Feds not paying education share

Our senators and representatives in Congress would do Hawaii well if they could just get an equitable reimbursement for what the state spends to educate more than 10,000 children of federal and military personnel assigned in Hawaii.

It costs Hawaii more than $12,000 to educate a student in public school, not including building construction and maintenance, transportation and other costs covered in other state budgetary line items.

The federal government reimburses the state less than 20 percent of that cost with federal impact aid.The low reimbursement negatively affects military and local children.

Military and federal personnel assigned to Hawaii would also do well to get their senators and representatives in Congress to act. So should our governor, although he had 20 years to do this while he was in Congress.

Russel Noguchi
Pearl City

Let Koreas work out reunification

South Korea’s President Lee Myung-bak stated that "South and North Korea have lived in an age of confrontation for the last 60 years. Now we must leap beyond that age and live in an age of peace and cooperation" (Star-Advertiser, Aug. 15).

As a U.S. Navy veteran of the Korean War, I fully agree that both Koreas should be united as one nation, as it was prior to Japan controlling it from 1910 to 1945. We should pull all the thousands of our military men and women out of South Korea to let the Korean governments work out their differences to benefit the majority of their people.

Wilbert W. W. Wong
Kaneohe

Don’t attack vacation rentals

With the economy in turmoil and Hawaii teachers being forced to take a pay cut, I do not understand how the city could even consider hurting the economy more than it is already suffering by cracking down on vacation rentals.

Some owners are forced to rent out their homes to visitors just to keep from losing their homes. Others do it to help supplement their income during a time of inflation and economic turmoil.

I understand that some regulation may be necessary in the industry, but attacking rentals is foolish for Hawaii and would destroy many livelihoods.

It completely disregards what Hawaii is known for all around the world: the spirit of aloha. Cleaners, handymen, businesses, property managers and owners depend on this industry to support their families.

We all have to deal with petty inconveniences in our lives. Properties that "receive complaint" should be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. It isn’t fair or smart to punish everyone.

Rachel Uda Murdock
Kapolei

Vacation rentals remove housing

Reading and hearing some of the testimony about the bill to require vacation rentals to list their permit number, it seems that the operators keep referring to what visitors want.

As a visitor, I’d like to speak for myself.

After seeing your homeless problem, I can’t imagine being part of a system that takes rooms and houses out of neighborhoods for people who need to live and work here. These people are your neighbors. Where is the aloha spirit for them?

This bill is a no-brainer. In the meantime, wouldn’t it be easy for city and state websites to simply post a list of those that are legal?

Diana Adams
Great Falls, Va.

Doctors need tort reform

In the commentary by Dr. Jerris Hedges and Dr. Kelley Withy ("Boosting number of doctors in Hawaii is critical need," Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, Aug. 12), there was no mention that part of the solution must include medical liability reform.

This will not cost the taxpayer a dime, and will actually decrease the cost of medical malpractice insurance that our state pays for medical students, state-run hospitals and coverage of employed physicians, nurses and staff.

Medical liability reform does not prevent patients from bringing a suit. However, it can decrease the amount the lawyer takes, thus giving more money to the injured patient.

It also decreases the cost of practicing medicine by lessening defensive medicine — the use of unnecessary tests to prevent lawsuits.

Most of our physicians will reach retirement age in 10 years. This problem will worsen unless younger physicians can be attracted to Hawaii to practice medicine. Instead, they are going to states like Texas and California, which have medical liability reform.

Linda Rasmussen
Past president, Hawaii Medical Association

Biofuels plan has big upside

Your article "Critics of Hawaiian Electric’s biofuels plan fear higher bills" (Star-Advertiser, Aug. 11) missed the mark because it did not fairly describe this exciting, clean-energy project that’s planned for the Big Island, or reflect the many people who stand in strong support of this visionary initiative.

The beauty of what Aina Koa Pono is proposing is that this is a proven technology, very little greenhouse gases would be emitted into the atmosphere,and it would use alien invasive species for its biomass feedstock.

Besides the potential production of 24 million gallons of biodiesel fuel annually, there are other huge benefits. Energy, food and environmental security are three of the most important pillars that form the foundation of our economy. Hawaii can really be a leader in developing a systems approach toward addressing these economic pillars.

Kenneth Y. Kaneshiro
Director, Center for Conservation Research and Training University of Hawaii at Manoa

CEO pay sad sign of the times

I am sure all of the Hawaiian Telcom employees who lost their jobs, as well as those employees whose hours, pay and benefits were reduced, were happy to read that their personal sacrifices resulted in compensation to their boss leapfrogging from $1.32 million to $6.72 million last year ("Stock awards lift isle CEOs’ pay," Star-Advertiser, Aug. 14). Customers who saw service and service centers disappear were probably less thrilled.

General Electric Co. shareholders must have been delighted with the $14.2 billion in revenue reported last year, especially because GE paid not one cent in federal taxes to support the government that made those profits possible.

Roughly 60 percent of U.S. corporations and 40 percent of U.S. households pay no federal tax at all, and no one in Congress is concerned about that because (as mastered by Rep. Darrell Issa) exemptions, exclusions and loopholes enable Congress, corporations and campaign supporters to increase their fortunes by hundreds of millions of dollars.

Rico Leffanta
Honolulu