Letters to the Editor
Smoke circulates into nonsmoking areas
Throughout our lives, we go in and out of restaurants not realizing that while we sit and eat, we are inhaling secondhand smoke. Yes, there are sections for smokers and nonsmokers, but how can one spare his or her lungs if the air is constantly circulating? It's impossible.
Out of respect, I feel that smokers shouldn't smoke around those who wish to stay clean. It would help to create a healthier environment for themselves and those who are working to serve them.
There is a conflict because restaurants feel that they'll lose business if smoking is banned. The thing is, though, if smoking were banned in every restaurant, then business wouldn't change much because smokers would still have to eat at their favorite restaurant without smoking.
Tyffiny Keliiaa-Fernandez
'Aiea High School, Peer Education
It's not that we are 'warring,' but resolved
Keith Haugen's eloquent albeit wordy Nov. 12 commentary "War, peace — still more veterans" decrying "new battle deaths" would have his readers accept "we are a warring nation."
His questionable statement "it seems to never end," however, dismisses Darwin's historically proven observation: "It is not the strongest species that survive nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change," exemplified now by America's response to terrorism.
Consequently, whatever forthcoming demands that necessitate ongoing American military interventions may well result in such additional "battle deaths."
As former Israeli leader Menachem Begin aptly observed: "Terror is the weapon of the weak, and that terror gives power to the weak by making their enemies afraid. If you have the ability to create fear, then you have power."
"Warring" America's history of untold patriotic sacrifices dispels any doubts as to its resolve in overcoming terrorist-initiated fears of attack on the people, institutions and their futures.
For this twice-wounded World War II combat veteran, that oft-demanding but "unfortunate price" assures our inheritors of their inalienable "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
John K. Kingsley
Wahiawa
Power line opponents are wrong about costs
The Sierra Club and its supporters continue to display their woeful ignorance of electric utility economics as they spread misinformation about power lines, generating plants and renewable energy.
In recent letters, they stated that "HEI could underground all power lines in the state for $100 million." In a study about 10 years ago, the city issued a report that put the cost of undergrounding distribution lines only on O'ahu at over $10 billion. And that excluded transmission lines. It seems the writer lost a few zeros somewhere along the way.
They also expressed dismay that HECO would be allowed to recover from customers the expenditures made to build electric infrastructure along with a PUC-regulated reasonable rate of return. How else do they think the billions in investor-owned utility investments in this country over the last hundred years would have been possible?
They also believe HECO "knows" that alternative/renewable energy sources will be cheaper and viable in the near future, yet continues to invest in proven fossil fuel technologies. I suspect that what HECO actually "knows" is that the price of oil, which at $20 per barrel is the cheapest it has been in 25 years, will have to double or triple in price before renewable energy becomes broadly cheaper and viable.
Dick O'Connell
Volunteer project on bridge rewarding
I spent the better portion of Sunday, Nov. 4, working as a volunteer on the Kamalani Bridge at Lydgate Park on Kaua'i. The experience was so rewarding that I felt compelled to share it.
I was assigned a job to perform, given the necessary tools and instructions and went to work. As I climbed the bridge for the first time and looked at the mammoth structure, I was awed not only by the design and engineering that went into the project, but more so by the number of people working on the bridge as volunteers. There were men, women and children of all ages, races and backgrounds working side by side toward a common goal.
Many of the volunteers were skilled in their trades, but many more were not. For some it was probably the first time they held a power tool in their hands or tried to drive a nail into a piece of wood. I noticed three boys, about 10 years old, awkwardly shoveling sand to fill a hole at the uppermost part of the bridge where it connects to the land. I said "hi" to people I knew and asked if they were having fun, and the reply was always the same, "sure."
Watching these caring and giving persons who sacrificed a leisurely weekend day to help the community instilled in me a sense of pride I don't remember feeling before: pride in our island community and in humanity as a whole. For the first time I felt what "aloha" was all about. There was an aura of love, caring and pride over the entire bridge, an aura that I am sure was felt by all.
Dan Griesmann
Kaua'i
