LETTERS for October 29 issue
PRESSURE LINGLE TO END FURLOUGHS
Parents feel sick with the draconian decision of closing school on Fridays and are now scrambling to figure out what to do. Who has the money to have their kids cared for an extra 17 days a year? I foresee lower test scores, higher illegal drug use and teen pregnancy rise as a result. I don’t know what Lingle has against public education.
Three years ago when times were great, Lingle refused to release $200,000,000 that the legislature allocated for education when we had a $600,000,000 surplus. Now she is closing schools.
The governor sets the agenda. She tried to force furloughs unilaterally until a judge told her she did not have that power. I applaud HSTA for being able to trim down her original demands of 36 furlough days to 17. Voting no would have forced job losses or even a strike.
What can you do? Call Linda Lingle. Her number is (808) 586-0034. She can work with the legislature to borrow from the hurricane fund, raise the excise tax and call for a special session. She did call a special session to ensure the Superferry survived!
If this country valued an educated society, cutting education would not even be an option. If Hawaii valued education, closing schools would not be an option. Please participate in furlough demonstrations. Democracy does not work unless everyone gets involved!
JUSTIN HUGHEY, Lahaina
TOO MUCH NOISE POLLUTION
The “Biggest Joke in Paradise” in the Lahaina News… IS the biggest joke in paradise! Are you serious? I can’t believe that big, stupid, looong letter even got space.
We have way bigger problems here with un-enforced noise control issues. I wrote a letter in the Lahaina News three years ago about “noise pollution.” At least one reader found it funny; otherwise, it accomplished nothing. I live here, so I at least had a clue!
I didn’t even mention rental car alarms — a minor annoyance by people who can’t grasp the technology. Unlike the deliberate noise made by a Rojac truck, or a herd of motorcycles roaring through town a few times on a peaceful Sunday, when we would otherwise get a break. It didn’t prompt any enforcement then, or now, and it gets worse all the time.
So if the writers think that somehow their complaints about car alarms are going to change anything, well, dream on!
I have some idiot on a scooter go by my house at all hours of the day and night, and that machine is THE loudest scooter I have ever heard. I can’t even imagine what he must have done to it to make it so loud. I can hear it coming for at least two miles, and after it passes, for another two. I wake up, wait and then hope I can get back to sleep. Kids are still drag racing on the highway behind my house and maxing out the volume on their car systems. Why? Because they can!!
One kid… one fine… and the word would spread — it’s called consequences. I would call the Lahaina Police and complain at 2:30 a.m., but we all know how much good that would do.
Please… “biggest joke?” Not even close.
BUTCH FOWLER, West Maui
RULES GETTING RIDICULOUS
Here are a few comments on your letters from Oct. 15. The fellow who cleans the road from Honokowai to the intersection does not just deserve recognition — he deserves the Congressional Medal of Honor, because HE is doing way more for our country than so many others. And, it ought to be our duty to join, at ANY time we can spare. There’s more to Maui than just that stretch.
By gosh! I wish I was on Maui, but I cannot survive in this economy: rents getting higher, salaries don’t match, real estate is for the movie stars’ purse.
To the other gentleman, I think we are going too far with our restraints and restrictions. Leashing a cat?! Dear Lord! Next is putting my hamster on a leash, if I decide to have it outside.
Let’s go/come back to the essence of social life, for Christ’s sake!
We “over social” our communities and societies. We restrict “weed,” but we allow tobacco, and both are just plants/herbs. We chain cats and dogs, we ban skateboarders, we question Halloween parades “in the name of safety.” Don’t you citizens see where society is going?! God bless you all!
DR. G. WOODMAN, Taiwan
TIRED OF ‘Y’KNOW’
Y’know, y’know, y’know… we hear that term constantly in conversations and on TV and radio.
Y’know interrupts the train of thought when someone is making an important statement.
I want to scream out, “Yes I know!” But they go on and on.
Y’know, I wish people would stop using y’know.
ARSENE “BLACKIE” GADARIAN, Lahaina
PROTEST FOIE GRAS
Foie gras, French for “fatty liver,” is a so-called food item produced by continuously torturing ducks and/or geese by jamming a metal tube down their throat and force-feeding them huge quantities of feed, with the explicit purpose of drastically increasing the size of their liver up to ten times it’s normal size. This horrendous process goes on for weeks until the animal either dies from this torture, or if it survives, it is then killed to “harvest” the liver, which is often diseased.
What does this have to do with Lahaina? Unfortunately, there are a number of restaurants right here, extending up to Kapalua, and one in Kihei that continue to have this objectionable item on their menu.
This practice goes back to ancient cultures in Europe, where they performed other barbaric rituals like human sacrifice, feeding Christians to wild lions, etc. They have all gone, but this one lives on.
Numerous areas throughout the world have banned this activity, including Argentina, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, as well as parts of Austria.
In the United States, California law takes effect in 2012, and numerous cities, knowing how it is produced, are considering banning the product outright, after asking for restaurants to voluntarily stop offering it. Isn’t it time for Maui’s restaurants to join Wolfgang Puck to step up and remove this offensive product from their menus? Instead of importing this slop from as far away as France, why not serve fresh, wholesome local products?
A grassroots group, No Foie Gras (NFG), spearheaded by Barbara Steinberg, has begun working to persuade these offending establishments to remove it from their menu via peaceful educational actions in the area where foie gras is offered. She can be reached at 879-0025 or h2ocolor(u)wcbtv.net for additional information and to advise how you can save these animals from this horrid practice.
MIKE MORAN, Kihei
TEACH STUDENTS TO PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT
Groups are organizing events with plans for offering child care on Furlough Fridays. A suggestion is a 17-day program to develop environmental warriors. Hawaiians are very connected to the land. Leaders can take groups out into the parks, and as they clean up, educate them on how litter effects marine life and birds and degrades the land.
The students will have a purpose and sense of achievement — two necessary ingredients of healthy self-esteem. A certificate at the end of the 17 days will give them access to speak to students and community groups about ethical behavior to protect the ‘aina.
Imagine these students on a BBQ, fishing or leisurely outing with family and friends demonstrating respect for the land. It will have more impact than any traditional environmental group.
DEBORAH COLEMAN, Wailuku