SACRIFICE

ELIMINATE HOLIDAYS TO IMPROVE SCHOOLS

"Kodomo No Tame Ni" is the title of the book describing the sacrifice the early Japanese immigrants made for their children. I want to propose an easy sacrifice we can make. That is to sacrifice a few of the holidays that government workers have.

I would remove all of the religious holidays except the one with the giving and sharing — I don't want to be hanged for trying to eliminate Christmas.

Teachers are always asked to sacrifice their time, and we know that time is money. In fact, I think people expect it of teachers.

I would be curious to know how much money we would have for our schools by eliminating just one state holiday. For the sake of the kids.

TIME RATING

AKAKA CAN BE PROUD OF HIS SENATE LEGACY

Mr. David Shapiro's latest ruminations on Ed Case's challenge to Dan Akaka (and the entire congressional delegation) again prompt me to opine.

A local Honolulu columnist (the other daily paper) pretends he can't believe that Time's biggest shareholder, Steve Case, had a role in the shockingly subjective story helping Case's first cousin by calling opponent Daniel Akaka one of the five worst U.S. senators. I can't believe anything else explains the "timely" decision to include Akaka (one of the most beloved figures in the U.S. Senate) with a crop of Abramhoff lackeys, immigrant bashers, dullards and lame ducks like Bunning, Dayton, Allard and Burns.

On the same page that Akaka is branded parochial because he stays focused on the work of powerful Senate money committees, allowing Senior Sen. Inouye the limelight, Time lauds Sen. Kyl of Arizona for staying hidden in the shadows and mastering the art of "subterfuge." And why was Sen. Akaka not given a chance to talk about the funding he has provided for military bases (like Maine's Snow) or the bills for disadvantaged Native Hawaiians that he helped get passed?

Sen. Akaka succeeded in getting Congress and the president to apologize to Native Hawaiians for colonial exploitation by the U.S. He has a far better chance of returning a measure of sovereignty to a Native Hawaiian "nation within a nation" than Ed Case and his billionaire cousin will ever have.

This is a legacy any U.S. senator can and should be proud of, which few others will ever match.

MONEY ONLY

INSURANCE FIRMS DON'T PROVIDE HEALTHCARE

Regarding the April 24 article "State reconsidering healthcare shake-up": Health insurance companies are not, nor have they ever been, healthcare providers. These companies take money from the government (taxpayers), companies or individuals, and dole it out to the actual healthcare providers, the doctors, hospitals, etc.

And with regard to AlohaCare, its ad campaign "Thanks, doc!" is quite appropriate. Patients with this coverage should give their doctors a big, grateful hug every time they see them.

QUEST

MORE COMPETITION MEANS BETTER CHOICE

I think Lillian B. Koller's commentary titled "Medical competition is beneficial" in the April 23 Focus section was right on target.

Increasing the number of health insurance plan choices for a Quest participant will increase competition and give the end user more flexibility when choosing the plan that fits his needs.

Some of our politicians seem to be against change. However, they must remember that although change is not always easy, it is a vital part of evolution.

Mahalo to Lillian Koller for looking out for our Quest program.

MAYOR WRIGHT

LILIHA HAS HAD ITS FAIR SHARE OF HOMELESS

I am disturbed reading that Liliha's Mayor Wright Homes is one of three considered for a homeless camp.

Liliha has received its fair share of homeless. Iwilei, Chinatown, not only 'A'ala Park but a deep community park like Kunawai Park is plagued by homeless.

On another thought, why can't 'A'ala Park be closed for safety and sanitary reasons?

SYMPHONY

ORCHESTRA, JANG GAVE SPIRITED CONCERT

Sunday's Honolulu Symphony performance was wonderful. Ruth Bingham, as always, wrote knowledgeably and accurately about the pieces performed on Friday. However, on Sunday, what we experienced was a performance by Ignace Jang so expertly delivered that he received a standing ovation and cries of "Hana hou." On the minus side was the choice of the pieces for the first half of the program. Not good.

The second half of the program was fantastic, beautiful, awesome. The selection of Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 was an excellent choice, as Ruth Bingham stated. Not only that, but the quality of the performance of the orchestra was nothing short of wonderful. I would use the word amazing, but we shouldn't be amazed.

This is really a talented orchestra. The orchestra and conductor Samuel Wong (do I detect a bit more drama in his conducting lately?) couldn't have been better. They, too, received a well-deserved standing ovation.

I had decided not to buy symphony tickets this year but to be satisfied with opera tickets. Then a friend gave me her ticket for Sunday's performance. So I looked over the programs for coming events and have decided not to hang back and buy a last-minute ticket to certain programs. I will make my selections now as there are some very good programs coming up.

CLEAN IT UP

TRASH: STOP SHIRKING YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES

I am appalled at how much garbage is littering out streets and business areas. Just walk down Kapi'olani Boulevard to see the filth for yourself.

I called the mayor's office on this before, but he refused to do anything about it. Businesses and people should be ashamed of the way this island looks these days. Let's get off our butts and clean up O'ahu. Stop shirking your responsibilities, everyone. Including you, Mayor.

SEWAGE

REDREDGE THE CANAL

I hope after the recent sewage dump in the Ala Wai that the city will redredge the canal to clean the sediment and ensure no long-term health risk to canal and boat harbor users. This is the very least the city can do to clean the waterway.

OUTSTANDING WARRANTS

JUDICIARY COMPUTER WORKING WELL

Jim Dooley's April 17 article, "Outstanding traffic warrants piling up," leaves the wrong impression that the Judiciary Information Management System, the Judiciary's new computer system, has exacerbated the backlog of unserved arrest warrants issued for traffic offenders who failed to appear in court for a scheduled hearing or trial.

The problem of unserved warrants existed long before JIMS was launched in November, and the problem will continue to exist as long as sheriff and police resources are insufficient to serve the warrants.

JIMS will help reduce the work involved in processing warrants for service and thus improve public safety. Currently, when a judge orders a bench warrant or other service document to be issued and served on a defendant, court staff must first create the document, print it, impress a seal on it, scan it into the new computer system, and then deliver the bench warrant to a law enforcement agency for service. Once a bench warrant is delivered to a law enforcement agency for service, that agency must enter data about the bench warrant into its own computer system, then file the bench warrant in a file cabinet or on a shelf, pending service.

The process is very laborious and paper-intensive for both court and law enforcement agency staff. Because there is only one paper warrant that can be served on a defendant, when a police officer stops a defendant with an outstanding warrant, the officer must drive to the location of the paper warrant to serve the warrant on the defendant.

The Judiciary, with the support of the law enforcement community, has pushed for legislation that will allow the courts to electronically sign and seal bench warrants and digitally store them so that it will no longer be necessary to print, endorse and deliver bench warrants to the law enforcement agencies for service, and law enforcement officers will be able to print the bench warrant on demand when a defendant is stopped and available for service.

JIMS will thus result in cost and time savings for the courts and law enforcement agencies and enhance public safety, since bench warrants will be processed quicker and printed on demand.

Bringing in a new, statewide computer system, especially one with more than 3.5 million records that must process thousands of traffic cases and financial transactions monthly, is never easy.

Our dedicated court staff — in addition to performing their regular work and in spite of problems stemming from an inability to fill a number of vacant positions due to the state's low unemployment rate — put in a lot of overtime to make the implementation of the traffic module of the new system happen.

They recognize the long-term vision of the system to implement a statewide automated integrated case management system that, when fully implemented, will allow courts at all levels and on all islands to manage and view all information associated with individual cases; eliminate redundant data entry; generate court notices and orders automatically; improve monitoring of compliance with sentences and court orders; allow 24-hour electronic filing of court documents; reduce paper and storage costs; and provide timely and accurate information to criminal justice agencies.

SEWAGE SPILL FINE WOULD ONLY HURT CITY'S TAXPAYERS

After the last fine directed at the City and County of Honolulu by the Department of Health, I called the governor's Office of Information to point out that this fine is actually a tax on the already-overburdened local property taxpayer. Its response was less than helpful.

The governor's office flippantly stated that this wasn't a problem for them and shouldn't be a problem for me as a homeowner because the funds stayed within the government. However, even though the funds do stay within the government, fining the city and county doesn't help fix the problem — neither by offering any planning and engineering solutions, nor by helping fund or finance the necessary improvements to the infrastructure.

Furthermore, this is actually a "backdoor" way of grabbing property tax revenues for the state coffers when the property taxation by law is a right given only to the city and county.

The same applies to threats by state Department of Health and federal EPA to tax (fine) the City and County of Honolulu property taxpayers for the sewer spill resulting from our 42-day deluge. Who threatened to fine New Orleans after the Katrina flooding and sewer spill? What, wasn't New Orleans' sewer spill worse?

At least Honolulu's rapid response kept the sewage out of our homes, businesses, hotels and streets. Honolulu's response kept the crisis as a manageable emergency and minimized the public health consequences.

This sewer spill is being misrepresented in the media and overexaggerated in people's minds. After all, it is clearly not as toxic as the nerve gas dumped just off Wai'anae.

From many aspects, this crisis management was the best option. Fines and threats of fines are clearly inappropriate. Funding and planning is a better and more logical choice. If this natural disaster wasn't funneled off shore, then the city and county would have qualified for FEMA funding.

Send cash — don't rob the taxpayer.