APEC echoed ‘Pope’s Toilet’

Your recent headline, "Summit unlikely to attain expected $123M local boost" (Nov. 12, Star-Advertiser) had the same sad theme as a movie I recently watched.

"The Pope’s Toilet," set in Uruguay, tells the story of a small village that has been selected for a visit by the pope. The villagers see this as their big chance for riches with anticipated hundreds of thousands of visitors. The villagers, encouraged by government and media hype, spend their savings, sell their belongings and mortgage their houses to buy supplies for visitor-centered activities in the hope of generous returns. The star of the movie decides that all that goes in must come out — so invests in building a luxury toilet for the expected rich visitors. When the "hundreds of thousands" turn out to be only a few thousand, the town is left disappointed, bitter and wiser.

Jim Long
Kaneohe

Billboards ruin natural beauty

APEC visitors were hopefully infected by the aloha spirit and the natural beauty of Hawaii.

What they didn’t see is something that would have detracted from that beauty: billboards.

Restricting billboards can do a lot to restore a city’s character and beauty. Perhaps our visitors will return home and act to make their cities again a visually rich experience.

Michael Bornemann
Hawaii Kai

Fishermen want controls on reef

In two recent letters, Maui residents Rene Umberger and Robert Wintner presented a number of misleading statements about the supposed overharvesting of aquarium fish.

The fact is, the aquarium fishery on Oahu has been closely monitored by the state since 1973. The statement by state Division of Aquatic Resources biologists that aquarium fish are being harvested sustainably is based on years of fisheries data.

Aquarium fishermen such as myself depend on Oahu’s reefs and fish for a living. It is critical that we conserve our resources for the future; if they disappear, we will be the first to suffer.

We also must ensure that others are able to enjoy the reef. Although I know the fishery is healthy now, it is better to deal with problems before they occur than waiting until it is too late.

For that reason, we have approached the Department of Land and Natural Resources to help regulate the fishery better, and we are grateful the state is willing to work with us.

Matthew Ross
Pearl City

Child sex abuse exists here, too

Sexual abuse of children at Pennsylvania State University was apparently made possible by a culture of silence that protected insiders. Unfortunately, similar issues exist here in Hawaii.

Three months ago, it was reported that as many as 40 children at the School for the Deaf and Blind in Waikiki may have been sexually abused by other students. For years, the Department of Education apparently knew about the abuse, but its officials did nothing to correct it. The Hawaii Disability Rights Center, an independent agency funded by the federal and state governments to protect people with disabilities, knew of four or five instances of abuse, but it also apparently did nothing to deal with the problem.

The Legislature should get to the bottom of this. Who knew about the abuse of children in the state’s care, and what did they do about it?

John P. Dellera
Kahala

Enrollment up at Saint Louis

In response to the story "Enrollment down at private schools" (Nov. 9, Star-Advertiser): More young men are seeking a single-gender education, as enrollment is up this year at Saint Louis, a Catholic-Marianist school with a 166-year history of preparing leaders in Hawaii.

Only one in seven young people attend private school in Hawaii, but parents who choose private school expect their children will make better decisions, learn in a safe environment, enter circles of like-minded emerging leaders and get placed into top colleges.

Even in a volatile economic climate, many parents see private school education as a necessary part of their spending.

With completion of our Clarence T.C. Ching Learning & Technology Center, student capacity increased by more than 100; the school anticipates 50 more new students in 2012-13, and to reach full capacity within three years.

To quote former Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona, who joined Saint Louis School in January: "A private school education is no longer a luxury for college hopefuls; it’s a necessity for the next generation to compete in and contribute to the workplace and society."

Ryan Tanaka
Chief operating/financial officer, Saint Louis School