Earlier this month, the University of Hawaii's women's basketball coach Jim Bolla got fired!
Usually, college coaches get fired for loosing too much!
This is WORSE THAN THAT!
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20090409/NEWS01/904090356/-1/RSS02?source=rss_localnews
University of Hawai'i women's basketball coach Jim Bolla was fired after former players complained about a "pattern of verbal abuse."
UH dismissed the 57-year-old Bolla on Monday "for cause," meaning the university had a reason to fire him and is not bound to honor the remaining two years on his contract, which pays an estimated $120,000 a year.
Bolla, the Rainbow Wahine's coach since 2004, was placed on leave Feb. 13 after school officials investigated allegations he kicked one of his players.
Bolla also received a warning last year after school officials investigated allegations of verbal abuse from team members.
"There was a pattern of verbal abuse," said former UH player Pamela Tambini. "He played mental games. He basically tried to break us down and intimidate us.
"Girls hated going to practice. They dreaded going on the road. It was bad."
--
it gets worse
Former player Tanya Smith said Bolla mocked "almost every person on the team" for being gay. He also improperly obtained her medical records, which are protected under federal law.
"I understand coaches yelling and getting upset at players for things that pertain to basketball skills, but when it becomes personal and relates in no way to basketball, then it is a problem," Smith said in an e-mail from Australia, where she lives.
Tambini, who was reached by phone in Florida, said players complained for years about their treatment by Bolla to Herman Frazier, the former UH athletic director, but he apparently didn't take any action.
She said Bolla degraded players about their weight, made derisive comments about their sexuality and blamed losses on players such as herself who were recruited by former coach Vince Goo.
"Everybody knew about it and did nothing about it," Tambini said.
"We were going through hell. No student should have had to go through that. It's not fair."
--
however, it just wasn't at UH! Jim Bolla was alleged to have done similar things at his previous coaching job at UNLV!
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported in December 1992 that Bolla struck a player during a practice.
The former UNLV player, Tracy Titus, told The Advertiser in February that Bolla struck her after he ordered her to run at him during a drill.
Titus said Bolla later apologized for the incident but maintained in a statement to the UNLV athletic director that Titus had "run into his hand."
Titus also said she saw Bolla grab another player "around the neck" during a game at UH during the 1992-93 season.
-----------
My commentary
Though I never been a coach, I do work as a substitute teacher!
So of course, there will be times where the kids give me a bad attitude and I had to be the disciplinarian!
There have times where I yelled at students, especially the ones @ middle school! That's when the attitudes are at their worst!
My supervisors advised me it's better not to yell! One said you gotta be Calm and Stern!
I only yell as a last resort, and I try other ways to settle students down without yelling!
I usually don't need to yell, however, once you do it, that's all everyone remembers!
So I gotta be Calm and Stern! That's what I want to be remembered for!
--
However, Jim Bolla goes WAY BEYOND discipline!
Most importantly, avoid hitting unless it's self-defense!
Sometimes you gotta physically restrain students (and in the case of preschoolers, carry them away from a dangerous situation), but you need to do in a safe way to prevent harm!
Another thin, I AVOID using name-calling and insults on my students!
I address their behavior! Calling the students names only aggravates things!
Students hear their teachers insulting their classmates names, and guess what? It encourages the students to do the same to their classmates!
Mocking your student's sexual orientation and weight has NOTHING to do with being a disciplinarian! It is being a bullying punk-ass, it's abusive and it's emotionally damaging!
And even if your student doesn't immediately respond to your humiliating tactics, it doesn't mean they'll forget about it!
They might publicly insult you if they become famous! They could sue you!
Or in the case of Columbine and Virginia Tech, it could turn deadly!
Any teacher/parent/coach/etc. who thinks "no student would want to violently retaliate against me" is delusional!
One way is to reduce the chance of that is to avoid the Jim Bolla tactics of insulting your students!
Show your students respect! If anything happens, address their behavior but don't use name-calling!
After all, part of your job is to help them become better human beings!
Saturday, April 25, 2009
The demise of the SuperFerry
So many events, so little time to blog on them
Today, I got time!
Earlier this month, the SuperFerry was forced to shut down, due to a Hawaii Supreme Court decisions. In 2007, the state exempted the SuperFerry from the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). In 2009, the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled the state's action unconstitutional.
http://www.starbulletin.com/news/20090317_Superferry_suspended.html
Because EIS tends to take a long time, it isn't feasible to keep the business in operation!
---
So the SuperFerry shut down and workers laid off
http://www.starbulletin.com/news/20090318_Layoffs_follow_high_court_ruling_on_Superferry.html
---
My take --- wouldn't having the SuperFerry continue running be a PERFECT way to have an EIS! That way we can see whatever environmental impacts occurs as it's happening, instead of just making predictions!
But that wouldn't make the special interest groups feel special. You think I'm kidding?
Check this Honolulu Advertiser editorial by Jay Fidell
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2009/Apr/05/bz/hawaii904050338.html
When activist organizations get together, they are well-fueled and powerful. When they litigate and lobby together, they become intimidating. When asked what Sierra Club focused on, Jeff Mikulina said, "we stop things." Stopping Superferry was a war that lasted for years. In the end, it was a notable victory for the activists, whether or not deserved!
Yeah, we bad -- we stop things!
continue on
The EIS does help protect our environment. But it's also every activist's favorite weapon, and a blockbuster at that. The first step is to require an EIS for a project. The next step is to argue with the EIS, in both draft and final, in and out of court. That takes years and costs really big money. With good cause, the term EIS strikes fear into anyone building anything.
But were the activists really interested in the EIS findings, or just bent on stopping the ferry? Would they have been satisfied with an EIS that permitted the ferry to operate? No. It's not a question of finding impacts, only keeping the game in play until the project bleeds to death.
Because an entrepreneur follows the rules doesn't mean the activists won't attack him anyway. Once targeted, you get the full monty. Things become distorted and desperate. If you have no upstairs access, you're at the mercy of the bureaucracy, which freezes in the headlights. That being the case, activists can stop any project they like.
---
Now, because of those activists, we won't be able to ride a boat between the Hawaiian islands!
I wrote on the same issue back in 2007
In it, I discussed the nostalgia extremists on Kauai and their violent protests!
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2007_09_01_archive.html#8120786639112286509
I also mentioned this
Meanwhile, some said the SuperFerry would help disabled people visit other islands, and give high school sports team a cheaper way to travel to the other islands to play in tournaments!
These people are the ones most hurt by those Nostalgia Fascists!
----
Meanwhile, the NY based far-left magazine TheNation had an article on the SuperFerry written to trick gullible mainlanders on this issue!
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090316/mander_paik
The article put scary innuendos about the SuperFerry being connected to the "scary military super-power" and acted as if those rude protesters in Kauai spoke for the majority (they didn't!)
However, here is the biggest LIE written in that article.
Three weeks after Nawiliwili, another huge throng filled the 1,500 seats of Kauai's War Memorial Convention Hall, with many more outside, for a "public meeting" called by Governor Lingle. Imperiously she warned that she would not discuss whether there would be a Superferry--that had been decided. Her purpose was to instruct people that if they repeated their protests, they would be charged under new anti-terrorism laws that carry prison terms up to five years and/or a $10,000 fine.
What those writers LEFT OUT ON PURPOSE was that in was reaction to the VIOLENT protests at Kauai harbors, where the SuperFerry passengers were faced with flying beer bottles, their items vandalized, their faces screamed at, and their lives THREATENED!
But the writers LEFT IT OUT ON PURPOSE to fool gullible mainlanders into thinking Lingle was threatening freedom of speech!
--
here's what 2 readers said
Well, they've done it. They've succeeded in stopping the SuperFerry. The ferry was actually a boon to the people of Hawaii, the opponents were definitely in the minority, as the reaction to the story on the forums of the Honolulu papers will attest. This decision will be a blow to the countless local families who have been using the ferry for trips to visit relatives, and to the countless local businesses that have been using it to transport their products between islands.
Could the EIS have been handled better? Of course. But why punish the people of Hawaii for this ?
Now more than ever in these uncertain times, we need an alternative to air travel and to the other monopolies.
And by the way, why should big giant cruise ships be allowed, and not a boat that benefits local people?
Everybody wants to "protect the environment," but the Sierra Club et al. should "choose their battles."
penny guinn
Honolulu, HI03/17/2009 @ 7:12pm
-----------
Fifteen hundred protesters on Kaua'i is hugely significant, in that it represents slightly less than 10% of the island's population!
hal muskat
Middletown , CA03/04/2009 @ 09:23am
Today, I got time!
Earlier this month, the SuperFerry was forced to shut down, due to a Hawaii Supreme Court decisions. In 2007, the state exempted the SuperFerry from the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). In 2009, the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled the state's action unconstitutional.
http://www.starbulletin.com/news/20090317_Superferry_suspended.html
Because EIS tends to take a long time, it isn't feasible to keep the business in operation!
---
So the SuperFerry shut down and workers laid off
http://www.starbulletin.com/news/20090318_Layoffs_follow_high_court_ruling_on_Superferry.html
---
My take --- wouldn't having the SuperFerry continue running be a PERFECT way to have an EIS! That way we can see whatever environmental impacts occurs as it's happening, instead of just making predictions!
But that wouldn't make the special interest groups feel special. You think I'm kidding?
Check this Honolulu Advertiser editorial by Jay Fidell
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2009/Apr/05/bz/hawaii904050338.html
When activist organizations get together, they are well-fueled and powerful. When they litigate and lobby together, they become intimidating. When asked what Sierra Club focused on, Jeff Mikulina said, "we stop things." Stopping Superferry was a war that lasted for years. In the end, it was a notable victory for the activists, whether or not deserved!
Yeah, we bad -- we stop things!
continue on
The EIS does help protect our environment. But it's also every activist's favorite weapon, and a blockbuster at that. The first step is to require an EIS for a project. The next step is to argue with the EIS, in both draft and final, in and out of court. That takes years and costs really big money. With good cause, the term EIS strikes fear into anyone building anything.
But were the activists really interested in the EIS findings, or just bent on stopping the ferry? Would they have been satisfied with an EIS that permitted the ferry to operate? No. It's not a question of finding impacts, only keeping the game in play until the project bleeds to death.
Because an entrepreneur follows the rules doesn't mean the activists won't attack him anyway. Once targeted, you get the full monty. Things become distorted and desperate. If you have no upstairs access, you're at the mercy of the bureaucracy, which freezes in the headlights. That being the case, activists can stop any project they like.
---
Now, because of those activists, we won't be able to ride a boat between the Hawaiian islands!
I wrote on the same issue back in 2007
In it, I discussed the nostalgia extremists on Kauai and their violent protests!
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2007_09_01_archive.html#8120786639112286509
I also mentioned this
Meanwhile, some said the SuperFerry would help disabled people visit other islands, and give high school sports team a cheaper way to travel to the other islands to play in tournaments!
These people are the ones most hurt by those Nostalgia Fascists!
----
Meanwhile, the NY based far-left magazine TheNation had an article on the SuperFerry written to trick gullible mainlanders on this issue!
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090316/mander_paik
The article put scary innuendos about the SuperFerry being connected to the "scary military super-power" and acted as if those rude protesters in Kauai spoke for the majority (they didn't!)
However, here is the biggest LIE written in that article.
Three weeks after Nawiliwili, another huge throng filled the 1,500 seats of Kauai's War Memorial Convention Hall, with many more outside, for a "public meeting" called by Governor Lingle. Imperiously she warned that she would not discuss whether there would be a Superferry--that had been decided. Her purpose was to instruct people that if they repeated their protests, they would be charged under new anti-terrorism laws that carry prison terms up to five years and/or a $10,000 fine.
What those writers LEFT OUT ON PURPOSE was that in was reaction to the VIOLENT protests at Kauai harbors, where the SuperFerry passengers were faced with flying beer bottles, their items vandalized, their faces screamed at, and their lives THREATENED!
But the writers LEFT IT OUT ON PURPOSE to fool gullible mainlanders into thinking Lingle was threatening freedom of speech!
--
here's what 2 readers said
Well, they've done it. They've succeeded in stopping the SuperFerry. The ferry was actually a boon to the people of Hawaii, the opponents were definitely in the minority, as the reaction to the story on the forums of the Honolulu papers will attest. This decision will be a blow to the countless local families who have been using the ferry for trips to visit relatives, and to the countless local businesses that have been using it to transport their products between islands.
Could the EIS have been handled better? Of course. But why punish the people of Hawaii for this ?
Now more than ever in these uncertain times, we need an alternative to air travel and to the other monopolies.
And by the way, why should big giant cruise ships be allowed, and not a boat that benefits local people?
Everybody wants to "protect the environment," but the Sierra Club et al. should "choose their battles."
penny guinn
Honolulu, HI03/17/2009 @ 7:12pm
-----------
Fifteen hundred protesters on Kaua'i is hugely significant, in that it represents slightly less than 10% of the island's population!
hal muskat
Middletown , CA03/04/2009 @ 09:23am
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