Letters to the Editor - Hawaii Editorials

The public schools actually have 10 noninstructional days per year. There are six waiver/professional development days as well as an administrative day, two teacher workdays and a union institute day.

[Fisherman]

Great letter, Jim.
Accurate analysis combined with a possible solution.

[itsumo]

Okinawans in middle of two bigger powers
.
Okinawa has for the most part always been either caught in the middle or stepped on by one. Prior to WWII Okinawa was repressed by the Japanese Government. The Japanese owned most of the good land, etc and the Okinawans were treated as a lessor class of people.
After WWII, the Americans controlled Okinawa and used it for Military Bases. The Okinawans had rights but again they were basically at the bottom of the food chain. The people, especially the young wanted to be returned to Japan.
In July of 1972 the reversion took place to Japan. Much improvements were made to the island, but again the Japanese moved in and took over with their money and power. The US Bases for the most part remained.
Okinawa was a vital strategic place on the earth's surface for a long time after WWII but with the advancement in transportation and communications it no longer holds the value it once did. It is time for the Marines to leave but keep the Air Force there.

[Mike]

I agree with Bob Hampton. B&B hotels are hotels and they do not belong in residential neighborhoods. Why is Ikaika Anderson trying to turn our neighborhoods into hotels?

[Flexo]

Bob Hampton raises some interesting questions about why certain council members would support B&Bs, even if most of them are located on the windward side of the island. Makes one wonder about their motives.
We already know the windward side council member is a shill for the B&B lobby so there's no surprise there but for the other to support Bill 7 makes one wonder.
And Hampton is right, the Mayor could easily end the debate with a veto. A good solution, the pro B&B council members can tell their clients they tried but lost.

[waimea jim]

What is the difference if they take unpaid holidays and developmental days as unpaid furlough days off?
The politicos and unions are just using the children as hostage in their bid for more money.

[Sgt Rock]

Let's not forget how the US first came to Okinawa, and why.

[jimhiro]

People like Eric Wada are the typical flame throwers who stir up resentment without presenting all the facts. Would the Okinawians be enjoying the liberty and freedom if the US did not defeat imperial Japan in WWII?? Who provided the aide to Japan after the War so that they cold rebuilt their economy to one of the best in the world. Who has been providing security for Japan so that they could channel their monies to build up their economy?? Okinawa was a desolate Island after the war and the Marine Corp base was located there before all the homes and towns were built around it. There was no industry on Okinawa and if it were not for the military bases, Okinawans would not have been able to earn a living. How quick we forget history?? You shound like another Obama supporter who forgets how the United States allowed a man of simple beginning to raise up and become the president of the United States.How dare you talk down the United States of America.

[alice]

please remove the US miltiary where and when they are not wanted. Japan and Germany, for exampler, can pay for their own defense. USA is in decline and drowning in debt.

[Derrick]

Most schools have already requested using some of their waiver/developmental days as instructional days. It is up to the DOE to approve their requests.

[alice]

alice wrote:

please remove the US miltiary where and when they are not wanted. Japan and Germany, for exampler, can pay for their own defense. USA is in decline and drowning in debt.

true...USA is indecline. Some "natives" are delighted but the problem is that their free money days may be over soon.

[Stumpy]

Mike wrote:

Why is Ikaika Anderson trying to turn our neighborhoods into hotels?

Tax generation, pure and simple. Why have a local family that sucks out money through welfare live in a home when you can have tourists that not only bring money into the state, they pay taxes instead of living on EBT. One is a plus, the other is a big minus. Polititians ALWAYS go for the wallet.

[wasted water]

kathy morris wrote that water percolating into the soil from sugar fields is replenishing the acquifer. she neglected to say that it is also heavily contaminated with chemical runoff as a number of maui's lower elevation wells will attest to. nothing wrong with the ag companies staying in business but long past due that they switched to less water hungry crops and better soil practices for a majority of their acreage.

apparently, ms. morris also thinks fresh fish comes from the grocery store. water that goes to the ocean is never "wasted"; it supports the life it was intended to before man came along and interrupted the flows. without water in our streams we lose our oopu, hihiwai, opae and their ability to return to the streams they were born to each year. water flowing to the ocean feeds the reefs and important native limu beds, and the fish that depend on them, and keeps our coastlines healthy - unless of course that water is full of red dirt from the sugar field runoff that happens after every big storm around here. kind of amazing we can go after individuals for runoff pollution but no one touches the mess that comes off the sugar fields. where's the swcd and the epa when you need them?

yeah, we like our black snow and red rain around here plenty - NOT!

[alice]

Kailua is fairly nice as a community

[swannie]

It's worth noting that in ww2 Imperial Japanese Forces made the locals on Okinawa commit suicide in large numbers in their fight to the finish. Completely different story when it came to the home islands. Okinawa should have been granted independence instead of being handed back to Japanese invaders.

[alice]

swannie makes a good point. But the USA wanted Japan to own Okinawa as they would be a key to containing the Soviet Union. Truman thought it important to American interests that Japan be strong, etc.

[Jess Seyno]

Ikaika Anderson doesn't even live in Kailua so what does he care if Kailua neighborhoods are overun with transient visitors. We already have people running hula schools, architecture companies and exercise classes out of their homes in our neighborhood. Great, now add a revolving door of overnight visitors to the mix. Hows that for a safe place to raise the kids. Anderson, Tam and Apo must have received heavy donations from the pro-B&B supporters. Money talks.

[coachrandy]

many schools are all ready using waiver/non-instructional days and converting them into instructional days. the process requires a petition to the BOE, not the DOE.

posters who ask why not use unpaid holidays as furlough days, well, if they are unpaid, then the state is not saving any money.

[alice]

Jess Seyno wrote:

Ikaika Anderson doesn't even live in Kailua so what does he care if Kailua neighborhoods are overun with transient visitors. We already have people running hula schools, architecture companies and exercise classes out of their homes in our neighborhood. Great, now add a revolving door of overnight visitors to the mix. Hows that for a safe place to raise the kids. Anderson, Tam and Apo must have received heavy donations from the pro-B&B supporters. Money talks.

good points. Anderson and his family have a very bad reputation in Kailua I am told.

[bigwhoop]

Mike wrote:

I agree with Bob Hampton. B&B hotels are hotels and they do not belong in residential neighborhoods. Why is Ikaika Anderson trying to turn our neighborhoods into hotels?

Because he is an idiot and y'all voted this idiot in to represent y'all. Remember this at the voting booth, for now you are stuck.

[alice]

alice wrote:

<quoted text>good points. Anderson and his family have a very bad reputation in Kailua I am told.

he was likely bought off by the rich