OUR LEADERS' LACK OFTHOUGHT IS APPALLING

The arbitrary and capricious decisions by the state in curbing services and the absolute lack of any logic to the process is mind-numbing. We can take it as a given that the state is in serious financial difficulty. What the state is doing in the face of this shortage defies belief.
What is lacking is the attempt to discriminate among state services. Nobody wants to admit it, but some services are flat-out more important than others. (Education and vector control spring to mind as vital services. The state has effectively "disestablished" vector control as a state function, and we all know what is going on with furlough Fridays.) Another criterion to use could be value added for revenue spent, so a small unit like the Film Office that generates far more income for the state than it costs would be retained.
I know it is more work to prioritize these positions, and it would lead to even more wrangling with the public employee unions. But we taxpayers, who are providing the state's budget, deserve nothing less. Simply applying cuts "across the board" demonstrates an appalling lack of leadership and leaves us without important public health and safety services.

JACK ARNEST | Kaimuki

ELECTIONS

MAILING OUT BALLOTS WOULD HELP VOTING

Mahalo for the Island Voices on elections (Dec. 17).

I think we would vastly increase our voter participation here in Hawaii by mailing out the ballots two weeks before the election, like they do in Oregon or Switzerland.

Our voter participation here in Hawaii is at 40 percent, and participation in Oregon is around 87 percent.

PHIL ROBERTSON | Kailua

TURTLE BAY

LARGE PROJECT, MORE TRAFFIC NOT GOOD IDEA

In 1985 I was involved in preparation of the Turtle Bay Resort EIS as the acoustical engineer. Is this old EIS valid for justifying development of five new hotels and 1,000 luxury condos? Without access to my old studies and the latest studies, I will comment generally.

Residents along shoreline, two-lane Kamehameha High-way on both sides of Turtle Bay Resort (48 miles total) would probably experience increased traffic congestion. While slower speeds may reduce average traffic noise, sirens and horns of emergency vehicles negotiating the congested traffic may well make up for the slower vehicular noise.

Also, lesser average vehicle speeds create more air pollution to nearby residents as well as a higher probability of aggressive driving, maybe leading to road rage. Finally, tourists driving waterfront views are often not compatible with local families getting kids timely to school, doctors, sport events and parents getting to work, stores, etc.

We should not endorse a large project that will obviously increase traffic congestion over many miles of a major solitary, country, scenic waterfront road that is already congested.

RONALD DARBY | Käneohe

PUBLIC SCHOOLS

LET'S START STANDING BEHIND OUR TEACHERS

As we pass the seventh furlough Friday, public school teachers need to know that we stand behind them with respect, and are committed to working with them to continue to improve public education.

We thank public school teachers for all the extra hours they put in to fit the curriculum into a four-day week, so that our children do not fall behind, and for fighting to keep some enrichment activities included in the school day, so that our children can have a balanced school experience.

We thank them for being patient with our children on Monday mornings when they come back from the three-day "vacations," and for simply trying to make the best of this unacceptable situation. We know teachers are motivated by teaching kids, not by financial gains.

As parents and community members, we are committed to fighting the battle to improve public school education in Hawaii; to erase the stigma attached to public schools; to get our government and our union leadership to care about education; and to raise expectations for our children. We are committed to stopping the demeaning treatment of teachers, because insulting teachers is an insult to society.

OLGA BORIC-LUBECKE | SoS Hawaii

DOE

BUDGET COMPROMISE REQUIRES ANSWERS

Is anyone speaking to the issue of reorganization of the Department of Education? Is it possible for Marion Higa to audit the incredible bureaucracy of the DOE?

Is there not a great deal of duplication of services, particularly in the areas of resource personnel and educational specialists?

Do we really need state-level resource specialists in some areas — physical education, for example? What exactly do some resource and educational specialists do? Are DOE officials continuing to attend costly workshops that just happen to be located in Orlando, Fla., and Las Vegas?

Does the teachers' union seriously believe that all teachers are in attendance during teacher institute days and waiver days? Why is the HGEA, whose members comprise a great deal of DOE employees, so silent in the area of education?

There are many questions that need to be asked and answered if we are to truly come to a workable compromise during these tough economic times.

MARY HUDAK | Retired DOE social worker, Hilo, Hawaii[0x0b]