Letters to the Editor

Government should stay out of gas prices

I can't believe that legislators are attempting to put a cap on the prices of gasoline. What happened to free enterprise? Are they going to regulate medical costs and prescription costs next? How about interisland air fares?

The problem is the people who line up for the gas at their "regular" gas stations and pay the ridiculous prices. Drive around and check the prices and fill where it is less expensive. Get a Costco card. You can make up for the price of the card in a couple of months of gassing-up there. (You save about 20 cents per gallon.)

People need to change habits and not patronize the stations that seem to be gouging us. Not going to them will force lower prices or cause them to go out of business. That is what free enterprise is, not the government controlling prices.

Kapolei homes plan should be stopped

The Schuler plan to build 1,150 homes in Kapolei (Advertiser, March 30) should not be allowed to proceed until after the infrastructure in Kapolei and Makakilo has been improved.

The design to have six parks, running paths, a recreation center and a pool sounds great on paper. However, Schuler is currently building hundreds of homes in Makakilo and has not added one park, running path or recreation center. The increased number of vehicles from the construction and new homes has left the roads in disrepair and the traffic congestion in Kapolei unbearable. This is the situation now, before another 1,150 homes are built.

One new elementary school for the new development is not adequate. All of these elementary students will go to Kapolei Middle and Kapolei High schools. They are already bursting at the seams with multi-track systems and 30 to 35 students per class. This is not fair to our students.

Neighborhood board members (except for Kioni Dudley) should be ashamed for supporting this project while ignoring the numerous problems that currently exist in the Kapolei/Makakilo area due to the lack of adequate infrastructure.

Swordfish should also be protected

I read with interest your March 31 story "Longline fishing ban lifted; new rules set." The story explained in detail the detriment this method of fishing can inflict on the endangered sea turtle population but neglected the far more catastrophic statistics of the May 2003 study published in the science journal Nature that confirms that 90 percent of all large predatory fish, such as swordfish, tuna and sharks, have been fished from the sea.

This means that since the advent of longline fishing, the swordfish population is a mere 10 percent of its pre-World War II population. Just when will we stop killing them — when they're down to 3 percent like the bluefin tuna?

The new style of hook may reduce turtle by-catch, but it will do little to protect the decimation of swordfish. The shortsighted, selfish and irresponsible action of NOAA can only be condemned. I only hope people will enjoy their swordfish steak so that they can tell their grandchildren what it tasted like.

Photo cutline was slanted, incomplete

The gruesome photo and cutline on the April 1 front page shows how misleading information can alter the emotional impact of a story.

The caption mentioned American "civilian contractors" (the implication being that they might have been "reconstruction workers," perhaps?) were killed and mutilated by Iraqis, but the fact of the matter is that the murdered men were armed guards hired by a Pentagon-funded "contractor," Blackwater Security. Apparently, at least three out of the four were ex-special operations military vets, and they carried weapons and wore flak jackets. As such, they were armed combatants doing guard duty for an occupying army.

Isn't that a more accurate depiction of their role in Fallujah? Of course, no one can defend their inhumane mutilation. But how can the public understand the context of this tragic and illegal war of occupation unless all the details are fairly reported? Your paper's questionable journalism in that photo cutline adds fuel to the Bush administration's war of terror.

Red-light cameras: for money or for safety?

It appears that Hawai'i is headed toward the use of red-light cameras. Before the state implements them, it should consider whether they are truly for reducing red-light running or just another way to collect taxes.

The National Motorists Association has some very interesting reading at www.motorists.com/info/red_light_cameras.html.

Will the counties own the cameras, or will a contractor operate them? The contractors who operate the cameras will demand that yellow-light timers be reduced to two seconds. There is no way a car can make it through an intersection in two seconds unless it is traveling at a highly illegal speed. The result will be more tickets and revenue for the state and contractor.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Photo counter measures (PCM) are called for. Check www.phantomplate.com for a number of products that will help you avoid a costly ticket and, most likely, an increase in your auto insurance rates.

Hasty development is ruining Hawai'i Kai

Before developer Stanford Carr builds 200 new homes in Kamilonui Valley, he needs to step back and look at the destruction and overcrowding his development has already caused in Hawai'i Kai.

There used to be wonderful views (remember those) of a beautiful valley while driving up Keahole Street. Now all one can see is the backside of condos. His peninsula project has crowded as many houses and condos as possible onto the smallest amount of land available. When land ran out, landfill was added to the canal so three or four more units could be squeezed into the project.

The monstrosity currently being raised in the middle of the peninsula has taken overcrowding to the max.

Before any more projects are started, we need to take care of the needs in Hawai'i Kai. The parking situation at the Town Center and Koko Marina is already at its peak. It is becoming dangerous to walk or find parking in either center, and the peninsula isn't even fully inhabited yet. We need a left-turn signal at Safeway before someone is killed turning into oncoming traffic. We need more schools and repairs to existing ones. Where are all these new students going to go? And what about the infrastructure for water, sewer and electricity? Our systems are running at capacity now.

What is wrong with an empty lot of natural vegetation for people to just enjoy, or a park area to sit and visit or walk your pet? Why do we have to have wall-to-wall housing and traffic? If we wanted the congestion and overcrowding of downtown, we would have moved there.

Representative should behave with more class

During a late floor session, when lawmakers rushed to get bills through a key internal deadline last week, House Republicans opposed many of the bills that were reported from the "B" bracket committees. Second reading is usually a procedural vote since most of the important debate occurs at third reading. Despite this, House Republicans spent an inordinate amount of time arguing against bills.

Like a little kid in frustration when he couldn't defend his position on how requiring 90 percent of DOE funding to schools is even feasible, Rep. Bud Stonebraker angrily threw down his microphone and moaned, "Why are we even talking?" Now he probably didn't think anyone was watching, but there were, and I am sure that I wasn't the only one.

Citizens are watching, and I hope maybe next time the representative will carry himself with a little more dignity and remember we elected him to do the people's work and to not disrespect the position when things don't go his way.

Solution available on keeping track of bills

I recently read an article in which Larry Price expressed that "Trying to keep up with the inner workings of the state Legislature is a real challenge." He went on to reinforce that "Keeping track of which bills are alive, which ones are dead and dying and who's managing which bill is, in a lot of cases, an exercise of futility."

What Larry and the public may not know is that a year ago, a solution was presented to the legislative Clerk's Office that would have solved the problem and also saved us $170,000 in taxpayer dollars in the six months that the Legislature convenes. The solution presented was a fraction of the cost of the current process.

The solution was simple and presented by Jon Shimabuku, Senate data systems manager, with due diligence. The solution would replace the excessive paper being printed with document copiers and distributed daily with computer-searchable CDs. To put this into perspective, the state spent approximately $16,000 a month just in paper, from printing daily bill change correspondence, during the six months of last year's session.

A copied CD, with Adobe Acrobat searching software, could easily locate bills that are alive, dead or dying as well as provide for a search of the constituent's relevant bills. The state could complement the effort with information on its Web site and still provide limited paper copies for those who weren't computer savvy.

The response given to Shimabuku by the Clerk's Office after having the solution in hand in October 2003 was an equivocal "not this year, maybe next year." That's not the right answer, nor is it a response that readily solves the problem practically, let alone saving us thousands of dollars of our tax money. It is procrastination at its best and at everyone's expense.

BOE meeting showed how system is broken

I went to the Board of Education meeting Thursday night with another concerned parent because we heard that the Education Committee chairman at the Legislature was "not inclined" to let go forward legislation that would allow a vote in November on the school-reform issue. I do not know if school decentralization would be good or bad, but I think that if it were allowed to be voted on, people would be more involved, and any plan put in place would be more successful.

The board chairman read the rules of giving testimony: three minutes, and no personal attacks. The first speaker, a principal from a Windward elementary school, immediately singled out a board member without naming her and criticized her for having an idea on how to approach school reform that was different from the rest of the board. He continued well past the buzzer without interruption.

After an hour, we left with the impressions that new ideas are not really welcome, and parents are not considered qualified to have a valuable opinion on education. It was clear our opinions would be considered outside interference.

What would be so bad about putting this issue on a ballot in November? We would have more time to listen and hear the pros and cons of every argument. It would give everyone, parents, teachers and principals, more time to consider every reasonable suggestion, and it should not matter who came up with the concept.

I would really like to commend the board member who came up with the unpopular idea that set off the heated debate about local school boards. Without new ideas, we would be stuck with the status quo forever. However, to the rest of you out there (and you know who you are), the public does not want to see political infighting that makes our state seem like a banana republic. If we really want progress, we need to act like an evolved democratic society, even if we aren't there yet.