Teachers right to reject contract

There were some things that David Shapiro failed to mention in his Volcanic Ash column on Jan. 25, "Teachers have lost respect in drama over labor talks."

» Teachers pay a lot of money out of pocket. Do we get that money back? Only through the happiness and growth of the students.

» Would you like to be judged on the performance of students who do not eat at home; don’t care; don’t speak English; are disabled and can’t write their own names but must pass grade-level tests? Businesses would terminate someone who brought their performance down. Teachers can’t do that, nor would we want to, because we care about every student, regardless.

» Would you honestly sign a contract that was vague as to how you were to be treated for the next six years, and gave you two years of 5 percent pay cuts, then a 1 percent pay raise after that?

We are not pawns of the political agenda.

George Scondras
Moiliili

Paying teachers more not solution

What are the teachers trying to do — bankrupt the state?

The teachers have already proved that they cannot be trusted, yet we continue to trust them with our kids.

We already gave them a larger-than-normal raise in exchange for drug testing, but they welched on that and the governor was not strong enough to do anything about it. Now it appears that the teachers object to being held accountable. Why shouldn’t they be accountable? Just about every other working stiff is held accountable and must perform in order to get a raise.

Do the teachers think they are better than the other public employees, who are working with the government to help us get through this current financial crisis?

I’m not sure what needs to be done, but it is obvious that throwing more money at the teachers is not the solution. It has not worked in the past.

Earl Batteen
Aiea

Sing U.S. anthem right or not at all

Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler, the latest to dismember our national anthem, deserves no pass. Neither do any of the other so-called stars who embarrass themselves and our country by destroying our anthem.

To all those who stick up for these clowns by continuing to say how "hard" it is to remember our national anthem, I say this: It’s not like these people were grabbed up out of the stands by surprise and asked to sing it. They all had plenty of time to learn it and get it right.

If you’re going to accept the invitation to sing it, do it correctly or don’t do it at all.

They should all be ashamed of themselves.

Mike Young
Honolulu

Casinos spawn pawn shops

I enjoyed Richard Borreca’s piece on gambling ("It’s a safe bet that debate will rage on Waikiki casino," Star-Advertiser, On Politics, Jan. 22).

On a recent trip to Seattle, we noticed something relating to this topic.

Looking for old tools in pawn shops, we had no trouble finding numerous pawn shops because in Seattle there has been a proliferation of casinos (both Indian-controlled and non-Indian card rooms). What we observed was that within a block or so of every casino there was at least one pawn shop. So just look for the big casino signs and slow down — there will be a pawn shop nearby.

These shops are full of stuff that working folks must have had to pawn to buy either a bus ticket or gas to get back home, or (worse yet) to go back to the casino to lose more money.

Warren Munro
Aiea

Republicans among 99%, too

Your political cartoon on Jan. 26 perpetuates the myth that Republicans are the party of the rich.

Many Republicans come from the heartland and are in what is referred to now as the 99 percent.

Please stop misleading the people.

Ada Koene
Koloa, Kauai