Posted on: Tuesday, July 2, 2002
EDITORIAL
Not all news stories leave us harrumphing
We'd like to bring to your attention two pieces of good news that graced the front of the Advertiser's Hawai'i section yesterday.
For while it's important for us watchdogs to zero in on flaws and weaknesses in government and public services, it's equally important to commend those who do the right thing, as well as those who right the wrongs.
Our first acknowledgment goes to the Honolulu Fire Department for testing hoses to make sure they can handle blazes atop O'ahu's tallest high-rises. Not only is the department planning on upgrading its fire-hose testing equipment, but it's also gearing up for a fire drill in a 40-story Waikiki building next month.
The flurry of testing comes as a result of complaints from Battalion Chief Jim Skellington. He pointed out that hoses hadn't been been tested in the field to see if they could handle the level of pressure it takes to pump water to the 30th floor of a building or higher.
Our position, of course, was that the Fire Department should test the equipment. If it passes, then we can all rest assured that it works. And if it flunks, then it can be fixed.
And so we thank Skellington for bringing the issue to our attention and Honolulu Fire Chief Attilio Leonardi for responding with speed.
We'd also like to commend Gov. Ben Cayetano and the Legislature for passing a law that would charge a 5-cent refundable deposit fee for beverage containers. Distributors would pay an additional 1 to 1.5-cent handling fee per container to finance recycling programs, which could be passed on to consumers.
The bill's supporters faced fierce opposition from the powerful beverage industry, whose titans include Coke and Anheuser-Busch. Some estimate lobbying efforts against the bill amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
So we're glad the bottle bill passed, although it's a shame it won't go into effect until 2005. Still, there's no reason we can't start developing the habit by recycling those bottles and cans now.
