinking principals, teachers and programs offered by the Honolulu Academy of Arts, the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts and the Hawai'i Arts Alliance.

The arts are basic core disciplines in both Hawai'i state and federal mandates, although actual classroom practice and parental thinking rarely acknowledge this.

In its Latin origin and original meaning, the word educare (education) refers to the process of bringing forth, a role for which the arts are ideally suited.

The arts can lead to higher levels of personal awareness, creativity, expressiveness and productivity. Integrated with the other core disciplines, they enliven and refresh the whole learning process, making what is learned more enjoyable and memorable. In these ways the arts offer meaning, energy and engagement to what otherwise marches on as indoctrination.

For many, the arts and physical activity are the most exciting parts of the school day. Even so-called at-risk students can become eager learners through the arts. As Palolo Elementary School principal Ruth Silberstein said, "the results we see are phenomenal."

The arts are the juicy, round part of a well-rounded education.

Related to the so-called un-testability of the arts, Albert Einstein said: "Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts."

LOST ANIMALS

AVOID HEARTACHE; MICROCHIP YOUR PET

As a volunteer with the Hawaiian Humane Society, it breaks my heart to see the lost pets that come in without tags or microchips.

A collar can come off, but a microchip is a guarantee that owner and pet can be reunited. It's so easy, inexpensive and painless for the animal, and the joy of seeing the owner and pet find each other again is wonderful to see.

As we come upon New Year's Eve, many dogs and cats, afraid of fireworks noise, escape and can't find their way home. For all animal lovers and owners, the pain of the loss and unknown is the worst. You can avoid that pain by microchipping your pets and making sure they are safe and indoors this New Year's Eve.

We don't want to see the lost dog/cat section filled!