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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, December 18, 2003

Letters to the Editor

Transportation options go beyond automobiles

For many of the critics of rapid transit solutions in Honolulu, the concept of transportation stops with the automobile.

There is a broader view of transportation than just relieving automobile congestion. Arguing for a paradise for the automobile is not an inspired vision for Honolulu.

Touting studies showing mass transit will not cure congestion, as one dedicated transit critic has done, misses the point. Auto use in Honolulu will always expand to fill capacity. Quality-of-life improvements will come by providing alternatives.

Those who can't drive (handicapped, elderly, young, poor and car-challenged) and those who prefer alternatives (walking, bicycling or public transit) should have other transportation options because that makes for a better community.

Promoting private transportation options of vans, taxis and jitneys over public mass transit is a mediocre approach that will do little to improve the livability of our city. Being able to get around town easily and cheaply, without a car, is an essential ingredient to making a city a great place to live and a great place to visit.

Light rail should have our interest and support. Bus rapid transit is a feasible way to establish a rapid transit corridor now.

Richard Quinn


Model athletes, coaches don't go unappreciated

Recent articles citing sportsmanship of high school athletes remind me of an experience years ago during the high school baseball tournament. The Castle High School coaches were huddled in a room behind the dugout of Rainbow Stadium.

A player from an earlier game entered the room, wished us luck and shook each coach's hand. He had left his teammates and supporters having refreshments outside the stadium and went out of his way to encourage our team.

None of our coaches had met this kid off the field before. He was a multisport star from a rival school. We had a special team and season. However, to this day, I remember that inconspicuous act more than anything else during the tournament.

Alika Smith of Kalaheo High School went on to excel in basketball at the University of Hawai'i. Mahalo to the Smith family for raising a son who created such positive images within the world of interscholastic athletics.

Thankfully, every community has special athletes who exhibit class on and off the field. That value can be passed on exponentially by these model students and their coaches.

Sam Kakazu Jr.
Kane'ohe


No excuse for blocking ambulances in traffic

Shame on all the people who drove on the shoulder lane and blocked ambulances at a recent accident on H-1, going east, right after the H-2 merge. If that person died, may you all have it on your head. There is no reason why any of us are in a hurry enough to endanger someone's life.

Sara Young
'Aiea


Job of a PR person is a balancing act

Sandee Oshiro's Dec. 14 column in the editorial section on PR folks was well done. However, she addressed only half the equation.

PR people certainly deal with the media for better or worse, but in addition, they also must deal with their employers or clients. Frequently they have to work with the interests of other entities as well.

The PR person's job is to work with all parties and, in effect, broker a constructive relationship between them. He or she is a matchmaker of sorts, with all the problems and pitfalls that such a role entails. What I'm saying is that one needs to examine the full equation before reaching any sort of clear judgment of who is doing what to whom.

Many employers/clients want to establish good relations with the media, while others only want to use the media to achieve selfish ends. Likewise, reporters can have varying motivations in different situations. Every individual and every story is different in terms of the ebb and flow of these interests.

The good PR person is the one in the middle trying to make it all work. It's a balancing act. The process is one of batting averages. No one wins all the time. For that reason, reporters shouldn't get too worked up when a PR person isn't able to give them everything they want every time they call. Likewise, clients and employers shouldn't be too critical when they don't get exactly what they want from the media each time either.

A PR person's job is to educate and facilitate communications between the parties, thereby helping each to gain something from each exchange, seeking to create positive outcomes as frequently as possible. The keys are credibility and a long-term view of the relationship.

PR isn't easy. It's difficult and often thankless work. A report several years ago rated the PR profession as more stressful than being a college or professional basketball coach. Think about that the next time you see University of Hawai'i coach Riley Wallace pacing the sidelines at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Joel Kennedy


President lied to us about reasons for war

Excuse me, but why the celebrating over the capture of Saddam Hussein? I thought we went to war because Saddam posed an imminent threat to the whole world, that he had tons of weapons of mass destruction, thousands of liters of anthrax, sarin, etc. and that there was a chance of a mushroom cloud appearing over an American city. I thought we went to war because there were real weapons in place capable of hitting us in 45 minutes, not weapons of mass destruction programs or the intention of instituting such programs.

So if, as the president says, we could find the footprints of Saddam in the Iraqi sand, why can't we find all those WMDs he assured us were there that Saddam was ready and willing to use at any given moment?

I thought the president sent American forces to Iraq to prevent Saddam from using all those WMDs against us. Have our troops died for a lie? Will they continue to die for a lie?

Whether Saddam is in our custody or not, we were lied to about the reasons for going to war. Period.

J.A. Baang
Wai'anae


Create new landfill near airport's offshore runway

Would it be possible to locate the new landfill for trash next to the existing offshore runway at the airport, and could the clean portion of the fill, concrete rubble, for example, be shaped to create a series of high-quality surfing breaks?

If you look at a map of O'ahu, you can see that the existing runway, built on fill, stretches for a distance equal to that from Ala Moana to Diamond Head, but the ocean side is just a flat wall. There is enough room there to create a dozen carefully designed reef breaks or half a dozen point breaks that would help to reduce the crowding at existing surf breaks.

The airport has the advantage of being centrally located and the runway is not in anyone's back yard.

Douglas McCormick
Diamond Head


Punish speeders where it hurts most: pocketbook

Why do we have a speeding and racing problem?

  • It is glamorized by movies and television.
  • Some parents support the behavior by speeding and racing themselves, not to mention financial support to help Junior "soup" up his/her car.
  • People feel it is their "right" to drive as fast as they want.
  • Enforcement of speed limits is virtually nonexistent.
  • Penalties for speeders who are ticketed are a slap on the wrist.

Bottom line: Public-awareness campaigns such as sign waving are good PR for the five o'clock news, but if you are going to stop the senseless deaths resulting from speeding and racing, the laws must be enforced and the judicial system must hit people where they feel it the most: in the pocketbook.

The only thing most people understand today is the almighty dollar. Take a lot of it away from them and they may get the hint to slow down.

James Roller
Mililani


Dobelle has support among the public

The time has come for common voices to be heard on the matter of University of Hawai'i President Evan Dobelle.

The Board of Regents has its opinion ... so do we; but, we don't get heard and we don't have to as long as we know in our hearts what Dobelle is all about. He is nice, courteous and responsive to the common people. We don't need to know what the Board of Regents think about Dobelle — the regents are just an ink spot in the entire population of Hawai'i.

So, stop pushing for Dobelle's evaluation and everything else that surrounds this controversy.

So what if Dobelle is a public figure? We are all public figures walking the same streets, talking the same language, riding the same buses, shopping at the stores and staying alive to survive amongst the nitpicking rhetoric that goes on and on with no real substance.

Jane Watanabe
Pearl City


Gay couples should also have marriage benefits

I wonder what kind of curriculum Summer Cavasso studies as a 14-year-old home-school student? Cavasso's recent letter to the editor conveyed a historical ignorance of the civil rights struggle in America and a profound eagerness to work toward forever keeping gay couples from enjoying the equal rights of heterosexual couples.

Has this young person ever even experienced what it means to be in love? Cavasso cites the will of the voters to rationalize discrimination that prevents gay couples from strengthening and protecting their families through the legal benefits of marriage.

It seems unlikely that Cavasso ever studied the landmark 1967 U.S. Supreme Court case Loving v. Virginia, which rightfully struck down laws that criminalized interracial marriage.

What about Brown v. Board of Education? In that case, the court overturned another popular law that legalized the segregation of public schools in Kansas.

Hopefully, as Cavasso matures she will develop a greater sense of historical perspective and learn to more critically examine her sources of information.

Eduardo Hernandez
Maunalani Heights


Asian visitors wanted; no viruses, please

When in Washington, D.C., Gov. Linda Lingle attempted to improve Hawai'i's tourism industry by seeking to facilitate the issuance of entry visas where they are the most restrictive: Asia. This, no doubt, would be good for our economy. The corollary, however, is not without risks.

Right now the cases of influenza are on the increase in all 50 states. Hawai'i is slightly in the lead, as confirmed by the state epidemiologist. Influenza, a viral infection like the common cold, is a dangerous disease and highly communicable.

South China is suspected to be one of the main breeding grounds. One of the dietary habits of South China is the consumption of civet and other nondomesticated animals. As reported in the Economist, there are huge markets with mountains of such carcasses without any health inspection. This may well contribute to the breeding of the influenza virus.

Chinese authorities are lax in health controls. They ignored the SARS epidemic as it spread throughout the world. They have disregarded the seriousness of HIV infection until last month when they finally came to the United States for help.

Officially there are a million AIDS cases in China, but unofficial sources suspect more than 10 million. Disease prevention is rudimentary in China.

Tuberculosis is another dreaded disease, rare in the West, but common in Southeast Asia. A friend traveled recently on a plane where a woman was violently sick with tubercular symptoms. She was rushed to a hospital in Honolulu were she contaminated a nurse and a doctor.

Hawai'i already has a higher incidence of flu and tuberculosis than the Mainland because, it is suspected, of our closer Asian ties.

It is my hope that any increase in visitors from Asia is preceded by proper health precautions by all agencies and businesses concerned with travel.

I remember a time when a health document was mandatory for international travel until dreaded diseases almost disappeared. The trend now appears to be in the other direction.

Meanwhile, all of us can do our share by getting flu shots. Let's keep Hawai'i healthy.

George Cassarno
Honolulu