Letters to the Editor
Focus on safe driving, not on speed limits
Driving at or under the speed limit does not equate to driving safely.
I was taught 35 years ago that in order to be driving at a safe speed, you must keep at least one car length (approximately 15 feet) per every 10 mph you are traveling between you and the car ahead of you. This means if you are doing 60 mph (illegal) with six car lengths of safety zone, you are driving more safely than someone who is driving 50 mph (legal) with only four car lengths of safety zone.
If we really want to improve the safety of our freeways, let's enforce safe-driving habits rather than focusing solely on speed limits.
Richard Black
Mililani
Cameras wouldn't have stopped teenagers
Regarding Mark Sprague's Feb. 6 letter on "vans, cameras and speeding": Does anyone really believe that the threat of these cameras would have stopped "Calvin Talivan" from speeding?
If you think two 19-year-old kids, late for a party and probably with their hormones raging, would have thought or said to each other, "Gee, we really better go the speed limit because of the van cameras out there," then I have a bridge I want to sell you.
Tom Mick
Kailua
Pet-quarantine laws should be revised
Regarding proposed changes to the pet quarantine laws: I was happy to see the coverage on this important issue, but greatly disappointed in the editorial opinion that followed.
The editorial writer did not contact any member of the coalition for information and missed the point altogether. It is safer to rely upon a system of vaccinations, identification and blood testing than the 90-year-old 120-day quarantine.
Scientists worldwide agree. Every day we wait, we endanger Hawai'i's citizens. Waiting is not caution but Russian roulette.
While Hawai'i took a step in the right direction in 1997, high quarantine fees and the frightening specter of long, painful stays in quarantine (25 percent are still 120 days) stimulate the biggest risk of all: smuggling. It was estimated in England that as many as 5,000 pets are smuggled per year.
With 4,539 uninspected private planes landing in Hawai'i just last year — and who knows how many private and commercial boats and ships? — our protection from rabies is dubious at best.
The proposed system would greatly reduce the temptation and protect Hawai'i better than the 120-day quarantine. Strict requirements for vaccinations, identification, blood tests and validation by authorities would prevent rabies from entering Hawai'i, while eliminating the redundant, expensive, painful and ineffective quarantine and reducing the threat of smuggling.
Information on worldwide studies, our broad-based membership, our strategic plan and more are on the Web site www.quarantinehawaii.com. We invite you to call and join in this positive effort to modernize our pet-quarantine system. Ninety years is long enough.
Chris Quackenbush
Community Quarantine Reform Coalition
Accentuate positive in 'alamihi syndrome
I commend Paula Nakagawa (Advertiser, Feb. 3) for her positive analysis of the 'alamihi crab syndrome (everyone trying to get out of the bucket) as compared to the negative one expressed in The Advertiser on Jan. 27.
When I was a little girl (that was a long time ago), Dad used to refer to the 'alamihi syndrome when relating to Hawaiians pulling Hawaiians down (with negative comments) as crabs do while in the bucket.
Paula's interpretation is well said.
Gladys Rodenhurst
Mindaugas, Artie are unsung heroes
All of us who cannot go to the UH basketball games give thanks for two unsung heroes who help make the games terribly enjoyable.
Game in and game out, we watch on Channel 5 as the 'Bows give it their all with Mindaugas Burneika coming on in relief of any large guard, forward or center, and getting the job done under the basket or out front, defensively and offensively. He takes the hits and gives a few back — or more — and handles stoically the loud harangues from the coach as he performs at an all-conference level.
Without a doubt, this hero off the bench deserves every accolade the fans and the press can bestow on him, as does Artie Wilson, long known as one of the best ever to wear Rainbow colors.
Artie has transferred his championship-playing abilities from the hardwood to a courtside television role a la John Madden.
Game after game, Artie patiently explains play after play, turning night into day as he keeps us informed in simple king's English as to what each replay means and how it came about.
Bob Cole
