MAHALO

WALLET FOUND INTACT AND RETURNED TO OWNER

I take my hat off to thank Mr. Gerald Teramae, Kalani High School principal, and the custodian named Art.

Recently, after watching my grandson play basketball at the gym, I returned home only to realize that I had lost my wallet.

I contacted Mr. Teramae, and he assured me that he would look for it the first thing next morning.

After a sleepless night, I returned the following morning to the school to inquire about the wallet. Miraculously, it had been found under the bleachers.

Credit cards and cash were all still in the wallet.

One cannot realize how great a loss it would be until it happens. My heartfelt thank you and appreciation to these fine gentlemen for their honesty and integrity.

FATAL CRASH

ACCIDENT STORY MIXED APPLES AND ORANGES

The Advertiser has mixed apples and oranges and injected politics into a tragic accident. I refer to the death of a construction worker on Fort Weaver Road caused by a driver who, apparently, should have been home in bed instead of driving on a busy road. A co-worker was seriously injured.

A large part of the article reminded us of Gov. Linda Lingle's non-release of $3 million for safety improvements and the AARP's criticism of $18.5 million to be spent by the state and federal governments for pedestrian safety.

All $21.5 million could have been spent however the Democratic Legislature and AARP wanted to spend it, and it would not have prevented this accident and the death and serious injuries of two honest workers earning their daily wages.

You are being disingenuous when you inject your political views into articles such as this one.

Enforcement of laws and driver education will go further than throwing money at Band-Aid fixes.

TRANSIT

INCREASING BUSES IS A MORE SENSIBLE SYSTEM

When the mass transit system was first proposed, it was treated as a plan of alleviating traffic congestion.

To ease traffic congestion, 20,000-plus drivers must be encouraged to leave their vehicles at home and ride whatever system is decided upon.

One important point that has not been mentioned is that in order to ease traffic congestion, the 20,000-plus commuters have to be transported before 8 a.m., when most people have to be at work.

If they can't be at work by 8 a.m., they will resort to using their personal vehicles.

What kind of system can be used in Hawai'i to transport that number of commuters before 8 a.m.? Is there a system capable of transporting that number of commuters in such a short period of time?

A more sensible solution would be to subsidize the bus system. Increase the number of express buses, and lower the fare so it becomes too good a deal to pass up.

MIDEAST

OUR PAST ACTIONS ARE CAUSE FOR TERRORISM

A response to two Iraq letters in the Aug. 7 paper:

I wish Rob McCabe ("Paper keeping Iraq war in persepctive") and President Bush would explain to all of us just how the injuries and deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis and thousands of our troops are protecting our freedom. We are losing freedom and creating more terrorists.

Michael Kemna ("Both mission, troops must have our support") writes that "real support means supporting the mission" and the troops.

Just what is this "mission" and how will we know when we have completed it?

Bush's stated mission of a "war on terrorism" was really a war of terrorism, creating many more U.S.-hating potential terrorists than we have killed.

We have incited this civil/religious holy war going on now by trying to dictate who and what their democratic government will be. That's "exported democracy?"

We do not support our troops in any way by keeping them in a place where they never should have been sent, accomplishing nothing but creating more hatred for us and getting killed.

It is our past actions and attitudes in the Mideast that are the causes of the hatred and terrorism against us.

We never learn.

DOE

MISINFORMATION IS ALLOWED TO CIRCULATE

The Department of Education is allowing misinformation about itself to circulate. On June 21, the two local dailies ran inaccurate articles stating that the federal Education Department had declared Hawai'i to be in full compliance with IDEA, the federal special education law.

However, that turns out to be untrue. The education department never made any such declaration.

All the federal government declared was that they accepted Hawai'i's self-report.

Indeed, the DOE's own report on itself indicates that Hawai'i is far short of compliance. Out of 20 different measures in its own report, Hawai'i admitted that it fully complied with only two.

For example, the report showed that Hawai'i is still illegally segregating students with disabilities far more than the national average, still failing to provide programs that help disabled students succeed and still failing to satisfy two-thirds of the parents that their schools are involving them in decisions.

But the really disturbing thing is that the DOE has not corrected the misinformation.

In addition, when I called the DOE and the Board of Education to check the facts, they both replied ambiguously, but appeared to confirm the original claim of full compliance.

It is unfortunate that Hawai'i's DOE is not professional enough to correct grossly inaccurate public information about itself.

TRAFFIC SAFETY

WALKERS SHOULD WEAR LIGHT-COLORED CLOTHING

I would like to apologize to the young man pushing a baby in a stroller in a crosswalk at an intersection somewhere in Pearl City about 6:45 p.m. on Aug. 5.

I frightened him and myself because I came so close to them. I did not see them until after I had passed the intersection.

Because of this personal incident, I would like to say that when the sun goes down and street lights are not on yet, it would be advisable for pedestrians to use light-colored clothing when using the crosswalk.

NEW ZEALAND

DOWN UNDER FRIENDS GET BUSH HUMOR, TOO

I just recently returned from a great vacation trip to New Zealand.

In all my travels, I'm always fascinated by how local pop culture seems to reflect a country's collective mindset.

During one of my city jaunts, I was struck by a giant billboard across six lanes that advertised the premier TV station. The billboard highlighted the programming lineup with gigantic and stunning photographs: grunting rugby players for sports; lovable, cuddly penguins for nature; Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt for history; and George W. Bush for comedy.

As many of us have come to accept, our friends in Kiwiland get it, too.

EDUCATION

PUBLIC SPENDING ON OUR SCHOOLS IS TOO LOW

When I was a child, public schools provided pencils, books, supplies (i.e., glue, paper towels, whatever). All we brought to school was a binder and an open mind.

Now, due to budgetary constrains (yet, Hawai'i has a surplus), schools have become one of the lowest priorities for public expenditures.

Thus, children must lug huge boxes and bags filled with every imaginable supply to school on the first day.

These must be purchased and labeled by parents. These purchases often total several hundred dollars, and it is not inconceivable that they would be a financial hardship for many.

Perhaps one of the biggest collateral problems with this system occurred right here in 'Ewa Beach on the first day of school at the new Keone'ula Elementary School.

With the children hauling truckloads of supplies, most parents elected to drive their children in on the first day. I know I did.

It was evident that Keone'ula was unprepared for the ensuing traffic jam.

This system is unacceptable, and must be addressed immediately.

If the government wants to leave no child behind, then they should speak with actions rather than rhetoric.

OUR HONOLULU

KOLEA HAVE RETURNED; BOB KRAUSS IS MISSED

On Aug. 7, I spotted two kolea from my office window at the Queen Lili'uokalani Children's Center at Hale 'Aha, Punalu'u.

I grabbed my camera, ran out the door, called out a greeting and snapped a couple of photos.

I thought of our old friend, Bob Krauss, and how he delighted in the arrival of these amazing birds every summer.

He had his kolea hot line, and I'd call it as soon as I saw "our" kolea.

This year, there is no one to telephone, so I'm writing to you. The kolea have landed at Hale 'Aha.